The Words of the Day for today is 热，rè (hot). As we just traveled to Arizona, we truly experienced HOT weather. The temperature in Phoenix reached more than 100 F during the day. It was 很热 (very hot). This made me think of the two different words we use in Mandarin Chinese to describe "hot". In English, "hot" can mean weather is hot, soup is hot, and even when something is spicy. In Mandarin, when the weather is hot, we say 热，rè. So for "the weather is hot", in Chinese is 天气很热, tiān qì hěn rè. But when something like soup is hot, we use 烫 tàng. 汤很 烫, tāng hěn tàng (soup is very hot).