Wasp stings are serious, as I know to my cost.

My comments:

Wasp stings are serious. That’s useful knowledge to learn – if you live in an area where wasps swarm. Apparently the speaker gained that knowledge, and he learned it first hand.

And paid for it.

He knows to his cost. That means the “cost” was his to pay.

In truth, he has been stung before (perhaps more than once).

In other words, he learned about wasps through painful lessons.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.