"学校" is a compound word means "school"

The character "学" is also in other compound words like 小学 (primary school), 中学 (middle school), and 大学 (university)

The character "校" is also in other specific terms like 軍校 (military school), 警校 (police academy)

軍校 is short for 軍事学校
警校 is short for 警察学校
校 is just a short form of 学校 in these terms

Just like in English, the term "学校" (school) refers to the institution itself, it can be a whole building or buildings; a single room where a piano teacher teaches a few students can also be called a school (piano school)


Usage of 能骗就骗 (if you can cheat, then cheat)

能骗就骗 is a direct translation from a Cantonese expression "呃得就呃" (scam just because you can/ scam whenever you can)

It is a negative remark on someone's behavior; There's no encouragement of swindling

Example sentence:

"戴條手鍊可以防癌? 仲要賣成千蚊? 唔好呃得就呃噃!" (Wearing a bracelet can prevent cancer? And it costs a thousand dollar? Don't scam people just because you can)

"條友呃得就呃, 千祈咪上當!" (this guy scam people whenever he can, don't fall for it)

  呃得就呃 is commonly used in Cantonese, but 能骗就骗 may not be as popular in Mandarin

As  AnnieFromTaiwan pointed out 能X就X is a common sentence pattern, so is X得就X in Cantonese. However, the instances you can apply "呃得就呃" to are so numerous, it stands out among all other similarly structured phrases and has became a 'common expression'


How to say the term "招" and "式" in English?

Generally it's called 'move'.
To be precise, 招 is 'move' and 式 is 'stance' or 'form'.
When it comes to a specific move, you can use words like catch (手 as in 擒拿手), hit (打), reach (长拳), kick (踢) etc.

一招一式他都记得清清楚楚。
Every move is imprinted on his mind.


Looking for Pinyin/Traditional Characters eBooks

Your request of Pinyin and Traditional characters are in itself an oxymoron.

Pinyin is the system used in China and focuses on simplified characters. This system allows foreigners to learn Chinese a lot easier.
Traditional Chinese characters use ㄅㄆㄇㄈ. A system that is only used in Taiwan.
Currently there's not much casual medium (novels, movies) that combines Traditional and Pinyin together. More educational mediums consists of text books provided by National Taiwan University. I believe they teach Chinese using the ㄅㄆㄇ system. The Bible and church hymns (if you are religious) occasionally has pinyin, but sometimes this type of pinyin is written in Wade-Giles and pronounced as Taiwanese (the dialect)


Is it a solvable Idiom Crossword Puzzle?

this is what I got without hints:

and after the hints:

my personal feelings:

万水千山&山穷水尽 is a bit hard without hints, I was thinking about 万里之遥&遥不可及/遥遥无期.
背城借一，I didn't even know this word until I googled "带城和一的成语".
A and 4, I still don't know what they are.

UPDATE after new hints:


Comparative Glyph Origins Of (Visually) Close Characters

They are not much related.

The common part in these characters is 大/big, which is the pictograph of front of a person.

天 is sky, which is represented by the line above the person.

夭's original meaning is bending one's neck, represented by a curve on person's head.
It's extended meaning is "young", because young plants are curved.

The other two are different.

矢 is arrow. The top part is head and the bottom part is arrow feather.

失 is very interesting. It actually comes from 手/hand with a extra stroke.
Something falls out of one's hand -> lose something


TL;DR

It's a rubbing of 此君車. The proper translation is

  This (is) the master's chariot

as said in Wang Dingwei's answer. The man on the chariot could not be a king, because the structure of the chariot was just too poor for a king.

Update Jun 20, 2018: add the very original source of the rubbing.

Long Answer

I am not an expert on stone carvings (畫像石) of Han Dynasty, but I happen to have read some volumes of the series book Chinese Stone Carving Corpora – Stone Carvings of Han Dynasty in Shandong (中國畫像石全集: 山東漢畫像石). I will try to cover information of this rubbing as complete as possible, but be aware, my conjectures are not necessarily correct.

Where did the rubbing come from?

In the 1970s, 中国国际书店 (China International Book Store, now the name is changed to 中国国际图书贸易总公司, China International Book Trading Corporation) compiled a catalog for a collection of rubbings (the rubbings were made by 汲古閣 in 1960s–1970s):

  中国拓片 Chinese Rubbings

  The preface of this book said:

    中国国际书店经营出口的拓片，有墨拓、彩拓两大类，制作精工，形象、拓墨均能保持原貌，可供艺术爱好者收藏、欣赏。

    本目录所列各式拓片，均有现货，欢迎订购。

    The rubbings exported by China International Book Store mainly include two categories: ink rubbings (black and white) and color rubbings. They are well made and the image and rubbing ink can keep the original. They can serve art lovers for collecting and appreciating purpose.

    We have the rubbings listed in this catalog in stock. Orders are welcomed.

The rubbing in the question is one of them listed in this book, numbered "BS-2014" with a brief description:

  依据汉代山东嘉祥画像石拓制而成。一辆马车。乘车者是主人，手持缰绳拉马，后为随从，高举华盖侍候。

  Rubbed according to the stone carvings of Han Dynasty in Jiaxiang, Shandong Province. One chariot. The rider is the master, taking the rein pulling the horse; the follower is the servant, holding the canopy aloft.

  No.: BS-2014

Other similar rubbings of chariots in this book are

  功曹車 Head Clerk's chariot

  No.: BS-2071

  尉卿車 Head of Security's chariot

  No.: BS-2072

Story behind the rubbing

Before introducing what this kind of rubbings were used for, let's enjoy the "此君車馬" rubbing first:

  武氏祠前石室西壁上石畫像
  Stone carving on the West Wall, Front Stone Room, Wu Family Shrine

  約東漢靈帝建寧元年(公元一八六年)
  縱一一七厘米 橫二〇三厘米
  清代乾隆五十一年(公元一七八六年)山東省嘉祥縣武宅山村北出土
  嘉祥縣武氏祠保管所藏
  In the first year of Jianning of Emperor Ling of Han (186 AD)
  Height: 117cm, Width: 203cm
  Unearthed in the north of Wu Family Village, Jiaxiang County, Shandong Province, in the 51st year of Qianlong of Qing Dynasty (1786 AD)
  Kept in Preservation Institute of Wu Family Shrine of Jiaxiang County

  原石編號「前石室五」。畫面自上而下分為三層，層間分別隔以雙菱紋，連弧紋，花紋帶和橫欄，下邊飾鳥、獸、雲龍紋和連弧紋。第一層，銳頂部份，中刻西王母端坐於交龍上，兩側有羽人、玉兔、蟾蜍、奇禽異獸。第二層，刻孔門弟子一列二十二人，皆冠服左向恭立。第三層，刻一列車騎左向行。畫像殘泐，有榜題「調間二人」、「此騎吏」、「此君車馬」、「主簿車」、「主記車」。右端一人恭送。
  The original number of the stone is 前石室五 (5th of Front Stone Room). There are three stories in the picture. Double diamond patterns, Connected arc patterns, flower patterns and horizontal bars separate different stories. On the top story, the acme, Queen Mother of the West sitting on two crossed dragons is carved in the middle, with bird men, Jade Rabbit, Toad, supernatural birds and beasts at both sides. On the middle story, twenty-two apprentices of Confucius with costumes standing respectfully facing leftwards are carved. One the bottom story, a row of chariots heading left are carved – The image is damaged, and there are titles "調間二人" (two Tiaojian's), "此騎吏" (This cavalry [is a] officer), "此君車馬" (This [is] the master's chariot and horses), "主簿車" (Head Clerk's chariot), "主記車" (Head Secretary's chariot), and there's one man cordially seeing them off on the right.

  (The "此君車馬" part. Full image can be downloaded here (Format: djvu).)

As said in 中國畫像石全集 Chinese Stone Carving Corpora (vol. 1), "中國畫像石概論 An Introduction to Chinese Stone Carvings":

  漢代的畫像石，存在於石祠堂、石闕、墓葬和石棺之上，主要表現當時的各種信仰及主人的身份地位、生活境況。三國兩晉以後，這種表現手法漸被壁畫取代，畫像石迅速衰落，在北朝至隋唐五代，只在一些棺槨和棺床之上還能見到。再往後，則僅在某些石質碑版上還有類似的藝術品，但主要是用線刻手法表現的單幅畫面，也包括一些天文圖、地圖和城池及宮殿、官署、寺觀、園苑的平面圖。就整個畫像石藝術來說，已至尾聲階段。
  The stone picture carvings of Han Dynasty existed in stone shrines, stone watchtowers, tombs, and stone coffins, depicting the religions at that time as well as the master's social status and life situation. After the era of the three kingdoms and Jin Dynasty, this kind of artistic technique, stone picture carving, declined and was gradually replaced by murals. From Northern Dynasty to Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties, only on coffins and coffin beds could stone picture carvings be seen. And afterwards, only some stone boards had similar artworks, but they were mainly single frame expressed by the line carving technique, and included plans of some astronomic graphs, maps, cities, palaces, government offices, temples, and parks. However, for the art form of stone picture carving, it almost came to an end.

To be continued ... and now two years have passed. It doesn't actually cost me two years to find the answer to my doubts, but driven by the hard life (not really) as a software engineer, I've nearly forgotten the responsibility to finish this answer. Fortunately, the fate leads me here again.

Conclusion: the rubbing is a modern copy to a relatively old copy to the stone carving in 武梁祠後壁 (back wall of Wu family cemetery, Jiaxiang, Shandong Province, China), which dates back to the mid-2nd century. Currently, the stone is kept in 嘉祥縣文物保管所 (Jiaxiang cultural artifact museum).

  The relatively new rubbing (real rubbing but not copy) is

   OP's "rubbing" is at the bottom left corner. Zoom in:

Note that, 此君車 does not appear on the original source, so it is a mistake that might come from some other copies.

As you can imagine, there must be many versions of rubbings and copies appearing in history because the stone is so old. In fact, OP's "rubbing" probably copied the image from a relatively old book 金石索 (Research on Epigraphy) authored by Feng Yunpeng and Feng Yunyuan in 1836. This book contained copies of epigraphs. Note that again, there's no 此君車 on this old copy either.


Differences between 正在, 正 and 在 with the meaning of an action in progress?

正 in itself has many meanings, one of which is "just", and thus can be used in conjunction with 在.

正在 is what you are doing at this very moment, or where you are right now, or in general what is currently present, the progressive aspect (the English -ing form) if you will.

我们正在吃饭 = We are eating

西方正在经历的艰难 = The economic hardship that the West is presently enduring

我正在北京 = I am currently in Beijing (I just got here)

我在北京 = I am in Beijing (more or less stationary)

You could not use 正 alone in a similar fashion.

The progressive 正在 could also be contrasted with the continuous aspect using 着. 我正在穿衣服 = I am getting dressed (current action), while 我穿着衣服 = I am wearing clothes (current state).

Then it gets more tricky when you use both simultaneously, as in 我正在爱着你.


How do Chinese themselves enter characters into computer?

Chinese Input Methods Introduction:
Pinyin methods.

Bing

Out-of-box on windows in Chinese language. Very elegant. Pure typing.

Sougou

Most users. Most powerful word source. Most ADs. It provides anything you want and don't want.

QQ

Powerful than Bing, less useless functions than Sogou. I use QQ 精简 edition on windows.

Google

Only if you are a geek.
双拼(Double Type) Pinyin methods
Almost all these pinyin methods support this function to turn on in settings. I'd tried to learn it, but I found I can spend my time on TVs, so I still use pinyin.
五笔 methods
Sougou support this, just like I said, it provide anything.
Another choice is 极点五笔.
五笔 is very hard to learn, I had used this method for several years but switched to Pinyin methods many years ago. It is based on the form of character other than pronunciation, but it doesn't fit the nature of character-writing.
Common usages of Chinese input method:
Choosing word: Space
prev page: - or ,(comma)
next page: + or .(period)
some methods also support number keys.
switch to English: shift key.
Insert English: just type english ,then press Enter
Special content: press key v ( some methods allow you to input emojis, radicals, even running custom scripts. i.e. google method)


Is there a difference between 型態 and 形態？

We could firstly define the differences between 形 and 型.  While both defining as shape, I will say 型 is more toward 'shaped' in a sense:

  形 focus on the description of appearance, like a circle (圆形), square (正方形) which are
  mostly tangible, where 型 refers to standardizing of
  form / shape / pattern.

For example, 人的形態 - the form of a man - describe the appearance / gesture of a man.  Same goes for 社會經濟形態 - description of the economic form of a society.

資料型態 - data type - the types of data defined such as integer / float / etc.

Also note that 形 can be used as a verb which has various meaning depends on usage.


到处是 can be used interchangeably as 到处都是 and they means something exist everywere.

For example, 菜园里到处都是蘑菇 means mushrooms are everywhere in the garden.

Sometimes, 都 gives significance to the sentence, it emphasis that this specific place is unique as it has a specific object everywhere.

For example, 海里到处是水! means Ocean has water(which is a fact about ocean)
whereas if you say: 家里到处都是水 meaning there is water everywhere at home. You see that it is uncommon.

是means to be. So if you wish to use another verb with everywhere, you should remove 是 and replace it with a verb that you want to use。

Example: 到处跳舞： Dance Everywhere.
到处逛： Wandering Everywhere。

Hope That help.


Is there an equivalent for the Cantonese phrase "M Goi"

M Goi is written as 唔該 which in simplified is 唔该 or Wú gāi in pinyin.

The only thing I can think of that may be similar, although it definitely doesn't mean thanks is 劳驾 Láojià which you could use for "excuse me" or "hey" but not for thanks.


Han Dynasty linguist Hsu Shen's explanation in Shuo-wen Chieh-Tzu:

  【清·陳昌治刻本·說文解字】辱：恥也。从寸在辰下。失耕時，於封畺上戮之也。辰者，農之時也。故房星為辰，田候也。

  【清·段玉裁·說文解字注】恥也。心部曰。恥，辱也。此之謂轉注。儀禮注曰。以白造緇曰辱。从寸在辰下。會意。寸者，法度也。而蜀切。三部。失耕時。故从辰。於封畺上戮之也。故从寸。辰者，農之時也。故房星爲辰。說从辰之意。

According to him, 辰 refers to date/time, i.e. for farming; and 寸 refers to laws and the judicial system. This explanation draws upon the fact that ancient China, especially under the Chou Dynasty was heavily focused on agriculture. Because various stages of farming (planting, harvesting, etc) was time critical, those who messed up the dates were disgraced.

Thus 辱 comes from the judicial humiliation 寸 for missing the correct times for farming 辰. This meaning of "to humiliate" came into currency during the mid-late Chou Dynasty. In the bronze script, this character had a radical 言, denoting the verbal nature of the humiliation.

However, it might not have been the original meaning for that character.

By this I mean we are discussing the ancestor of the ancestor of the clerical script character 辱. When traced all the way back to oracle bone scripts, the character 辱 (or rather, its ancestor) meant "to weed". Modern scholars have argued that this came from a farming tool (seashell) 辰 being used by the right hand 又. The radical 又 later mutated into 寸 in the seal script.

This original bone script meaning developed into the clerical script character 耨. Also, that is where the explanation cited in the question came from. I would guess that at some point, @user3306356's source mixed up the two different lineages.


As a native Chinese speaker, I would think twice if I see "着" in ancient Chinese or in genteel writings. It is a hard character to learn. But the most common usage in modern Chinese, especially casual and oral occasions, is "function word"(虚词). It gives a hint of the mood and tense of the sentence but does not have a concrete meaning.
To make things clear, I would quote Modern Chinese Dictionary(《现代汉语词典》)'s full explanation but give my own comments to each meaning.

着【zhāo】
1 （～儿）（名）下棋时下一子或走一步叫一着：高～儿｜支～儿。
2 同“招”。
3 〈方〉（动）放；搁进去：～点儿盐。
4 〈方〉（动）用于应答，表示同意：这话～哇！｜～，咱们就这么办！

Comments: None of these meanings are common.
The first two are noun uses. Both are gradually substituted by "招" -- whether in chess play or not. A strict editor may correct you and use "招". The only case is in the proverb “一着不慎，满盘皆输”, only the original "着" is correct.
3 & 4 are northern dialect, around Beijing I believe. Very very rare. I've only heard this expression in TV series about BJ life in the last century. I can't think of any other cases.

着【zháo】
（动）
1 接触；挨上：上不着天，下不着地。
2 感受；受到：～风｜～凉。
3 燃烧，也指灯发光（跟“灭”相对）：炉子～得很旺｜天黑了，路灯都～了。
4 用在动词后，表示已经达到目的或有了结果：睡～了｜打～了｜猜～了。
5 〈口〉入睡：一上床就睡～了。

This is the most confusing pronunciation I believe. The neutral tone "·zhe" is the most common one and this is the second most.
There are some fixed combinations: “着调”(1)、“着凉”(2)、“着魔”(2)、“着迷”(2)、“睡着”（4&5）、“点着”（related to fire, 4). In these cases, you are almost certain it is "zhao2" not "·zhe".
Also when it's "verb+不+着" or "verb+得+着", it must be "zhao2" not "·zhe".
For 1, it is used as an active verb, not a functional verb, so it is not following a real verb. It means “挨着”、“够着”, "reaching". But it is also a very rare usage.

着【·zhe】
1 （助）表示动作的持续：他打～红旗在前面走｜他们正谈～话呢。
2 （助）表示状态的持续：大门畅～｜茶几上放～一瓶花。
3 （助）用在动词或表示程度的形容词后面，加强命令或嘱咐的语气：你听～｜步子大～点儿｜快～点儿写｜手可要轻～点儿
4 加在某些词后面，构成介词：顺～｜沿～｜朝～｜照～｜为～

This is the most common usage in Modern Chinese. When you see “着” following a verb and not with a “不”(or "得"), most likely it is a neutral tone "zhe".
However, this usage does not exist in ancient Chinese / classical Chinese （文言文）.

着1【zhuó】
1 穿（衣）：穿～｜吃～不尽。
2 接触；挨上：附～｜～陆｜不～边际。
3 使接触别的事物；使附着在别的物体上：～笔｜～眼｜～手｜～色｜～墨｜不～痕迹。
4 着落：寻找无～。
着2【zhuó】
1 (动)派遣：～人前来领取。
2 公文用语，表示命令的口气：～即施行。

This part is very confusing for Chinese pupils as well. There are many fixed combinations under this usage as well.
For "着2", it is most often in "着人", meaning "sending someone", but a more polished way than “派人”. Not your first choice of writing or speaking but you might see it in some places.
For "着1", I would suggest you just remember the following words: “着笔”、“着力”、“着陆”、“着墨”、“着色”、“着实”、“着手”、“着眼”、“着重”；“沉着”、“附着”、“胶着”、“衣着”、“执着”
Yes, there are more words to remember... so if you see a "着+noun" pattern, "zhuó" is more likely than "zháo". Also, people are using both pronunciations interchangeably in many words. Here I listed are the ones I believe not quite proper for the other pronunciation.
For "verb+着", here are the very few fixed combinations you can only use "zhuo2". If it is after a word meaning "stick", use "zhuo2"
Notes:
"执着" can be written interchangeably with "执著"
"穿着" can be "chuan1 zhuo2" or "chuan2 ·zhe". "chuan1 zhuo2" is a noun, or an intransitive verb, e.g. 他的穿着(n.)很时髦；他穿着(v.)入时.  "chuan1 zhe" is a transitive verb, e.g. 他穿着时髦的衣服。

This answer is getting super long.
So my ultimate rules are as following:
"verb + 着" is most likely "·zhe", especially when it is used as a transitive verb. Remember some of the "zhuó" combinations, and when it's about clothing or sticking.
"verb + 不 + 着" and "verb + 得 + 着" are "zháo". "睡着" is always "zháo". "Reaching" is always "zháo".
"着 + noun" is most likely "zhuó". But remember the "zháo" combinations. The line between "zhuó" and "zháo" in this form is a bit vaguer.

I hope this long answer can be somehow helpful. I'm a native Chinese speaker, but inexperienced in explaining Chinese in English LOL. Let me know if anything confusing.


Preferred translation:
Bestie
New Century English-Chinese Dictionary
Defines Bestie as:

挚友；好哥们儿；闺蜜；死党

Urban Dictionary #1 def:

A person who means the world to you. The person that when you met you just kinda connected. The person that you were always there for. The person that isn't a love partner but they hold a special place in your heart. Someone that when they get hurt it hurts you too. Someone who no matter what happens between you two everything always ends up being alright. A person you can trust with anything.
Richie is her bestie. She is his bestie. They are forever besties no matter what.

and definition #2

An adoring nickname for one you hold in highest esteem, more commonly known as a best friend. A bestie is the person who you not only go shopping with on a regular basis but also trust implicitly with anything.. besties do not come and go like waves and sandcastles, they are more like permanent marker on American Eagle jeans, they'll stay with you forever. It is much better to have one pure andgood bestie who is true to you then multiple 'besties' (even though if theres more than one t usually will not count as a bestie, technically) who are only like pants that stay with you only until you get too fat for them, or you tear them (like hurting them, and then them being all unforgiving), or just until they fade. A true bestie would stick with you through all of it, walking in when the world walks out.
Boyfriend: Hey, wanna go to the movies with me later?
You: Oh my gosh I'm sorry maybe tomorrow I've got plans with my bestie already. I would never blow her off!

An alternative:
Bosom Buddy

Noun
bosom buddy (plural bosom buddies)
A very close friend.


The Vietnamese word for shop is cửa hàng.

Cửa is not Sino-Vietnamese, but a Vietic morpheme. IF (and that's a big IF) cửa in cửa hàng means door, then cửa can be represented by「」, which just means door, and「舉」is not part of the meaning of cửa.

  「」or「」(cửa) is made up of semantic「門」(door) and phonetic「舉」(cử).

Chinese has a similar word:「門市」, which is the front of a store.


"...第二舰队变牛了以后调到了第二舰队当先任参谋..."

To me this sentence seems a little bit strange. I guess there is a name of the person before this sentence.

If so, then the sentence means that: After the second fleet becomes stronger, someone was transferred and become the chief of staff there.

  "改名后变牛的10所大学"

Translation: 10 College became elite school after changing their names.

  "为什么很多人说读《毛泽东选集》就变牛了"

Translation: Why many people say that you will become smarter/sharper after reading "Selected Works of Mao Zedong"?

So you can see that in these sentences, “变牛” means becomes stronger. The exact meaning might change according to the specific situation.


Is it polite to answer a question asked by a senior by starting with "回...的話"?

starting a reply with 回 is too subservient in modern Chinese conversation.

You only hear people use "回 + title" in period drama nowadays

In olden time, people would use  "回 + title" to replay to authority

e.g.  回皇上, 回大人

They didn't even normally talk like that to their father or teacher (they are in higher status and position, but they are also close to you, therefore, no need for subservient phrase like that)

回先生的話, 學生今年八歲 imply the student himself acknowledges he is not allowed to speak in front of the authority (in this case, the teacher) unless spoken to or with permission to speak. It is not the society generally think in modern time.


Measure Words and their English Analogue

I've been taught, however, that in Chinese, every noun has one and only one correct measure word associated to it, and in particular, you can't make the analogous distinction between the two cases in Chinese.

This is completely wrong. Measure words in Chinese do carry meaning, just like in English.

Using the wine example, all the following are correct:

一瓶酒 (a bottle of wine)
一碗酒 (a bowl of wine)
一壶酒 (a kettle of wine)
一杯酒 (a glass of wine)
一滴酒 (a drop of wine)
一斤酒 (a jin (a Chinese unit, =0.5 kg) of wine)

Because wine is uncountable, the measure words are container names, or volume, or weight.

For countable nouns, such as 'person', there are singular measure words and collective measure words (also known as group measure words):

一个人 (one person)
一群人 (a group of person)
一队人 (a team of person)
一大帮人 (a big gang of people)
一小撮人 (a small proportion of people (from a large group))

Even within singular measure words for the same noun, there are different focuses corresponding to different contexts, such as:

一堵墙 (literally 'a blockage of wall')
一面墙 (literally 'a surface of wall')

When you want to say the wall blocked the exit, you may choose 一堵墙挡住了去路, while expressing a wall-ful of photos, you may want to say 照片多得挂满了一面墙. Although in this case switching them is fine (still grammatical), it would become less consistent in inner semantics, hence less literary.


Usage of 万 (wàn): ten thousands or just a great number?

You are correct, 万, 千 and 百 literally mean 10000, 1000 and 100. These words are often used as a figurative number for 'great', 'huge' or 'immense'

For example:

万人空巷 doesn't literally mean ten thousand people spilling out to the streets. 万人 means 'great number of people'

万水千山 doesn't literally mean ten thousand bodies of water and one thousand mountains.  万水千山 means many, many mountains and bodies of water = "immense distance"

千锤百炼 doesn't literally mean hammer one thousand times and temper one hundred times. 千锤百炼 means "extendedly forged"

Other numbers like 六, 九, 十 are often used metaphorically for 'all, entire, ultimate' too.

For example:

六軍(whole army)，九阴九阳(extreme/ ultimate yin and extreme/ ultimate yang), 十全十美 (perfect)

万, 千 and 百 are not figurative number, when they are with actual numbers.  一万, 二千 and  三百 can only mean 10000, 2000 and 300


Does the word '铬' have other meaning besides chromium/chrome?

It is a typo, it should be 硌.
If you sit on a rock, you would feel the rock 硌 your butt.
If your hand hold a wooden stick that is not smooth, you feel 硌手.


Why is the character 漢 built in such a weird way?

According to 说文解字,

  从水，難省聲

So 漢 is taking  as its pictophonetic part.

1. What does  mean?

This is the ancient inscriptions (甲骨文 and 金文) of it (from 字源谈趣).

Its original meaning is to fire someone (as a penalty), who is tied up and crying to the sky. So it's used for the meaning of suffering or disaster, and then 難, 艱, 嘆 were created based on it.

2. Why 漢 took this character as its pictophonetic part?

1st perspective, from 字源谈趣,

  漢水的“漢”，以“氵”（水）表意，以“漢（去氵）”表音兼表义。意指古代聚居在漢水一带中原地区的我国最大的民族——华夏族（后发展以“漢”为名的漢族），是历经千灾万难，在与艰难困苦斗争中发展起来的。

[“漢” is taking “氵”（water） as its ideographical part, taking “漢”（getting rid of 氵） as its pictophonetic and ideographical part. It indicates the largest nationality residing at 漢水 struggled to grew up (into the han nationality).]

2nd perspective, from 象形字典,

  造字本义：长江最大支流，古代中原朝庭常常流放政治犯的西北水域。

[In ancient times 漢水 served as a place of banishment for criminals.]


'儘' in '儘量' has the 亻 Radical, denote 'human effort'

  儘量 :'to the best of one's ability' ; 'as far as possible' (in term of human effort)

  Do not confuse with 盡量 which is different in form, reading, and meaning.

~

  盡量 : reach the limit (drink or eat); to the full

  Do not confuse with 儘量 which is different in form, reading, and meaning.

Example:

When you say '我會儘量給他貸款' , you mean: 'I (personally) will do my best to give him a loan' (to the best of you ability to secure a loan for him)
When you say '我會盡量給他貸款', you mean: " I will give him the maximum amount in loan'. (if the bank only authorizes you to lent out loans no bigger than $5000, then $5000 loan is the limit)

Another example:

儘量投放物資 - do one's best to deliver supplies
盡量投放物資 - deliver maximum amount of supplies until it is exhausted

  尽 is the simplified form for both 盡 and 儘.

Which mean in Mainland China, 儘量 and 盡量 are both written as 尽量, but their pinyin are different depend on which meaning you are using.


The original character is actually 箸, not 著. The latter is a derivative character of the former, and the former is not used anymore in Mandarin Chinese as a word for 'chopsticks', but is still used in some other Chinese languages.

According to this, chop-chop comes from 速速 (Cantonese cuk1 cuk1), but it's been too long since that word was invented, and since its earliest usage was probably among pidgin communities in Southeast Asia, which is a melting pot of cultures and languages, its true origin is very unlikely to be convincingly determined.


I think the idiom is adapted from the Chinese version of Mafia (party game).
Players close their eyes "at night".
In the Chinese version of the game, it's "天黑了请闭眼" (It's dark, please close your eyes (waiting for something to happen next).).
Also, I think the expression “他来了请闭眼” (He comes, please close your eyes (waiting for something to happen next).) contains elements of burlesque or joke.


General rule for when 一 is yi1 and when it's yi2/yi4

The rule of thumb is the following.
When indexing it is yi1. For example

一楼 (first floor)
一声 (first tone)
第一 (the first)
一次世界大战 (World War I)
一来 (firstly)

When counting （the same rule as 不）

it is yi4 when followed by 1, 2, 3 tone

一呼百应
一毛不拔
一百
一扫而光

it is yi2 when followed by 4 tone

一蹴而就
一气呵成

For others, mostly yi1. For example

统一
均一
敬一丹（name）

As a comparison, 二 can be indexing or counting, but 两 is only counting.
PS: Most of the words in the Wikipedia list are right, but there are clear errors. For example "一yi4夫一yi4妻" appeared in 2 lists. And, it should be "一yi4朝一yi4夕". Don't fully trust it.


Do acronyms borrowed from English use neutral tone (aka tone 0 or tone 5) for all syllables?

In short: the standard pronunciation is the English pronunciation.

There's no Chinese standard way to pronounce English letter (how they are pronounced when they are used as pinyin should not be counted here, I think). Tone does not exist for English letters, as they are English, not Chinese. English intonation should take effect(in English, when 'DVD' is pronounced, some letter would be falling, others not).

However, as only few can pronounce English very good in China, and as the pronunciation is affected by the whole sentence(which is in Chinese), what mostly used is in fact Chinglish.

And the pinyin 'sìdì' for CD in wikitionary is definitely wrong. I've never heard anybody talk like that. Pinyin cannot be assigned to English letters.


我们＝we, us

everyone＝每人，人人，每个
"every" means 每 in Chinese.
"one" indicates people or thing.

So, the correct translation would be 每人 or 每个; and, in Chinese, 每人 is the same as 人人.


No other significance than being a historical language and script of interest to academia. As such, it has a given role in Unicode.


Using SHI4 for noun and adjective, exceptional rules

It is much easier if you know how your own mother language works, instead of trying to understand "grammar logic" of foreign language with your own understanding.

Let's look at some example :

the sky [is] blue ：天空[是]蓝(色)的
the sky [is] crystal blue : 天空是透蓝的
The air [is] bad : 空气[很]差/坏
he [is] bad : 他[很]坏.  他[是]个坏人. 他[很]差劲
he [is] naughty : 他[很]顽皮
he [is] (a) bad guy : 他[是] (个) 坏蛋/坏人

If you think the confusion is cause by mandarin connector, it is half true.

I.e., the sentence The air is bad carry out (ambiguous) relative comparison . Mandarin use 很 to explicit brought out relative comparison attributes.

So He is tall , is relative. It carry out additional comparison message e.g. "He is tall, compare to his sibling".  他很高，和他兄弟姐妹比较的话。

是 used for affirmative, or agree

He is (a) USA citizen 他是(个)美国人
His lucky charm is a penguin 他的幸运物是只企鹅

Now ，I think you shouldn't have trouble differentiate this :

他的皮肤很黑

他的皮肤是黑色的

If you use both affirmative 是 and 很, it just emphasize 很, nothing conclusive, but just agree others about something.

最近生意是很差 （Recently, the business is really bad )
(well, the business is really bad, last time one used to make $1000 a day, now only take home $990 a day, really bad.)

So in a conversation :

Lee : The business is bad
李 ： 生意很差
Business partner : Yupe, the business is bad， but it is not doom
生意伙伴 ：生意是很差, 不过还没那么坏

In short, you use 是 if agree on another person relative statement.
X : he is tall    他很高
Y : yes, he is really tall compare to his sibling,  是呀， 他是很高, 和他家的兄弟姐妹比较的话。

However, sometime you will prefer to use really 真的 ， as agreement or emphasize your statement.

He is really tall , 他真的很高


Difference between 还/更 in comparasion phrases

Both 还 and 更 have more than one meanings and the meaning of "even more" is overlapped between the two characters,
When it means  "even more" the two characters are interchangeable.

Yao Ming 比 Michael Jordan 高 = Yao Ming is taller than Michael
(It would be true even if Yao Ming was 5'3" and  Michael Jordan was only 5'2")

~

Yao Ming 比 Michael Jordan 更/还高 = Yao Ming is even taller than Michael
(It would be true only if Michael Jordan was considered very tall)

~

她比 Megan Fox 漂亮 = she is more beautiful than Megan Fox
(it would be true even if she was just less ugly than Megan Fox)

~

她 比 Megan Fox 更/还漂亮 = she is even more beautiful than Megan Fox
(It would be true only if Megan Fox was considered very beautiful)

[比 (N) 还 (adj)] = [比 (N) 还要 (adj)]
[比 (N) 更 (adj)] = [比 (N) 更加 (adj)]


In classical Chinese, does 從 always imply the follower is lower in rank?

in the book “殷周金文集成”, the entry 04030,
my best understanding of 从 in the 5th column:
engaged in (从) the commanding (司) [of] the royal court (王家), outside and inside (外內)
the structure of “从司” is similar to “從事”, or “從政”; that “从” means “engaged in, enter, become”. it does not have the meaning of “follow” here.

edited. if 從 (u+5f9e) is allowed, in lieu of 从 (u+4ece); then, in the book of rites (禮記), the chapter 曾子問 has the text:

孔子曰・大宰・大宗・從大祝而告於禰

in the same book, the chapter 曲禮下:

天子建天官・先六大・曰大宰・大宗・大史・大祝・大士・大卜・典司六典

roughly, it means:

Confucius said, 'The Grand minister and the Grand master of the ancestral temple will follow the Grand officer of prayer, and announce the fact before the spirit tablet (of the deceased ruler)

that, the grand minister (大宰), the grand master of the ancestral temple (大宗) were the no 1 & no 2 in 周 dynasty
the grand  officer of prayer (大祝) is the no 4
so, under specified circumstance, the no1 & no2 official would follow (從) a lower ranking official (the no4) to a particular place.
https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=59684
https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=9558

edited again.

Are there any cases where the object of 從 did not display such superiority or any superiority altogether?

well, in the book 莊子, chapter 德充符:

魯有兀者王駘，從之遊者，與仲尼相若

roughly, it means:

In Lu there was a Wang Tai who had lost both his feet; while his disciples who followed and went about with him, were as numerous as those of confucius.

that, in ancient time, disabled persons were treated as inferior. in this case, mr 王’s disciples were numerous, that, we ought to assume that most, if not all of them are able-bodied.
so, the “從” in here does not infer superiority.
https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=2748
another case is in the same book, chapter 達生:

孔子觀於呂梁，縣水三十仞，流沫四十里，黿鼉魚龞之所不能游也。見一丈夫游之，以為有苦而欲死也，使弟子並流而拯之。數百步而出，被髮行歌而游於塘下。孔子從而問焉

roughly, it means:

Confucius was looking at the cataract near the gorge of Lu, which fell a height of 240 cubits, and the spray of which floated a distance of forty li (producing a turbulence) in which no tortoise, gavial, fish, or turtle could play. He saw, however, an old man swimming about in it, as if he had sustained some great calamity, and wished to end his life. Confucius made his disciples hasten along the stream to rescue the man; and by the time they had gone several hundred paces, he was walking along singing, with his hair dishevelled, and enjoying himself at the foot of the embankment. Confucius followed and asked him

i think this example is clear, that the “從” doesn’t not display any superiority.
have fun :)
https://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=gb&id=2847#s10042177


Modern words to compliment a beautiful woman/girl beauty

美女 is the safest choice.

宝贝 is used to call someone (boy or girl) who's in a romantic relationship with you, or you call a baby girl (usually aged < 10) 宝贝.

女神 nowadays has some negative meanings and is not recommended.

Other similar choices are 小美女，靓妹.

An example in wechat:


Well, martial arts and Cantonese, you like Bruce Lee? Anyway, here's what you want:

打我心口 - punch (打) my (我) chest (心口)

打我個肚 - punch (打) my (我) abdomen (肚)

打我個頭 -  punch (打) my (我) head (頭)

打我呢度 -  punch (打) my (我) here (呢度) [supposed you pointed to somewhere by your finger, when you say it]

Sound files:

打　⋯　http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/daa2.Mp3

我　⋯　http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/ngo5.Mp3

心口　⋯　http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/sam1.Mp3 http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/hau2.Mp3

個肚　⋯　http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/go3.Mp3http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/tou5.Mp3

個頭　⋯　http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/go3.Mp3http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/tau4.Mp3

呢度　⋯　http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/nei1.Mp3http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/sound/dou6.Mp3

Furthermore, 打 (punch) is assumed using fists. If you need other types of attacks (fingers, palm, elbow, or kick), you need to state clearly to you companions :)

BTW, just curious, which martial arts are you learning?


For a student studying Chinese as a second language, is there any practical difference between the radicals 匚 and 匸?

Sort of in a rush here so just some hints. First, I'd say the suggestion that 'their pinyin is different, so they must be kept apart' is, well, not wrong and not right. Neither of the two box/enclosure characters is used by itself in the modern language, so the situation never arises. There are also artificial radicals that were never used by themselves and were only stipulated to explain the formation of characters and/or serve as dictionary headings. These may well be ones, and I suspect that when you go and study the small seal forms of modern characters you will find a more pronounced difference in shapes than is visible in the modern forms. This is analogous to what happened to 月 which is the modern conflation of at least: 月 moon, 舟 boat, and 肉 meat/flesh. There have been numerous attempts in history to undo these and other conflations, mostly by requiring people to observe minuscule variations in how the strokes are put together. None of these attempts was ever widely followed, and the conflations have stuck.
One practical way to decide whether I or you should care about the 'box' radical being different from the 'enclosure' radical would be to glance over the historical record of how calligraphers treated these; for example, by looking at http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/531A.html and http://www.guoxuedashi.com/zidian/5338.html you can already tell that at least this source gives almost identical details for both radicals. I'd then recommend to look at what's listed in 书法 section of that site for a number of characters that are sorted under both radicals and see whether historically people have made any discernible difference between the two. If not, I'd say you're free to do the same.
Edit Comparing 匣 Rad. 22 and 區 Rad. 23 makes it, IMO, clear that (1) there's no very clear distinction between the two made even in the early forms; (2) conversely, a number of stroke order and stroke shapes is used for either radical, some writers preferring to write top, inside, then left-bottom, others using top, left, inside, bottom order.
Edit 2 I just counter-checked with 《新書源》（二玄社，東京，2009, 2013, pp114ff） and I'd go even one step further here. I could not locate any source that has the distinction the 說文解字 makes between the two radicals, namely, the straight end of the bottom line for rad. 22, and the drooping end of the same for rad. 23. There are a few forms predating the 說文 but none has a drooping line. Based on this evidence I suspect that 許慎 Xu Shen is responsible for introducing this distinction, and it wouldn't be the only time that there are allegedly authentic seal forms that are somehow only represented by this single dictionary. It is also known that a few character forms that we today regularly distinguish were kept apart only by the late Han and used indistinctly before that, an example being 人 and 入, which are likewise only separated by the tiniest of hints (and observe that 入 violates a principle of 楷書 calligraphy, so even this may be an artificial distinction, albeit one that gained currency).
Xu Shen may have had good reason to separate 匚 and 匸, his work being more of a student's rote memo book than a work of epigraphy or etymology proper. Maybe in his day it was part of being an educated man to be aware of a difference although both looked identical. Be that as it may, the distinction never caught on, and seeing how very few characters are grouped under either of these two radicals, I think one can best ignore the distinction for all practical matters.


What is the difference, if any, between 开心 and 快乐

开心 can be either joyful, delighted or the mood of happiness.

快乐 is the mood of happiness.  The dictionary defines it as:

  形容称心如意的心情

So, we say 我今天玩得很开心，not 我今天玩得很快乐.

But they can be synonyms as in 和他在一起很开心/快乐. In this case, both denote the sense of the mood of happiness.


exact meaning of 你自以为的极限只是别人的起点

"你自以为的极限只是别人的起点"
"The limit you thought you had reached, is just a starting point for some other people."

She was saying the guy gave up too easily.
He thought he had reached the limit of his ability to continue on with this relationship; The woman disagreed, suggesting the level of obstacle this guy facing was no more than a starting point of a challenge in many people's eyes.
A challenge get harder and harder after it started. But the starting point of a challenge is easy--  all you have to do, is to 'decide to take it on.'


Why was 幸 simplified to 扌in 報(⿰幸) to 报(⿰扌)?

As with many simplified characters, cursive scripts (Caoshu) can be informative.

In "Chuyue tie" by the famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi, 報 is written as follows:

As @dROOOze mentioned in the comment, the radical 幸 came from the character for handcuffs, which could indicate that the use of 扌(手) might related; but I can't find any source for this so far.


What is the difference between 太太 and 夫人?

In modern Chinese:

太太 is a common title for "Mrs." or a noun for "married woman" (in general)

  Mrs. : a title used before a surname or full name to address or refer to a married woman, or a woman who has been married, without a higher or honorific or professional title.

夫人 is a more formal honorific or title for "Madam" or a noun for "married woman" (of high status)"

  Madam :(often initial capital letter) a polite term of address to a woman, originally used only to a woman of rank or authority:

In short, 太太 is a general title for married women; 夫人 is a more formal/honorable title for married women;

女仕 is another honorific for women. A formal/ polite term for addressing to adult woman  (single or married)

The difference between 太太 and 夫人 is somewhat similar to San (さん) and Sama (様) in Japanese


In many Chinese people's minds, 塔 are buildings with triangle shape, and 楼 are more flat, which is usually true.

While, if you are into the formal differences in terms of architecture. The difference between 塔 and 楼 is that 塔 has Sōrin (which is the vertical shaft which tops a Japanese pagoda, whether made of stone or wood) while 楼 does not. Certain 楼 may have a triangle shape but does not have Sōrin is called 楼, such as 黄鹤楼. And any architecture with Sōrin is called 塔，even it has only one floor, such as 山东历城神通寺四门塔。

Please note that this definition may only suit traditional Chinese architectures, and may not necessary fit our naming for modern architecture such as (Eiffel Tower).


Comparison question with implicit 再 zài?

"可以便宜吗？" = "Can it be cheap?"
"可以便宜一点儿吗？" = "Can it be cheaper?"
"可以(更)便宜一点儿吗？" = "Can it be cheaper (more)?" -- compare to cheaper price
可以(再)便宜一点儿吗？ = Can it be cheaper (again) -- repeat 'the action be cheaper
It may be easier to understand with different phrasing:

"可以便宜一点儿吗？" = "Can you lower the price?"
"可以(更)便宜一点儿吗？" = "Can you lower the price (more)?"
"可以(再)便宜一点儿吗？" = "Can you lower the price (again)?"

You can repeat the same phrase as many time as you want until you get the lowest price you can get.


What is the equivalent of "make sense" in Chinese?

The most appropriate translation to make sense would probably be 有道理, which literally means has sense or reason.  For example:
你说的有道理
What you said is reasonable / What you said makes sense.

The phrase 说不通 would probably work, but it is not used frequently in Mainland China Mandarin (普通话) as 有道理 for the same context, if at all.
As for 符合逻辑, the phrase means the same thing as 有道理, but it is more verbose and academic.  It is like saying:
That is well reasoned.
---as opposed to---
That makes sense.

As you can see the latter is what people use in daily conversations, while the former make you sound like some College Professor. ;-)
[It doesn't make any sense] would translate to 这没有道理。  Though in the context of your example, I think it sounds more natural in the Chinese context to say It is ridiculous (这太荒唐了） in response to the situation. Cultural differences in the way we think I suppose.


清洁 can also be used as a verb "to clean", not just as an adjective
清理 is only really used as a verb "to clean" in general. It can also mean "to tidy up" (no water required), and even "to dispose of" (even euphemistically, like 处理).
洗 is used for "to wash", but where it overlaps with "to clean" is often in a construction with 给, e.g. 给X洗干净 "give X a (good/thorough) clean".
清洗 is a more literary version of the above.
清涤 and 洗涤 are even more literary versions of the above, used in certain newspaper articles, official notices, translations of the Bible etc.
打扫 is used for "to sweep", but often gives the impression of "tidying up" and especially of rooms / parts of the house that don't require water for cleaning.
整理 is to "tidy up" or "arrange", and is also especially common for tidying up one's room.


You got it: “starting from relatively famous schools”. This is not great written Chinese tho, it's more like spoken Chinese written down - I wouldn't read too much into it. You already know what it should be, you wrote it above: 从比较有名的开始. 有名的 is referring to the schools here.

  So is it OK to omit the preposition in these cases? Or grammatically not correct but nonetheless commonly used, especially in these blog posts? It is still a bit difficult to make a transition from a rigorous textbook Chinese to a live sentence used on the Web... -@Blaszard

Yeah, especially when Chinese makes such a large distinction between written (书面语) and oral (口语) language. Day-to-day speech is basically a free for all. Sometimes you'll even hear words like 其实 or 而且 at the end of sentences almost like an after thought. As for your 从 preposition here, yeah you can drop it here, but in written language it is always better to keep it.


"做" contains the meaning of  "be ", not "become"

"我想做一个警察" means "I want to be a police"

it is "成为" that means "become", not just "成"

(成 is mostly used as a result complement for varieties of verb)

"我想成为一个警察" means "I want to become a police"

  how does the word 做 as a singular character have such a broad meaning from ‘doing’ to ‘becoming’ without the addition of another character

As I stated, 做 can mean 'be' but not 'become'

You know when does it mean 'be' or 'do' by looking into the context.
When the object after 做 is a task or action, you know 做 means 'do'; When the object after 做 is an identity, you know 做 means 'be'

Example:

做功課，做木工，做好事 = do homework, do woodwork, do good thing (功課，木工，好事 are all nouns for action)

做學生，做木匠，做好人 = be a student, be a carpenter, be a good person (學生，木匠，好人 are all nouns for identity)

Notice: don't confuse 做(do/ be) with 造(make), e.g. 做個包子 (be a bun) is not the same as 造個包子 (make a bun)


占便宜 means "to take (unfair) advantage (at other people's expense)", "to profit at others' expense".


Since it's purely colloquial, there are several possible origins exist.
One source claims that it comes from Paijiu (a gambling game). there are 二板 (four) and 幺五 (six, one plus five). They're the weakest combination in this game. Therefore, 二板五 was invented to call people who accomplish nothing. 二百五 (250) pronounces similarly to 二板五.
Another source says 二百五 comes from literatures in early 20th Century. In Bizarre Happenings Eyewitnessed over Two Decades by Wu Jianren, there is: "...(He) bought a tongzhi(official) with 250 (silver liang), and wanders everyday in the world. " In 1913, a short film (《二百五白相城隍庙》, Fools in Shanghai) depicted a peasant who was in his first visit to Shanghai. He didn't know the etiquettes in cities and made many troubles. Since he was called 二百五, it soon became a popular word indicating stupid people.


How can 灵魂 be used in sentences/sayings that distinguishes itself from
  the western understanding or meaning of 'spirit'?

We might also ask how you distinguish soul and spirit in English. If you are clear about that (a big if), you could find an answer to your question easily!

Here is a cheap and nasty explanation.

Have a look here too.

  and can be used in situations in situations of 'true love' referring to loving each other's 灵魂.

Maybe the word you are looking for is soulmates? In the following sentences the bold text can be translated as soulmates.

我也不相信灵魂伴侣。
前卫网站《灵魂伴侣科学》报道称灵魂伴侣确实真实存在，而且可以被科学所证明。
昨日的挚友，今日的恋人，永远的知己
而且我希望全部你淑女也找你得不见知音
这个时候我真想找个贴心人说说心里话呀！


You're right that it's not verb serialization, but 去 is still a verb in this sentence. Instead, 怎么走 is the interrogative adverbial phrase that modifies the V+O 去故宫. Consider the sentence structure of a possible answer to the question:

我 骑车     去 故宫。
S  Adv.     V  O

The structure needs no explanation. Now replacing the adverbial phrase with an interrogative one, the sentence becomes an interrogative sentence:

我怎么走去故宫？

Invert the sentence for emphasis:

去 故宫 我 怎么走？
V  O   |S  Adv.

In the case of 故宫我怎么去, it's the inversion of 我怎么去故宫, where the interrogative adverbial phrase is simply 怎么 without a verb.

我 怎么 去 故宫？
S  Adv. V  O

故宫 我 怎么 去？
O   |S  Adv. V


老不死 == 老而不死 being old, but not die; It implies some old guy should die as soon as possible, rather than stay alive, wasting food and hurting others... etc.
It's used to curse some old people whom you hate and consider to be useless to others.

It doesn't mean Chinese think old is bad, instead Chinese people have a tradition to support old people.. Whereas, if there's someone who did nothing good when he was young, accomplished nothing when he was an adult, stays alive when old, and keeps hurting people around, his life then is considered useless and even harmful to others. You then can call him 老不死, to curse him to die early.

Also, there are some people who hate old people and think they are useless all over the word. For this kind of people, they might just use the word 老不死 to refer to any old people, in a derogatory way.

The original of the word was from Confucius. 子曰: 幼而不孙弟, 長而無述焉, 老而不死, 是為賊.


毁灭 = 'to destroy'
'ruined' here is an adjective that means '毁灭了的/ 残破的'
'ruined world' = 毁灭了的世界/ 残破的世界

Explore a beautiful, vast, and ruined world riddled with dangers and lost technologies.

探索一个美丽(的)，广阔而残破(的)，充满危险和失落(的)科技的世界。

The term 'lost technologies' is usually translated as 失落的科技 or 遗失的科技. '丢失' is more suitable for a recent event; 失落的/ 遗失的 is more suitable for a distant event
Either 残破的世界 or 破败的世界 is better than 毁灭的世界

美丽的世界

广阔而残破的世界

充满危险和遗失的科技的世界

探索一个美丽，广阔而残破，充满危险和遗失科技的世界。

When putting the three above phrases together to form a single sentence, you can just keep the last 的 and omit the rest. The  的 before 世界 serves as the adjectival marker for all the adjectives in this sentence
More example:

好看的车

贵价的车

全新的车

好看，贵价，全新的车


Correcting a false negative answer to a 是不是 question

There shouldn't be much chance of confusion here, because when you respond, you would be using words to indicate correctness, like 對（対）or 錯 instead of 是. So, if they respond to your question with 不是 and then you say 是 there should be no doubt that you are contradicting them, rather than affirming the correctness of their answer. Chinese is more convenient than English in this regard.

So, a few ways to answer:

不對，是蘋果
你答錯了，是蘋果
它就是蘋果
是啊

... or variations on the above.

And, of course, as the commenters mention, for the sake of pedagogy you could find out why they got the answer wrong.


It looks like 怀谷 , from the idiom 虚怀若谷

虛懷若谷 means:

  have a mind as open as a valley -- very modest; be extremely open-minded; be in a receptive mood; be open to conviction; free from pride and prejudices; from a sense of one's inadequacy; modest and open-minded


Why is 长 never translated with 'look like'?

It's true; a lot of sources don't mention looks. I'm not sure why. But, here is one that does:

Wiktionary

  (of a person) to look; to appear (e.g. beautiful)

Also if you have Pleco, you can check out Tuttle, their definition includes:

  grow to be, look

A lot of resources are more likely to put this definition under 长得.

MDBG

  to look (pretty, the same etc)

This is likely to be because you'd be hard-pressed to find 长 by itself talking about looks with a 得.


Please read my answer to this post Why is there such a difference between "first name" and "last name"?

Actually, 姓名 is almost interchangeable with 名字 in modern time
When someone ask "你的名字是什么?" It is more common to state your full name (全名) than just your given name

If you want to ask someone's last name, you can say: "請問你姓什麼?" or "請問貴姓?" (May I ask, what is your family name)

If you want to ask someone's full name, you can say: "請問你全名是什麼? or "請問你的姓名是什麼?" (May I ask, what is your full name?)

If you want to ask someone's first name, you can say: "請問你名字叫什麼?" (You are literally asking someone's given name and courtesy name. Since most people in modern time have no courtesy name, 名字 could only mean 'first name'. However, as I stated before,  姓名 and 名字 are interchangeable in modern time. people could answer with their full name or first name)

To specifically asking for someone's first name, you need to be specific and ask: "你父母給的取的名字是什麼?" (What is the name given to your by your parents?) Your family name is born with you, only your first name is given to you by your parents

More on Chinese name: What does this symbol mean?


What is the difference between 听 and 听力|?

听 is a verb, for example 听歌 (listen to a song).

听力 is a noun: the ability to hear


Edit: I was born in H.K, I would accept the Hong Kong's standard

/zhuó zhòng/ is the standard reading of 着重

There's a 著 , 着.discussion on this subject here http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?14,139780

著 in 衣著 is pronounced /yī zhuó/

著 is used in place of 着 in Taiwan

In summary:

着= /zháo/

着重 = /zhuó zhòng/ (in this compound , 着 is read the same as 著 in 衣著)

著重 = /zhuó zhòng/ (only in Taiwan)

The editor at Pleco might had considered 着 and 著 the same character in this compound (accepted both Taiwan and mainland China's standard),  and listed both single character's pinyin.


How would one write "face up" (e.g. as an instruction on a copier)?

"Face up" in Chinese is 面朝上.

An example sentence:

Place your card face up on the table, please.

请把你的牌面朝上摊在桌子上。

面向上 is also OK.

From the Japanese alternatives, perhaps the first one would be more intelligible in Chinese, but with 上 at the end of the expression.


What can be included in between a separable verb?

Here is what AllSetLearning has to say about separable verbs:

  ...until you understand which verbs are separable verbs and how they
  work, you'll forever be making mistakes with these verbs, even in very
  basic sentences.

BTW I think it is a quite decent summary.

Besides 了, 着, 过, and measure words, you can put other things in between if the verb is not "rigid".

Some separable verbs are more rigid than others. For example: 发愁, 散步, 聊天, 分手, etc. Notice that the meaning only emerges when the two characters combined together. If you separate them as verb + object it just look weird.

Less rigid cases include 睡觉, 吃饭, 撒谎, etc. In these cases the verb and noun can be separately used with no problem, so you can say 我睡了一个美美的大觉, or 他撒了一个神仙来了都遮不住的谎.


One way is: 书面语 . See http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B9%A6%E9%9D%A2%E8%AF%AD for more information


Algorithm for finding names in Chinese texts

This doesn't work with all texts but it should provide a 100% grab for supported texts.
You can use parameters to find proper name marks throughout texts:

In Chinese writing, a proper name mark (Simplified Chinese: 专名号, zhuānmínghào; Traditional Chinese: 專名號) is an underline used to mark proper names, such as the names of people, places, dynasties, organizations. The related book name mark (Simplified Chinese: 书名号, shūmínghào; Traditional Chinese: 書名號) indicated by a wavy underline (﹏﹏) is used to mark the titles of publications or texts.
For example:
屈原放逐，乃賦離騒。左丘失明，厥有國語。（司馬遷 《報任安書》）(using double underline to indicate wavy underline)
屈原放逐，乃賦離騒。左丘失明，厥有國語。 (using CSS 3; wavy underline may not be visible in all browsers)
Qu Yuan was exiled, and thus composed the Li Sao. Zuo Qiu (or Zuoqiu1) lost his sight, hence there is the Guo Yu. (Sima Qian, Letter to Ren An)

(Underline doesn't seem to be supported, check the Wiki link for the better example.)
The problem is that:

The proper name mark is rarely used in modern Chinese publications, and the Guillemet (《 》or〈 〉) is more commonly used to indicate titles. It is occasionally used in Taiwan and Hong Kong in school textbooks. However, in scholarly editions of classical Chinese texts, especially vertically typeset texts (where they appear to the left of the text instead of underneath), use of both the proper name mark and the book name mark is common, as they help readers avoid misinterpretations of the text.


What Possible Pronunciations of 也 exist in Suzhou Dialect?

Zhang Jiqing singing Kunqu, always a pleasure to listen to.

The 也 here is the sentence final particle.  It's used quite differently in vernacular literature in the Ming-Qing than it is in classical literature, where it's almost like a copula. The references from 漢語大辭典 are talking about the use of 也 as a loan character for 匜, which is pronounced yi.  This is common in bronze inscriptions ca. 500 BC or earlier, and has nothing to do with the 也 here.

As for pronunciation, after listening to the 2 examples several times, I'd have to say that it's still diphthongized, just like in standard Mandarin. The Kunqu pronunciation is not actually Suzhou 土話. It's like the pronunciation in Peking opera, in the sense that it preserves older facets of Mandarin, but has a definite southern flavor to it. One part of this flavor is that a number of diphthongs are much less like two vowels and are more like a single vowel with a coda, so that the -e coming after i- is less conspicuous; this is strengthened by the fact that its a sentence final particle.  Anyway, I'm sure that its a 也 in these two places. The subtitles are accurate, just copied from the libretto.


A proper term would be 情夫:

  男女两人,一方或双方已有配偶,他们之间发生性爱的行为,男方是女方的情夫

小三 can also be applied to a male as it means the third party in an affair or 第三者.

二公 and 二爺 are informal terms opposite to 二奶.

小白脸 does not necessarily refers to a man who has committed adultery with a married woman. It can also mean the the guy is living off the woman or that the guy has a fair complexion.


All of them are OK to use to classify 房子, it depends on the type of house itself, which one is considered the more adequate.

幢 is preferred when speaking of large and tall buildings
栋 tends to be used to refer to buildings that are wide
座 is used for buildings that are “stable and steady", e.g. palace, temple, large mansions (mostly with public purpose)

Source: Chinese University of Hong Kong

As for 套 I have no reference, I suppose it has its own specific set of buildings it can classify.


What does 任一牌 mean in Chinese "Magic: The Gathering" cards?

The confusion you had is on 任一牌，however, is is actually 任一牌手，where 手 means the person that is doing something with 牌。This is a common use in Chinese and specifically for your case, 牌手 means player, namely the person who is playing the cards.
Therefore the verb following it would be 施放 instead of 手施放，which would eventually mean discharge.
There are other examples like

水手 means sailor
刽子手 means executioner
围棋圣手 means the person who is really good at GO
赛车手 means racer
骑手 means bike rider


What does the following phrase mean “扈江离与辟芷兮，纫秋兰以为佩.”?

From 屈原《离骚》( 'Lisao' by Qu Yuan)

扈(to wear/to carry) | 江篱(a kind of fragrant plant) | 与(and) | 辟芷(a kind of fragrant plant) | 兮(exclamatory particle)

纫(to sew) | 秋兰 (a kind of fragrant plant) | 以为 (to make) | 佩 (sachet)

扈江篱与辟芷兮，纫秋兰以为佩

"Wear verrucosa and angelica dahurica , sew a sachet with autumn orchid inside"

maybe symbolizes a persons nobility?

This line symbolizes Qu Yuan's high moral standards, and his unwillingness of associate with immoral people.

(bad guys stink)


提交 is merely an action. 提交给 requires a word to refer to the person who review/read the thing you submitted.
给 means "to" in English. When it appears right after 提交, 借 etc., it needs you to provide a word right after 给 to refer to the person that you submit [sth.] to or lend [sth.] to
把 is used in some expression like "send the book to you" which could be translated to "把 书交给你". Usually the word “把” does not have an explicit correspondence in English. For those words you've give, you could use “把” when you mean "return/submit something to someone". In other words, if you want to state the receiver, then you should use 给.


Table-tennis table: 乒乓球桌, 乒乓球台 or 乒乓球案子?

All three terms refer to the same thing - table tennis table.

乒乓球桌 is a commonly used (1.58M results on Google, 2.60M results on Baidu) layman's term.

乒乓球台 is the technical term (both Baidu and Wikipedia use
 this term) and is commonly used (2.14M results on Google, 4.19M results on Baidu) as well.

乒乓球案子 is rarely used (0.21M results on Google, 0.13M results on Baidu) from my own personal experience.

When used by itself,

桌 refers to a table.

台 refers to a platform or a stage.

案子 refers to a long table or a plank used as a make-shift table.

If you are discussing about table tennis in general, you can also use 球桌 or 球台 to refer to the table.


This is all subsumed under "topicalisation". Chinese does it, but so do others (even Latin!). Indeed, most languages have a way of focusing on something, and Chinese allows certain word orders.

The first example is "object NP fronting" or "object preposing".

  朋友要的词典 玛丽 买到了

comes from...

  玛丽 买到了 朋友要的词典

This is particularly favoured when the wording of the object is long, and especially when it is much longer than the subject.

The second example is locative inversion.

  前面 开着 一辆车

(In general the sentence would require a 着 here.)

The more canonical sentence

  一辆车 (在)前面 开着

... doesn't sound as good for this sentence.

Only specific types of verbs are permitted to undergo locative inversion, specifically unaccusative and passivised verbs. There are very few transitive verbs that can do so, most notably 放 fàng.

These non-SVO orders have several different functions. This locative inversion has two main ones: describing the landscape, and presentation focus. These two are relatively similar to English, although the specific number of verbs allowed by English in this construction is lower.


I took the CEDICT file and wrote a script on it. The file has 113k dictionary entries, so it covers a very large portion of the Chinese vocabulary.

There are 1522 different pinyin syllables in CEDICT, when you distinguish tone numbers (like, ma1, ma2, ma3, ma4, ma).

If you do not care about tone numbers, you'll get 413 syllables (ma, mo, mi, etc.) Here's a full list alphabetically sorted.

These results include m2 and m4 (呒, 呣 [interjections]).

UPDATE: Of course, you can argue whether 'ging' and 'fiao' are Mandarin pinyin syllables or not, but they are in the CEDICT file and my answered is based on that.


I can't understand this dialogue from my textbook. Can you help?

I'm not quite sure how you got your English translation! The sentence "但是如果没有紧急情况，我用钱用得多了，他们下个月就不给我那么多钱了", translated, would be "but if it isn't an emergency, and I use too much money, my parents next month just won't give me that much money".
The two discrepancies between your translation and the English are in "我用钱用得多了" and "就不给我那么多钱了".
"我用钱用得多了" uses the 得 character, to provide description for a verb. You may be familiar with "跑步跑得快“, for example, which would be a way to say "runs fast". In the same way, the descriptive word in this phrase is "多", which describes the verb "用钱", or "spend money". And, of course, "多" means "much", rather than "little". "Spend only a little" could be better translated as "我用钱用得少了”.
The second area of discrepancy is in "就不给我那么多钱了", which translates literally to "just won't give me that much money", where 就 = just, 不给 = won't give, 我 = me, 那么多 = that much, 钱 = money. I would assume this simply means the parents would take the surplus spending out of next month's allowance.
Your translation, translated back into Chinese, would give something more along the lines of "但是如果没有紧急情况，我用钱用得少了，他们下个月就给我一样多钱了".


What is the underlying grammar pattern behind 同样是 in the textbook 高级汉语口语?

To keep things simple, there are two things to note when using 同樣是⋯⋯:

The sentence pattern is for contrast. What that is same for the groups (≥2) is mentioned first, only to be followed by a transition.

What immediately follows 同樣是⋯⋯ can be the subject, the object, or the predicate, as long as it is common for the groups (to be contrasted).

同樣是主食，南方人吃米，北方人吃麵。
Despite both being staples, rice is eaten by Southerners, whereas noodles are eaten by Northerners.

This is a sentence that compares the kind of staple in Southern and Northern China. The common element is 'staple' and is fronted in the sentence. Also note how I had to convert the latter two sentences into passive, because unlike Chinese, the first clause in English has to refer to the subject by default.

Similarly,

同樣是從小一起長大的同學，有的做了經理，有的成了教授，也有的做了售貨員或者出租車司機。
Despite being classmates that grew up together, some became business managers, some became professors; some also became salespersons or cab drivers.

This emphasises how different the classmates have become in life despite growing up together. Here the subject (從小一起長大的同學) is fronted.

同樣是手錶，有的是電子的，有的是機械的，有的能當鬧鐘用，還有的能照相。
Despite all being watches, some are electronic, some are mechanical, some can be used as an alarm, some can even be used to take pictures.

Again this emphasises how different in kind watches can be. The subject is fronted. (It's convenient to look at 有的 as an adjective here.)

What is fronted can also be the predicate of the sentence, as in

同樣是教育孩子，有的人很開明，有的人卻只會打罵。
When it comes to teaching children, some take a liberal approach, but some only beat and scold their children.

This is a comparison between the approach to teaching children.


Is '去+verb' similar to 'to infinitives' in English?

Note: this answer may well be slightly incomplete.
Usage of to that can be translated to 去 is the case only in specific settings. For instance, in English, I like to read books is grammatically correct. However, the Chinese equivalent would be 我喜欢看书: there is no addition of something like 去 before the verb (i.e. 看). Thus, at the very least, there is no one-size-fits-all equivalent to the English infinitive and to the structure you mentioned. Now, it's also true that infinitives aren't necessarily used in identical ways across languages (e.g. English sometimes uses the gerund where French might use the infinitive), so I'll move onto a discussion of the structure you suggested itself.
Let's look at an instance of the structure.

我们约了在商场去看电影。
(We planned to meet at the shopping mall to see a film.)

Here, both 去 and the English to essentially serve as a marker to indicate cause. Because we're going to see a film, we planned to meet at the shopping mall. (Similarly, we could express the same idea in Chinese as: 为了看电影，我们约了在市场.) This is also the case in English, where to is being used as a preposition. This is also the case in your example of 用自己的行动做表率，去影响自己的子女和整个社会.
Let's look at some other examples, however, to check if that assessment is sufficient. I apologize for the poor quality of the glosses I provide -- but it's also just hard to come up with something better without more context.

理解为去爱别人 reads as something like understanding in order to love other people. So 去爱 seems to mean to love in same sense of the English infinitive (with to, in that case). (Similar example, modified from the dictionary: 我命令他们去调查这件事 -- I ordered them to investigate the matter.) So in some cases, 去 does serve as the to part of the infinitive in the most traditional sense.

Meanwhile, 有专门去学这方面的知识 reads as "experts who go study ...", and there, 去 is used in a way similar to how it appears in something like 我现在去做功课, or in LINE Dict's example of 他去找报纸了. Here 去 essentially serves the same purpose as go in the English go do something.

So the 去 + VERB combination should not be interpreted as a parallel to the to + infinitive structure in English, since it doesn't always work that way.
Perhaps it's best to drop the idea of a Chinese infinitive (at least for modern Chinese), because of the lack of Chinese verb inflections -- the idea of an infinitive often involves the idea of it being an uninflected form, and Chinese isn't a synthetic language by most formulations -- and the failure of English constructions to necessarily correspond consistently to Chinese ones.


Why are there multiple ways to express "Wait a second" such as 等、等下、等一下？

Why not?

English has the similar phenomenon. For example, the following phrases have the same meaning:
wait a bit
wait a mo
wait a moment
wait a second
wait a minute
wait a jiffy
wait a jiff

The following phrases have the same meaning:
等一下
稍等一下
稍等一等
稍等一會兒

等下 is not so common.

Usually, 等 means "to wait", not "to wait a second".
For example, 等人 means to wait for somebody.
It is different from "to wait a second".

"Wait" can mean "wait a second" in English.
等 is not the same as 等一下 in Chinese.


Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe all Cantonese characters (theoretically) have pinyin representations. Examples:

冇 (have not) / Yale: mou5 / Pinyin: mao3
佢哋 (they) / Yale: keui5 dei6 / Pinyin: qu2 di4
咗 (similar to 了) / Yale: jo2 / Pinyin: zuo3
嘢 (thing) / Yale: ye5 / Pinyin: ye3

But in my experience, using a Standard Chinese Pinyin IME to enter Cantonese characters is just not natural. Sometimes characters are missing. Some commonly used characters are way down the list.

One solution is to use a Cantonese IME like this one. There are even online tools to input Cantonese.


In chinese the basic syntactic structure is:

  主语, Subject + (状语, Adverb) + 动词, Verb + (补语, Complements)

So, from this structure we can see that the adverb comes before the verb and the complement slot follows the verb.

Whatever precedes the verb modifies its meaning. So, since the adverb comes before the predicate, it behaves like a determinant. 很快(地) in your first sentence adds more information to the main action, 看.

On the other hand, whatever follows the verb represents the results of the predicate, it completes the meaning of the verb and that's why this place is reserved for complements. The degree complement, or 程度补语, it's a very special complement that specifies the qualities of the action. You could think about it as picture of the predicate.

Thus, both your sentences are correct from a grammatical point of view. They also mean the exactly same thing. The difference between the two consist in the focus.
In the first sentence the predicate (看) is the most important element. In the second instead the degree of the action (得很快) receives the focus.

  我一般很快地看留言。
  In general I read messages. How do I read them? Quickly.

  我一般看留言看得很快。
  In general I read messages and my action has the result to be quick.


Does "坊" also mean "square", "plaza", "piazza" like "广场"?

The 坊 in 金马碧鸡坊 refers to 牌坊. There is a 金马牌坊 and a 碧鸡牌坊 as mentioned in the Wikipedia article.

In the olden days, an arch known as 牌坊 is used to mark the entrance to a city subdivision. From Wikipedia:

  The largest division within a city in ancient China was a fang (坊),
  equivalent to current day precinct. Each fang was enclosed by walls or
  fences, and the gates of these enclosure were shut and guarded every
  night. Each fang was further divided into several pai (牌; literally
  "placard"), which is equivalent to current day (unincorporated)
  community. Each pai in turn, contained an area including several
  hutongs (alleyways).

The most busy part of a town is usually at the gateway where the thoroughfare is. In modern times, 牌坊 only serves as a monumental structure.

The word 坊 has several other meanings. Including:

街市 (street market) and
里巷 (lane, e.g. 兰桂坊)

Nowadays, the usage has been extended to represent a place filled with activities, including a square, a plaza or even a shopping mall e.g. 朗豪坊.


What does 老外 mean if the Chinese speaker is in a foreign country?

Does 老外 mean a foreigner who is from the standpoint of the speaker? So is it OK to call Spainard as 老外 even if the speaker lives in Spain, as long as the speaker is not Spainard?

Yes 老外 is relative to the speaker's nationality or ethnicity, not their geographical location. If the speaker is a Chinese person living in Spain, then 老外 covers all non-Chinese people living anywhere in the world including in Spain.

Also note, technically 老外 means foreigner i.e. people with different nationality, but in real life usage it's most used for 'foreigners with dissimilar appearances from the majority of Chinese people'. For example, it's technically correct, but non-idiomatic to call Japanese 老外, neither does it sound intuitive to call a Chinese-American 老外.


Which is the correct translation for "I went to the bathroom twice": 去了厕所两次 or 去厕所两次了?

The verb particle '了' after '去' in "去了厕所两次" indicates the verb '去' is completed, so "去了(went to) 厕所两次 (the bathroom twice)"  is the correct translation
The final particle '了' after '去厕所两次'  emphasizes 两次 --> "两次了" = "twice already"
But '了' here can also function as a verb particle that indicates the verb phrase 去厕所两次 as a completed action --> "[去]厕所两次[了]" = "[went to] the bathroom twice"
Both translations are valid, but the first one is more literal (word for word translation)


How to translate "web-project" into Chinese?

Perhaps you can use 项目. And for web I don't know I think 网络 sounds more like networks/internet.


表示 (v) = to indicate /to show / to express
对某人某事 = toward some person or something
"对某人某事(的)" = "(of) toward some person or something"
的 functions as an adjectival suffix here. The whole phrase "对某人某事的" is now an adjectival phrase for the object "亲近和关心" (fondness and concern)

[表示] [对某人某事的] [亲近和关心。]
[to express ] [the fondness and concern] [toward some person or something]


公：public；示：notify
so, put these characters together, 公示means “to notify the public about some events or public decision” or "something that publicly notifies the population about some events" .

Thus, to your question, 公示 is a noun, "一出"is a verb means "release". And in your case, 公式was translated as "standard" which makes sense, because industry standard made by some public organization can be seen as "something that notify the public about some public decision".


Which is the right order 您好，大姐 or 大姐, 您好?

Age/gender nuances aside, either is fine. I'd like to point the context you worded you greeting it what got you those looks. You're in part mixing formalities with colloquialism.

Because you are merely an acquaince, calling her 大姐 can be a bit too personal. unless the person you are greeting is in the business heading a gang or mafia (which you might be a member). It's a bit like saying to a person you've just been introduced to as "Pleased to meet you, big sis." This can come off as being overly friendly or as if you are pleading for something by lowering your stature to them (like in a gang).

In my opinion, the true difference between {Greeting} + {Subject} and {Subject} + {Greeting} is what you wish to invoke/acknowledge first. If you want to acknowledge a person you would say their name first, and then follow with a greet. This will come off as being more personal (or overly polite; mockingly). However, if I wanted to emphasize the greeting as if I was pleased/happy to meet them as a person, I would use the greeting first. Think of it as if you forgot the name of the person and still wanted to greet them properly. Of course, this may vary by the region, dialect, and personal preference (of both parties), but you can still use as a starting point.

If you were better acquainted with this 女士 (used like "Ms."), such as if they are you senior in some capacity that you spend sometime with, it might be alright as a sign or respect or as a joke, but it's rarely alright otherwise. If I were to go up to you (haven't just met) and said "heeeey, big bro (大哥), wassup?" How would you feel?

If you wanted to address an audience of your peers you can address them (i.e. asking for a request) as "大哥大姐们." By doing so you would be humbling yourself, making usage in this context appropriate.

To be safe, if you've just recently met them, leaving off the title is fine.

While 小姐 can be acceptable, it's best to avoid using it in mainland China as it can be inferred as a slang term for "prostitute" or a title addressing wait staff (amongst other things), by means of tonal inflections or other indications.


What does 不按套路出牌的脑回路 mean? "unconventional brain circuitry"?

Let's break it down:

不按套路

套路 usually indicates a frame of reference, a set of rules ("routine" may be correct for some sports, like martial arts, or weight-lifting exercises; or the "every day routine"), and the term is often associated to playing cards or games. So 不按套路 means literally "not according to the rules", but not in the sense of cheating; more in the sense of "out of the box" as in "thinking out of the box", "unconventional", "unexpected". As if when playing Monopoly (大富翁) you land on one of the expensive lots and even if you could, you don't purchase it, contrary to what other players would do in the same situation.

出牌

And as a matter of fact we have 出牌，so 不按套路出牌 is something like "playing unconventionally". It doesn't refer to a specific (card) game. It's just used metaphorically here.

的

Just the noun modifier.

脑回路

As you correctly note, 回路 means "circuitry", "circuit", as in 电回路。 The variant 脑回路 here is also a relatively common term to indicate, by extension, the "circuits in your brain"
Putting it all together:

不按套路出牌的脑回路

I like your translation "unconventional brain circuitry". The meaning is that Zhang Kankan 张侃侃 the woman, is kinda "unconventional" in her line of though.
As a matter of fact the woman says “你的衣服很香” to Tan Jin 谈晋，who is a male.
And Tan Jin is taken by surprise, he thinks that this sentence is unconventional, coming from her, because it's normally said by a male to a female, and not the other way around (he says 不要随便说男生的台词).
So he feels a little bit 无奈，or “我服了你了” toward Zhang Kankan unconventional approach, which is elegantly rendered as 甘拜下风, "whatever", "I raise white flag".


What's the meaning and part of speech of 两种 in this sentence?

喝彩有正彩，倒彩两种。

It means: there are two types of cheering, (namely) positive cheering and negative cheering(booing).

The sentence can be rephrased as 喝彩有两种(形式)，正彩，倒彩。


People from northen east provinces（Dongbei，which includs：黑龙江Heilongjiang, 吉林Jilin，辽宁Liaoning）with accents pronounce 肉 as you4.


Are Chinese language equivalent of English /p/ and /b/ sounds the same?

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, for stop consonants, the three following categories are distinguished:

(Truly) voiced stops. The vocalization begins before the release of the stop. Examples would be [b], [d], and [g]
Voiceless, unaspirated stops. The vocalization begins simultaneously with the release of the stop. Examples: [p], [t], [k].
Voiceless, aspirated stops. The vocalization begins shortly after the release of the stop. This is often perceived as a "puff of air". Examples: [pʰ], [tʰ], [kʰ].

The true situation is a little more complicated, but for any given language, we really only need to distinguish 2 or 3 of these in order to explain the phonological structure. To give some examples:

In English, our voiced stops (e.g., spelled "b", "d", and "g") are pronounced as voiced consonants; that is, [b], [d], and [g]. Our unvoiced stops are pronounced as either aspirated or unaspirated depending on context: "pop" = [pʰap], "stop" = [stap], and so forth.
In Mandarin, the distinction is between aspirated and unaspirated. There are no voiced stops at all: 白 = [pai], 拍 = [pʰai].
In many languages (including, say French), the distinction is between voiced and unvoiced, and there is no aspiration. So, you have "tout" = [tu], "deux" = [dœ].

The mismatch between different 2-way distinctions can either be unnoticable or a huge communication barrier. My experience is that English speakers have no problem communicating with either the aspiration-distinguishers or the voicing-distinguishers. If I say "to"/"do" (= [tʰu]/[du]), an aspiration distinguisher will perceive it as [tʰu]/[tu], and a voicing distinguisher will perceive it as [tu]/[du] (and vice versa).

The real problem is when aspiration-distinguishers attempt to communicate with voicing-distinguishers. This can be hard. A Chinese friend of mine complained about an Indian person who asked for "the [t]ime", and she had no idea what the "dime" he was asking about! Similarly, I've heard Europeans complain that Pinyin "makes no sense" because pinyin 'p' and 'b' "sound the same".

To address the OP's question, Mandarin speakers do distinguish a "p" and "b", but they do so on the basis of aspiration. This works fine for communicating with native English speakers, but works poorly for communicating with other non-native speakers who only make voicing distinctions (e.g., many Europeans).


Is this an acceptable representation of the character and is it easily
  recogniazable, or is there some serious issue with the proportions and
  readability?

I think it can be better if bottom right stroke(bottom right of 央 part) separate from main structure. And there is a little distance between the "+ +" part.


What are the problems with my sentences?

You are asking 11 questions in one post. If I answer all of them, It will be a very long post. Therefore, I would only answer the first question here and please post other questions in individual posts.
"是" is the verb  "is"
One of the functions of "的" is as an possessive marker, adding it after a noun to indicate possessive.
Example: 中国 = China; 中国的 = "China's" or "of China"
Another function of "的" is as an adjective marker. Adding it after any phrase turn it into an adjective phrase
Example:  "从美国来" = "came from America" ;  从美国来的姑娘 = the girl who came from America

"她是一个从美国来的姑娘来中国训练中国的足球队。" is a run-on sentence
"她是一个从美国来的姑娘, 来中国训练中国的足球队"。("She is the girl who came from America, came to China to train China's football teams") is the proper form.

"她(是)一个从美国来(的)姑娘" is  a correct answer for the adjective marker function. But your answer didn't use [是 + noun + 的] as a [verb + noun + possessive marker] form. If it was the requirement that you must use this function, your answer would be wrong.
The correct answer should be "这(是)中国(的)足球队" = "This (is) China('s) football team"


Why do native speakers often say a character has "no meaning"?

I found the same situation, living in China for quite some time, and unlike some other people who have answered, I understand exactly what you're asking. It was quite annoying to try to learn new words when the native speaker just tells you the meaning of 3 characters together and doesn't know or can't explain each character's meaning. I think the answer is related to how derivations work in English. Keep in mind that to us, the word duibuqi seems to be 3 words together because technically it is, but to Chinese people who aren't language experts, they will just think of it as one word, essentially.

There are some parallels in English. Think about it in the reverse. Imagine you are Chinese and you are asking an English speaker this question:

You say 'sorry' to mean duibuqi. What is 'sor' and what is 'ry'?

Can you answer that off the top of your head? Most English speakers incorrectly assume that prefixes and suffixes and word derivations aren't "words." They are words. Or at least they used to be words.

From an online derivation dictionary, this is how we have the word sorry:

Old English sarig "distressed, grieved, full of sorrow" (not found in the physical sense of "sore"), from Proto-Germanic *sairiga- "painful" (cf. Old Saxon serag, Middle Dutch seerigh "sore; sad, sorry," Dutch zeerig "sore, full of sores," Old High German serag, Swedish sårig "sore, full of sores"), from *sairaz "pain" (physical and mental); related to *saira- "suffering, sick, ill" (see sore (adj.)). Meaning "wretched, worthless, poor" first recorded mid-13c. Spelling shift from -a- to -o- by influence of sorrow. Apologetic sense (short for I'm sorry) is attested from 1834; phrase sorry about that popularized 1960s by U.S. TV show "Get Smart." Related: Sorrily; sorriness.

So it appears the answer to what is 'sor' and what is 'ry' would be:
"Sor" means grieved or distressed
"ry" (from online dictionary) means "indicating a state or condition."

Therefore while you may be asked by a Chinese speaker "What is sor and what is ry?" and you will feel like saying "Nothing, it's just one word," in this kind of context you would be wrong. They are two words indeed, we just don't usually use them separately. Sound familiar?

Disclaimer: I'm not a native Chinese speaker but the above answer does seem to be the most rational, to me.


In ` 向谁说`, does `向` play the same role / have the same meaning as `对`?

'誰' in "誰說傷痛?" is equal to the pronoun "who" in English.
誰 is the Subject, 說 is the Verb and 傷痛 is the Object. (It is an SVO sentence)
~
'誰' in "傷痛向誰說?" is part of a complement introduced by 向, so it can be translated as the pronoun "whom" in English.
The sentence follows the [topic + comment] structure: 傷痛 is the topic,  向誰說 is the comment:

Topic: 傷痛 = pain

Comment: 向誰說 = whom I should say to

The comment itself is an SVO sentence with the subject omitted
You can have a different comment, e.g. 傷痛(topic) + 我受不了 (comment)

In  向谁说, does 向 play the same role / have the same meaning as 对?

說傷痛 = say pain
[SVO] (向谁)说傷痛 = (to whom) I say pain?
[topic + comment] - 傷痛(向谁)说 = pain, I say (to whom)?
向 sounds more proactive and 对 sounds more interactive

And is 傷痛說向誰 wrong?

傷痛說向誰 is wrong. It is an SVO sentence, the object 傷痛 should not be placed before the verb 說


One quick translation I found on google books from Two Thousand Zhuang Proverbs from China with Annotations and Chinese and English Translation:

Daxnuengx bingzciengz yaek doxgyaez, ndei gvaq daengz seiz daejhenz moh.
姐妹平时相疼爱，胜过坟前相哭拜。
Dear love between sisters when alive is better than crying sadly in front of the grave.

It does go to show that 哭拜 is often associated with graves, like your sentence above.
I would doubt these are professional criers - especially with the Zhuang proverb talking about sisters mourning for one another.
edit: Here's another instance I found from Rocky English

When RuanJi was mourning for his mother, one day his friend PeiKai came to grieve for Ruan's mother. He saw that Ruan was in great silence and refused to stand up to grieve, just sitting aside without having his hair teased.
记得阮籍守丧期间，有一天朋友裴楷前去吊唁，在阮籍母亲的灵堂里哭拜，而阮籍却披散着头发坐着，既不起立也不哭拜，只是两眼发直，表情木然。

Here it gets translated as grieve.
Also there's a translation here on CSLPOD

不久，英台被迫出嫁，当花轿绕道至梁山伯坟前，英台执意下轿，哭拜亡灵，一时之间风雨大作、阴风惨惨，梁山伯的坟墓突然裂开，英台见状，奋不顾身地跳进去，坟墓马上合拢起来。
Soon, Yingtai was forced to get married. The bridal sedan chair made a detour to get to Liang Shanbo's grave. Yingtai insisted on getting off the sedan chair. All of a sudden, it became chilly and gloomy with wind and rain. Liang Shanbo's grave burst open. Yingtai fearlessly jumped in and suddenly the wind stopped and the rain too.

Here the translation is more just like to go to the grave.

So, 常常玩...学别人哭拜的游戏 just means that he often made a game of copying the mourners.

You might want to try and add it to MDBG. Here is the Add / change CC-CEDICT entry page.
You can fill out the submission form with your findings and comments.


你给我打个电话 - good, colloquial
你给我打电话 - good, slightly more formal
你给我电话 - what, as a birthday present?
你打给我个电话 - weird
你打给我电话 - weird
你打电话给我 - OK (a little more emphasis on 打电话, seems like 给我 is almost an afterthought)


What is known about the new HSK 3.0 (2021) format?

At the time of writing, the best guess is that the HSK 3.0 vocabulary list is in the recently-published book:

汉语国际教育用词语声调组合及轻重音格式实用手册
A Practical Manual of Tone Patterns and Formats of Stressed and Unstressed Syllables in Mandarin Words for the Application of Teaching Chinese to the Speakers of Other Languages
刘英林, et al.

A redditor posted images of some of the pages from this book on Imgur (from this post; I transcribed some of it here).  I bought this book from JingDong (also available here), and posted about it on Reddit.  The guess is primarily based on a tweet from an account called HSK Official:

HSK is about to be reformed. #HSK In 2020, the Chinese Proficiency Standards will usher in a new change: a hybrid paradigm of “Three Stages and Nine Levels” characterized by integration and all-in-one.

There are also reports on QQ: here and here.  (Note the tweet links to the first QQ post, which mentions 刘英林 and other authors.)  These posts use screenshots from the recently-published paper:

汉语国际教育汉语水平等级标准全球化之路
刘英林, et al. (available here)

This paper has the same lead author as the book.  From this paper (p.152) we have the vocabulary breakdown:

(Here e.g. 140/608 implies new = 140, cumulative = 608.  The second last column is vocabulary 词汇.)
I'll reproduce my Reddit post in full, since I go into a fair amount of detail about the aforementioned book:

The book is almost nothing more than two long lists. The first list
contains exactly 11092 terms ordered by pinyin, and occupies 253
pages. The second list contains most (not all) of the 11092 terms
ordered by level, then by tones, and occupies 214 pages. It appears
that the second list omits all single-character terms: e.g. 2057 一① 多
appears in the first list, but not in the second list.
Both lists contain precisely the following:

序号: sequence number (the first list begins with 1 阿拉伯语 [on page 1] and ends with 11092 做生意 [on page 253])

等级: level (see below)

词语: the Chinese characters

轻重格式: which syllables are emphasizes, e.g., 左边 is ZQ (重轻; heavy, light) implying that the stress on 左 is heavy and the stress on 边 is light

声调组合: the tones, e.g., the tones for 昨天 are written 21. 0 is used for the neutral tone.

拼音: pinyin (with two tweaks: (a) a · indicates there's multiple pronunciations, and the example they give is 道理 which can be either dàolǐ or dàoli; (b) a // indicates that the word is separable, and the example they give is 见面 written "jiàn // miàn" [e.g. 见面 in 见你面])

词性: the type of word: 名词 (noun, e.g. 飞机), 动词 (verb, e.g. 听说), 形容词 (adjective, e.g., 安全), 数词 (number words, e.g. 一半), 量词 (measure word, e.g. 公斤), 代词 (e.g. 有一些), 副词 (e.g. 当然), 介词 (e.g. 通过), 连词 (conjunction, e.g. 所以), 助词 (auxiliary), 叹词 (interjections), 拟声词 (onomatopoeia). Many don't fall into any of these categories.

There are 3 major levels: 一 (普及化等级, 2245 terms), 二 (中级, 3211 terms),
and 三 (高级, 5636 terms). Level 一 splits into 一① (505 terms), 一② (837
terms), and 一③ (903 terms). Some of the terms (1461 terms) within
level 三 are classed as "附录" (appendix). It seems probable that the new
HSK levels 1 through 3 respectively have the vocabulary in the lists
一①, 一②, and 一③, and probable that the new HSK4-6 and HSK7-9 contain
those in 二 and 三 respectively. However, it's not clear how they are
divided.
In this book, there's an emphasis on "stress" (not just "tones") which
I haven't seen elsewhere previously. In particular they write:

学习汉语语音只把音节（声母、韵母和声调）发准是不够的，在语流交际中，按照汉语声调连读模式和轻重音格式发出的音才是地道的发音，才有标准汉语的味道。

Here, 音节 ("syllable") is regarded as the combination (声母, 韵母, 声调) =
(initial, final, tone). The book emphasizes how this is not enough for
authentic Chinese pronunciation.
The 4-character words are:

一①： none [page 260]

一②： 公共汽车 共用电话 一路平安 一路顺风 不好意思 [page 274]

一③： 中华民族 高速公路 电子邮件 另一方面 [page 291]

二： 这就是说 西班牙语 酸甜苦辣 绝大多数 五颜六色 一般来说 一模一样 自言自语 意想不到 [page 351]

三： 知识分子 东张西望 阿拉伯语 伊斯兰教 千方百计 依依不舍 粗心大意 亲朋好友 官僚主义 翻来覆去 哄堂大笑 多种多样 相比之下 资本主义 丰富多彩 鸦雀无声 公共场所 千变万化 说干就干 无家可归 长期以来 提心吊胆 没完没了 除此之外 时好时坏 难以想象
由此可见 无可奈何 从早到晚 实话实说 无论如何 一事无成 毫不犹豫 实事求是 一动不动 随处可见 犹豫不决 不大不小 十字路口 总的来说
小心翼翼 改革开放 与此同时 喜怒哀乐 讨价还价 也就是说 与众不同 乱七八糟 一帆风顺 大街小巷 兴高采烈 大吃一惊 或多或小 一天到晚
至关重要 未成年人 大名鼎鼎 帝国主义 一年到头 一长一短 自由自在 异口同声 不可避免 二氧化碳 四面八方 必不可少 社会主义 这样一来
断断续续 各式各样 不怎么样 讨人喜欢 一塌糊涂 [pages 434-436]

附： 忽高忽低 息息相关 ...omitted... 高新技术 有两下子 [pages 460-468]

This indicates the new HSK1-6 (levels 一 and 二) will not contain any
idioms, i.e. chengyu (成语). (If you want to compare, a while back, I
made a list of the HSK chengyu.)
(The book came with a CD labelled "MP3", but I don't have a CD player,
so I don't know what's on it. Presumably pronunciations of these
words.)

(Note the per-level vocabulary numbers in the book are not an exact match for the numbers in the paper.  Although the total number is the same: 11092.)
In this comment, I also analyzed some of the vocabulary.  In particular:

The new level 1 appears to be formed from: 36% of the HSK1, 23% of the HSK2, 12% of the HSK3, 1% of the HSK4, and 3 HSK5 words (工人, 日期, 平安), and many non-HSK words (forming 51% of the total words in the new level 1). [This ignores single-character words.]

The new level 2 appears to be formed from: 7% of the HSK1, 19% of the HSK2, 40% of the HSK3, 28% of the HSK4, 6% of the HSK5, one word from HSK6 (事业), and many non-HSK words (forming 32% of the total in the new level 2). [This ignores single-character words.]

(I may have made some transcription mistakes, so these numbers might not be perfect.)

Update:

18 July 2020: A Redditor posted an Anki deck containing levels 7 through 9.

3 August 2020: One Redditor posted a visualization of the change from HSK 2.0 to HSK 3.0 in the context of CEFR:

Another Redditor posted another visualization of the change from HSK 2.0 to HSK 3.0:

2 November 2020: the Redditor goeastmandarin (from the company Go East Mandarin) posted a photo of a meeting about HSK3.0 (also on Twitter).  The photo in the slide is identical to the table above.  The Chinese says:

汉语国际教育汉语水平等级标准
[My translation:] Chinese international education Chinese-level standard grading
HSK3.0只增加7-9级，1-6级不变
HSK3.0 only adds levels 7 through 9, levels 1 through 6 are unchanged

Above, "unchanged" seems interpretable as "unchanged as a whole".  (Specifically, if a vocabulary word belongs within levels 1 through 6 in HSK2.0, then it will belong within levels 1 through 6 in HSK3.0.)  The numbers in the table are not consistent with individually unchanged HSK levels.
Redditor A-V-A-Weyland includes a Dropbox link to the HSK3.0 vocabulary (i.e. from the abovementioned book).

18 November 2020: Redditor A-V-A-Weyland provides Pleco flashcards for the HSK3.0 vocabulary (i.e. from the abovementioned book).

1 April 2021: There was an official announcement of changes to the HSK, and it includes a 260-page document describing the changes in detail.  The changes are reported to be implemented on July 1, 2021.
The changes are summarized in a GoEast post: New HSK levels for learning Chinese (Update April 2021).  What we didn't expect already is item 4 from this post:

4: Hanzi handwriting and translation skills are added, in addition to listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills

13 April 2021: Anki decks containing the new HSK vocabulary and characters are provided via Reddit. Ninchanese has a "fact vs. rumor" post.  They point to this Tweet by the official HSK account (made in March this year):

There will be no changes for HSK 1-6 this year

15 April 2021: Chinese-Forums user mungouk claims to have received an email from chinesetest.cn, stating:

The current HSK 1-6 levels will not be changed for the present.
Under the premise of ensuring the stability of HSK 1-6, the advanced HSK (level 7-9) is under development, which is mainly aimed
at international students who are majoring in Chinese language and
literature, and international students in other majors with a high
level of Chinese, overseas Sinology researchers and so on.
The advanced HSK (level 7-9) is scheduled to be launched as early as the second half of this year.

The latest information about HSK will be released on our official
websites (http://www.chinese.cn/ and http://www.chinesetest.cn/),
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HSKTestOfficial-107674817613428)
and twitter (https://twitter.com/HSKTestOfficial), please keep an eye
on our official publicity.

22 April 2021: A HSK Official tweet asserts:

目前正在实施的HSK1-6级近期不会调整，考试效力、考试内容、参考词汇及考试形式不变，将继续稳定实施。参加HSK1-6级的考生成绩仍然有效，已取得的证书效力不变。
[Google Translate]: The currently implemented HSK 1-6 levels will not be adjusted in the near future, and the test effectiveness, test content, reference vocabulary and test format will remain unchanged and will continue to be implemented stably. The scores of candidates participating in HSK 1-6 levels are still valid, and the validity of the certificates already obtained remains unchanged.

They also discuss the HSK7-9 rollout in a QQ post:

依据《标准》科学研制HSK7-9级需要一个过程，目前计划于2021年12月试考，2022年3月正式推出考试。
[Google Translate]: It takes a process to scientifically develop HSK Levels 7-9 according to the "Standard". Currently, it is planned to take the test in December 2021 and officially launch the test in March 2022.

Chinese Zero to Hero has a searchable webpage with the HSK7-9 vocabulary, including e.g. English translations.


Sign on the edge of a cross-country ski trail in Ontario, Canada

These "what does this say?" are a bit borderline for this site (they're not really about learning Chinese), and why I started the post How do I self-answer “What does this say?”.
Anyway, since I've read it already, and it's probably not that easy to use other methods...

这是私人领地。
This is private property
请不要摘蘑菇，野韭菜或任何其他植物。否则你将会遭到检控，因为这是非法的。
Please do not pick mushrooms, wild chives (?), or other plants, otherwise you will meet with prosecution, because this is illegal.
欢迎你在郊野小径散步，但地面上有雪的话，请不要入内（11月15日至4月15日禁止通行），谢谢。
[You are] welcome to walk on the countryside alley, but if the ground has snow, please do not enter (from 15-th November to 15-th April going through is prohibited), thank you.


Is the first 為 used in another meaning than the last one.

They have the same literal meaning of 'action', but very different connotations. Since you already know what 無為 is, you know the connotation of the word is much deeper than the sum of the two characters.

  How to translate it

By acting the non-action, nothing can't be treated/ruled.


I strongly recommend an online dictionary 汉典.
It may be the most professional online Chinese dictionary even for native speakers.

For every entry, you can refer to the section "字形分析" to know the classification of the character.

For example, the character 强 is classified as compound ideographs (会意), which is shown in the picture:

The dictionary also collect contents from 《康熙字典》 and 《说文解字》, you can also learn the origin and example sentences of each entry.


年头 just means year in this sentence。

I think this online dictionary will help you.

http://www.zdic.net/c/4/4/8606.htm

◎ 年头，年头儿 niántóu,niántóur

(1) [year]∶年份

我到北京已经三个年头了。

(2) [years]∶时代;年月

这年头工人农民的生活好起来了。

(3) [harvest]∶年成;年景

今年又是丰收的好年头。