What a courtyard does in a traditional Chinese house is really it connects all the rooms. Maya Lin is a Chinese-American building designer and artist.

VOA: special.2010.03.03

The idea was that a lot of people can't afford a house -let's all get together and pool our money -in a Building Society or Saving and Loan Association -and then we'll loan out to some of us to buy the house.

当初的想法是,很多人都买不起房子,那我们就把钱凑在一起,放到一个建房互助协会或储贷协会里,然后向我们中那些要买房的人发放贷款

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

As the president was preparing to make his remarks at the White House, outrage was building over word a major American insurance company,AIG, was going ahead with millions of dollars in bonus payments to its executives.

VOA: standard.2009.03.16