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(1181, 1, '2012-07-22 12:11:04', '2012-07-22 16:11:04', '[two_third]\r\nThis traditional story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad. If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here, but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI happen to like sad stories, and I think the pace and reading level of this one is very nice, so I\'m it, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nI learned a few new words here, one of which is worth a giggle or two: 洞房 - meaning \"the marriage chamber\" - or literally \"Cave room\" / \"Hole Room\". Weather that\'s because the bride and groom go in and don\'t want to come out of their, you know, cave for a while, or if that\'s more in reference to the <em>other</em> meaning of 洞 is beyond me, but I won\'t forget that in a hurry. (Thank goodness, because I say \'marriage chamber\' so often).\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\r\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\r\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\r\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\r\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\r\n深绿 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\r\n秋天 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\r\n金黄 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\r\n冬天 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\r\n后悔 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\r\n可不要 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\r\n忽然 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n掉下来 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人连连摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来逃难的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处抓人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他知书达理，眉清目秀，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿心心相印，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n    成亲那天，孟家张灯结彩，宾客满堂，一派喜气洋洋的情景。眼看天快黑了，喝喜酒的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入洞房，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n    一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n        猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Pretty Meng rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked the pretty Meng. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with many-colored lanterns, was jam-packed with guests, it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Pretty Meng heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng heard this grevious news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the brutality of Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng Jiang Nv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 12:11:04', '2012-07-22 16:11:04', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1180, 1, '2012-07-22 12:10:52', '2012-07-22 16:10:52', '[two_third]\nThis traditional story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad. If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here, but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\nI happen to like sad stories, and I think the pace and reading level of this one is very nice, so I\'m it, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \n\nI learned a few new words here, one of which is worth a giggle or two: 洞房 - meaning \"the marriage chamber\" - or literally \"Cave room\" / \"Hole Room\". Weather that\'s because the bride and groom go in and don\'t want to come out of their, you know, cave for a while, or if that\'s more in reference to the <em>other</em> meaning of 洞 is beyond me, but I won\'t forget that in a hurry. (Thank goodness, because I say \'marriage chamber\' so often).\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\n深绿 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\n秋天 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\n金黄 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\n冬天 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\n后悔 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\n可不要 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\n忽然 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n掉下来 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人连连摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来逃难的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处抓人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他知书达理，眉清目秀，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿心心相印，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n    成亲那天，孟家张灯结彩，宾客满堂，一派喜气洋洋的情景。眼看天快黑了，喝喜酒的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入洞房，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n    一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n        猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Pretty Meng rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked the pretty Meng. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with many-colored lanterns, was jam-packed with guests, it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Pretty Meng heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \n\nWhen Meng heard this grevious news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the brutality of Qin ShiHuang. 天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng Jiang Nv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 12:10:52', '2012-07-22 16:10:52', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1182, 1, '2012-07-22 12:14:26', '2012-07-22 16:14:26', '[two_third]\nThis traditional story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad. If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\nI happen to like sad stories, and I think the pace and reading level of this one is very nice, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \n\nI learned a few new words here, one of which is worth a giggle or two: 洞房 - meaning \"the marriage chamber\" - or literally \"Cave room\" / \"Hole Room\". Weather that\'s because the bride and groom go in and don\'t want to come out of their, you know, cave for a while, or if that\'s more in reference to the <em>other</em> meaning of 洞 is beyond me, but I won\'t forget that in a hurry. (Thank goodness, because I say \'marriage chamber\' so often).\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\n深绿 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\n秋天 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\n金黄 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\n冬天 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\n后悔 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\n可不要 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\n忽然 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n掉下来 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人连连摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来逃难的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处抓人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他知书达理，眉清目秀，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿心心相印，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n 成亲那天，孟家张灯结彩，宾客满堂，一派喜气洋洋的情景。眼看天快黑了，喝喜酒的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入洞房，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n        猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with many-colored lanterns, was jam-packed with guests, it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \n\nWhen Meng  heard this grevious news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the brutality of Qin ShiHuang. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 12:14:26', '2012-07-22 16:14:26', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1183, 1, '2012-07-22 20:34:49', '2012-07-23 00:34:49', '[two_third]\nThis traditional story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad. If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\nI happen to enjoy stories, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \n\nThis story describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女, and her love, 范喜良, who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 during the building of the Great Wall. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒, meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房, or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). \n\nAn interesting word here is 眼看, which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \n\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n连连  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\n逃难 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\n抓 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\n知书达理 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\n心心相印 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\n成亲 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\n满堂 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\n干着急 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\n跋涉 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n顽强 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\n工地\n踪影\n尸首\n噩耗\n猛烈\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with many-colored lanterns, was jam-packed with guests, it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \n\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the brutality of Qin ShiHuang. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 20:34:49', '2012-07-23 00:34:49', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1184, 1, '2012-07-22 21:01:20', '2012-07-23 01:01:20', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese - Learn Intermediate Chinese Reading Passages with Famous Chinese Fables and Myths', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120723', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:01:20', '2012-07-23 01:01:20', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1185, 1, '2012-07-22 21:01:21', '2012-07-23 01:01:21', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120723-inline', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:01:21', '2012-07-23 01:01:21', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1186, 1, '2012-07-22 21:03:42', '2012-07-23 01:03:42', '[two_third]\nThis traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \n\nThis story describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女, and her love, 范喜良, who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 during the building of the Great Wall. The story describe how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒, meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房, or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\n\nAn interesting word here is 眼看, which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \n\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \n\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:03:42', '2012-07-23 01:03:42', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-8/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1187, 1, '2012-07-22 21:04:26', '2012-07-23 01:04:26', '[two_third]\r\nThis traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女, and her love, 范喜良, who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 during the building of the Great Wall. The story describe how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒, meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房, or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看, which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\r\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\r\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\r\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\r\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\r\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\r\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\r\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\r\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\r\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\r\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\r\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\r\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\r\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\r\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\r\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\r\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\r\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\r\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\r\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:04:26', '2012-07-23 01:04:26', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-9/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1188, 1, '2020-04-20 05:09:46', '2020-04-20 09:09:46', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nSeeing as how I just got back from a trip to the Wall myself, I figured I\'d stay on that theme. This traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城 [pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3 ku1 chang2 cheng2[/pinyin], is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \n\nThis story happens between 259 B.C. and 210 B.C., and describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女[pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3[/pinyin], and her love, 范喜良 [pinyin]fan4 xi3 liang2[/pinyin], who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 [pinyin]qin2 shi3 huang2[/pinyin] during the building of the Great Wall. The story describes how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒 [pinyin]xi3 jiu3[/pinyin], meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房 [pinyin]dong4 fang2[/pinyin], or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\n\nAn interesting word here is 眼看 [pinyin]yan3 kan4[/pinyin], which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \n\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" [pinyin]bu4 rong2 fen1 shuo1[/pinyin] charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \n[/su_column]\n[/su_row]\n\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\n[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<h4>孟姜女哭长城</h4>\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \n\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:09:46', '2020-04-20 09:09:46', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1768, 1, '2020-04-20 05:08:26', '2020-04-20 09:08:26', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here\'s the Chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>第一章</h4>\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Novels: Tiger Team - Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:08:26', '2020-04-20 09:08:26', '', 1209, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1209-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1189, 1, '2012-07-22 21:04:58', '2012-07-23 01:04:58', '[two_third]\r\nThis traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女, and her love, 范喜良, who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 during the building of the Great Wall. The story describe how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒, meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房, or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看, which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\r\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\r\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\r\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\r\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\r\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\r\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\r\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\r\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\r\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\r\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\r\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\r\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\r\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\r\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\r\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\r\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\r\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\r\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\r\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:04:58', '2012-07-23 01:04:58', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-10/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1190, 1, '2012-07-22 21:07:06', '2012-07-23 01:07:06', '[two_third]\r\nSeeing as how I just got back from a trip to the Wall myself, I figured I\'d stay on that theme. This traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女, and her love, 范喜良, who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 during the building of the Great Wall. The story describe how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒, meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房, or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看, which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\r\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\r\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\r\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\r\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\r\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\r\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\r\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\r\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\r\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\r\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\r\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\r\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\r\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\r\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\r\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\r\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\r\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\r\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\r\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:07:06', '2012-07-23 01:07:06', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-11/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1192, 1, '2012-08-03 23:03:13', '2012-08-04 03:03:13', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\nOne other notable point is the word 又, which means \"again\". But did you know that in Chinese, there are two ways to say \"again\"? There\'s 又, and there\'s also 再. It\'s a little alien to a native English speaker that there might be two different ways to say \"again\", so let me explain the difference:\r\n\r\n又 - Indicates that the action has already been repeated in the past. Example: \"<strong>You forgot your homework again? You\'re going to get in trouble.</strong>\" The person being scolded forgot their homework once, then already forgot it again (maybe many times). The forgetting of homework again has already happened. So we use 又.\r\n\r\n再 - Indicates that something will happen again <em>in the future</em>. An example of this would be: <strong>Don\'t forget your homework again or you\'ll get in trouble.</strong> In other words, you forgot your homework at least once already, don\'t repeat that action again in the future. Another example of this is would be a sentence like, \"When will I see you again?\" The seeing again hasn\'t yet happened - it may happen in the future. So we would use 再. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\r\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\r\n消灭 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n能手 - [pinyin]neng2 shou3[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\r\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\r\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\r\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸成天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', 'my-dads-a-scoundrel', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:13:00', '2020-04-20 09:13:00', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1192', 0, 'post', '', 11),
(1193, 1, '2012-08-03 23:01:02', '2012-08-04 03:01:02', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120804-inline', '', '', '2012-08-03 23:01:02', '2012-08-04 03:01:02', '', 1192, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1194, 1, '2012-08-03 23:01:05', '2012-08-04 03:01:05', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120804', '', '', '2012-08-03 23:01:05', '2012-08-04 03:01:05', '', 1192, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1195, 1, '2012-08-03 22:55:50', '2012-08-04 02:55:50', '[two_third]\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\n\nI\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\n\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\n\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \n\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\n消灭 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\n能手 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸在天出去捉青蛙。\n\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\n\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \n\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\n\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad\'s A Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-03 22:55:50', '2012-08-04 02:55:50', '', 1192, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1192-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1196, 1, '2012-08-03 23:03:13', '2012-08-04 03:03:13', '[two_third]\r\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\r\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\r\n消灭 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n能手 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\r\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\r\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\r\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸在天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad\'s A Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-03 23:03:13', '2012-08-04 03:03:13', '', 1192, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1192-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1197, 1, '2020-04-20 05:22:14', '2020-04-20 09:22:14', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nAnd now a break from all the intermediate and advanced exercises I\'ve been posting lately. This one is a straightforward beginner Chinese diary-style essay about a student whose mother is displeased with his (or her, it\'s never clarified) homework. <!--more-->\n\nThere\'s only one thing that particularly stands out to me as confusing here, which is when the mother says: 可能是<strong>有了</strong>小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。 Literally, this translates as \"Maybe it\'s have small sister, I during this time towards you care little.\" The last clause we can translate into less literal and more readable English as \"I haven\'t looked after you much during this time,\" but the first bit, \"<strong><em>have </em></strong>small sister\" (有了), is confusing. Why \"have\" 有了? \n\nIn this case, that could be translated as, \"Maybe it\'s because we have your little sister,\" or \"It\'s because I had your little sister [to look after]\", though \"because\" is never actually used in the sentence, it becomes that much harder to read. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n闷闷不乐 - [pinyin]men4 men4 bu4 le4[/pinyin] - Sulky, moody, unhappy\n怎么了 - [pinyin]zen3 me5 le4[/pinyin] - What\'s wrong?\n叹 - [pinyin]tan4[/pinyin] - Sigh\n暑假 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Summer vacation\n自责 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - To blame oneself\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - absolutely (not)\n努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  To strive, work hard\n盯 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Stare at\n攥 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - To grasp\n共同 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Together\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n9月24日星期六\n\n今天，开完家长会，妈妈<strong>闷闷不乐</strong>，我小心地问：“妈妈，您<strong>怎么了</strong>？”妈妈看着我，<strong>叹</strong>了口气说：“你<strong>暑假</strong>作业完成的不好，字也写的不好。我想，可能是有了小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。”我听了，不好意思地低下了头。\n\n看着妈妈<strong>自责</strong>的样子，我心里特别难过，我对妈妈说：“妈妈，您不要自责了，这<strong>根本</strong>就不是你的错，而是我自己不<strong>努力</strong>，请您不要生气了，从现在开始，我一定认真完成老师交给的每项作业，争取取得好成绩。请您相信我！”妈妈<strong>盯</strong>着我的眼睛，<strong>攥</strong>着我的手说：“好孩子，妈妈相信你，让我们<strong>共同</strong>努力！”\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nSeptember 24, Saturday\n\nToday, after my parent-teacher conference, mama looked moody, and I carefully asked her, \"Mama, what\'s wrong?\" Looking at me, mother sighed and said: \"Your summer vacation homework is not close to being done, and your writing is poor. I think, because [I\'ve been spending so much time with] your little sister, I haven\'t been paying as much attention to you during this time.\" As I listened, I hung my head in embarrassment. \n\nWhen I saw the self-blame on mama\'s face, I was very sad, and I said to mama: \"Mama, don\'t blame yourself, is isn\'t your fault at all, it\'s that I haven\'t worked hard enough, so please don\'t be angry, starting now, I\'ll earnestly finish all the homework teacher gave me, and I\'ll fight to get good grades. Please believe me!\" Mama stared into my eyes, grasped my hand and said, \"Good child, mother believes you, let us work hard together.\" \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Dear Diary: Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1113-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:22:14', '2020-04-20 09:22:14', '', 1113, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1113-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1198, 1, '2012-05-07 09:40:34', '2012-05-07 13:40:34', '[two_third]\r\nAnd now a break from all the intermediate and advanced exercises I\'ve been posting lately. This one is a straightforward beginner Chinese diary-style essay about a student whose mother is displeased with his (or her, it\'s never clarified) homework. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120503-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Materials: Learn Chinese Reading for Beginners\" title=\"Easy Chinese Passages: Easy Chinese Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> There\'s only one thing that particularly stands out to me as confusing here, which is when the mother says: 可能是<strong>有了</strong>小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。 Literally, this translates as \"Maybe it\'s have small sister, I during this time towards you care little.\" The last clause we can translate into less literal and more readable English as \"I haven\'t looked after you much during this time,\" but the first bit, \"<strong><em>have </em></strong>small sister\" (有了), is confusing. Why \"have\" 有了? \r\n\r\nIn this case, that could be translated as, \"Maybe it\'s because we have your little sister,\" or \"It\'s because I had your little sister [to look after]\", though \"because\" is never actually used in the sentence, it becomes that much harder to read. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n闷闷不乐 - [pinyin]men4 men4 bu4 le4[/pinyin] - Sulky, moody, unhappy\r\n怎么了 - [pinyin]zen3 me5 le4[/pinyin] - What\'s wrong?\r\n叹 - [pinyin]tan4[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n暑假 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Summer vacation\r\n自责 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - To blame oneself\r\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - absolutely (not)\r\n努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  To strive, work hard\r\n盯 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Stare at\r\n攥 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - To grasp\r\n共同 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Together\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n9月24日星期六\r\n\r\n今天，开完家长会，妈妈<strong>闷闷不乐</strong>，我小心地问：“妈妈，您<strong>怎么了</strong>？”妈妈看着我，<strong>叹</strong>了口气说：“你<strong>暑假</strong>作业完成的不好，字也写的不好。我想，可能是有了小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。”我听了，不好意思地低下了头。\r\n\r\n看着妈妈<strong>自责</strong>的样子，我心里特别难过，我对妈妈说：“妈妈，您不要自责了，这<strong>根本</strong>就不是你的错，而是我自己不<strong>努力</strong>，请您不要生气了，从现在开始，我一定认真完成老师交给的每项作业，争取取得好成绩。请您相信我！”妈妈<strong>盯</strong>着我的眼睛，<strong>攥</strong>着我的手说：“好孩子，妈妈相信你，让我们<strong>共同</strong>努力！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nSeptember 24, Saturday\r\n\r\nToday, as we were finishing our family meeting, mama looked moody, and I carefully asked her, \"Mama, what\'s wrong?\" Looking at me, mother sighed and said: \"Your summer vacation homework is not close to being done, and your writing is poor. I think, because [I\'ve been spending so much time with] your little sister, I haven\'t been paying as much attention to you during this time.\" As I listened, I hung my head in embarrassment. \r\n\r\nWhen I saw the self-blame on mama\'s face, I was very sad, and I said to mama: \"Mama, don\'t blame yourself, is isn\'t your fault at all, it\'s that I haven\'t worked hard enough, so please don\'t be angry, starting now, I\'ll earnestly finish all the homework teacher gave me, and I\'ll fight to get good grades. Please believe me!\" Mama stared into my eyes, grasped my hand and said, \"Good child, mother believes you, let us work hard together.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Dear Diary: Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1113-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-05-07 09:40:34', '2012-05-07 13:40:34', '', 1113, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/05/07/1113-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1199, 1, '2020-04-20 05:12:55', '2020-04-20 09:12:55', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\n\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\n\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \n\nOne other notable point is the word 又, which means \"again\". But did you know that in Chinese, there are two ways to say \"again\"? There\'s 又, and there\'s also 再. It\'s a little alien to a native English speaker that there might be two different ways to say \"again\", so let me explain the difference:\n\n又 - Indicates that the action has already been repeated in the past. Example: \"<strong>You forgot your homework again? You\'re going to get in trouble.</strong>\" The person being scolded forgot their homework once, then already forgot it again (maybe many times). The forgetting of homework again has already happened. So we use 又.\n\n再 - Indicates that something will happen again <em>in the future</em>. An example of this would be: <strong>Don\'t forget your homework again or you\'ll get in trouble.</strong> In other words, you forgot your homework at least once already, don\'t repeat that action again in the future. Another example of this is would be a sentence like, \"When will I see you again?\" The seeing again hasn\'t yet happened - it may happen in the future. So we would use 再. \n\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\n消灭 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\n能手 - [pinyin]neng2 shou3[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸成天出去捉青蛙。\n\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\n\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \n\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\n\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:12:55', '2020-04-20 09:12:55', '', 1192, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1192-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1200, 1, '2012-08-03 23:03:55', '2012-08-04 03:03:55', '[two_third]\r\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\r\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\r\n消灭 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n能手 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\r\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\r\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\r\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸在天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-03 23:03:55', '2012-08-04 03:03:55', '', 1192, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1192-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1202, 1, '2012-08-04 23:23:46', '2012-08-05 03:23:46', '', 'Learn Beginner Chinese Characters: Chinese Character Practice for Beginner Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120810', '', '', '2012-08-04 23:23:46', '2012-08-05 03:23:46', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120810.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1203, 1, '2012-08-04 23:23:50', '2012-08-05 03:23:50', '', 'Learn Beginner Chinese Characters: Chinese Character Practice for Beginner Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120810-inline', '', '', '2012-08-04 23:23:50', '2012-08-05 03:23:50', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120810-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1206, 1, '2012-08-03 23:33:39', '2012-08-04 03:33:39', '[two_third]\r\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\nOne other notable point is the word 又, which means \"again\". But did you know that in Chinese, there are two ways to say \"again\"? There\'s 又, and there\'s also 再. It\'s a little alien to a native English speaker that there might be two different ways to say \"again\", so let me explain the difference:\r\n\r\n又 - Indicates that the action has already been repeated in the past. Example: \"<strong>You forgot your homework again? You\'re going to get in trouble.</strong>\" The person being scolded forgot their homework once, then already forgot it again (maybe many times). The forgetting of homework again has already happened. So we use 又.\r\n\r\n再 - Indicates that something will happen again <em>in the future</em>. An example of this would be: <strong>Don\'t forget your homework again or you\'ll get in trouble.</strong> In other words, you forgot your homework at least once already, don\'t repeat that action again in the future. Another example of this is would be a sentence like, \"When will I see you again?\" The seeing again hasn\'t yet happened - it may happen in the future. So we would use 再. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\r\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\r\n消灭 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n能手 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\r\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\r\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\r\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸在天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-03 23:33:39', '2012-08-04 03:33:39', '', 1192, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1192-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1207, 1, '2012-08-07 20:39:44', '2012-08-08 00:39:44', '[two_third]\r\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\nOne other notable point is the word 又, which means \"again\". But did you know that in Chinese, there are two ways to say \"again\"? There\'s 又, and there\'s also 再. It\'s a little alien to a native English speaker that there might be two different ways to say \"again\", so let me explain the difference:\r\n\r\n又 - Indicates that the action has already been repeated in the past. Example: \"<strong>You forgot your homework again? You\'re going to get in trouble.</strong>\" The person being scolded forgot their homework once, then already forgot it again (maybe many times). The forgetting of homework again has already happened. So we use 又.\r\n\r\n再 - Indicates that something will happen again <em>in the future</em>. An example of this would be: <strong>Don\'t forget your homework again or you\'ll get in trouble.</strong> In other words, you forgot your homework at least once already, don\'t repeat that action again in the future. Another example of this is would be a sentence like, \"When will I see you again?\" The seeing again hasn\'t yet happened - it may happen in the future. So we would use 再. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\r\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\r\n消灭 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n能手 - [pinyin]neng2 shou3[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\r\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\r\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\r\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸在天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-07 20:39:44', '2012-08-08 00:39:44', '', 1192, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/07/1192-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1209, 1, '2012-08-16 02:00:50', '2012-08-16 06:00:50', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here\'s the Chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>第一章</h4>\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Novels: Tiger Team - Ghost Hotel', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'tiger-team-ghost-hotel', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:43:53', '2020-04-20 11:43:53', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1209', 0, 'post', '', 4),
(1767, 1, '2020-04-20 05:05:20', '2020-04-20 09:05:20', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here\'s the Chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>第一章</h4>\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Novels: Tiger Team - Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:05:20', '2020-04-20 09:05:20', '', 1209, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1209-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2471, 1, '2020-06-01 01:16:59', '2020-06-01 05:16:59', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<strong>Public service announcement:</strong> you may or may not have heard that the <a href=\"https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2020/05/25/hsk-to-be-overhauled-first-time-in-11-years\">HSK system is about to get a major overhaul</a> for the first time in a decade. There will now be 9 HSK levels instead of 6, so my half-assed grading system on this site is about to become inaccurate. But the details aren\'t totally clear yet, so guess I\'ll be sticking with this until we know more.\r\n\r\nAnyway, in this story, a gentleman named Buzi (卜子 - [pinyin]bu3 zi[/pinyin]) asks his wife (卜妻 - [pinyin]bu3 qi1[/pinyin]) to make him a new pair of pants (裤子 - [pinyin]ku4 zi[/pinyin]), but he doesn\'t give her very clear instructions. \r\n \r\n<a href=\"http://www.rensheng5.com/xiaogushi/id-6042.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</a>.\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nFirst, a note on the use of 为 in the title 《卜妻为裤》. 为 has so many meanings in Chinese, in this case the definition used is \"to make\". \r\n\r\nA couple key words that will inform your understanding of the story:\r\n\r\n<strong>讲究</strong> [pinyin]jiang3 jiu[/pinyin] - You may have learned this one already, but if you don\'t know it, it\'s crucial to understanding the plot. 讲究 means to be meticulous or fastidious about something. The phrased used here is 不讲究穿着 - \"to not be fastidious about what one is wearing\". \r\n\r\n<strong>破烂</strong> [pinyin]po4 lan4[/pinyin] - This means ragged, ripped or torn. 破, by itself, usually means \"broken\", in this story, it is used to mean \"tattered\".\r\n\r\n<strong>照</strong> [pinyin]zhao4[/pinyin] - We usually first learn this character in the word 照片, \"photograph\", and 照 is also present in a lot of words that have to do with light, like 照亮 [pinyin]zhao4 liang4[/pinyin], to illuminate or shine upon. But that is not the definition of 照 being used here. In this case, 照 is short for 按照 [pinyin]an4 zhao4[/pinyin], to be based on, or 仿照 [pinyin]fang3 zhao4[/pinyin], to imitate or follow.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>《卜妻为裤》</h4>\r\n从前，住着一个名叫<span class=\"highlightText\">卜子</span>的人。\r\n\r\n他平时很不<span class=\"highlightText\">讲究</span>穿着，经常是穿着一身<span class=\"highlightText\">破烂</span>的衣服就出去了。\r\n\r\n有一天，他还是和平时一样穿着一条又脏又破的裤子出去了，走到街上，很多人都在看他的破裤子，他自己觉得很难堪，就买一块布头，回到家叫妻子给他做一条新裤子。\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">卜妻</span>量量尺寸，问他：“这条裤子做成什么式样啊?”\r\n\r\n卜子随口回答：“<span class=\"highlightText\">照</span>老样子做吧！”\r\n\r\n妻子以为丈夫喜欢那种又脏又破衣服的款式，就想：他是不是觉得穿这种裤子很舒服，而且这一条裤子不够穿，所以叫我再做一条？\r\n\r\n卜妻就认认真真地<span class=\"highlightText\">仿照</span>老裤子的模样，这里戳几个破洞，那里抹一摊油，弄得皱皱巴巴、破破烂烂的。花费了不少工夫，总算完成了。\r\n\r\n她把裤子放到卜子面前，得意地说：“满意吧?同老裤子一样的样式。”\r\n\r\n说话一定要说清楚，尤其是大事情。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nLong ago, there lived a man named Buzi. \r\n\r\nHe typically wasn\'t meticulous about what he wore, and often went out wearing ragged clothes.\r\n\r\nOne day, same as usual he went out wearing a pair of dirty, torn pants, but when he walked onto the street, many people were looking at his torn pants, and he felt quite embarrassed, so be bought a piece of cloth, and went back home to ask his wife to make him a new pair of pants.\r\n\r\nBuzi\'s wife took measurements, asking him: \"In what kind of style should the pants be made?\" \r\n\r\nBuzi casually answered, \"Base them on the old style!\"\r\n\r\n[His] wife thought her husband like that kind of dirty, tattered style, so she thought: Does he feel that wearing this kind of pants is comfortable, and feel that one pair isn\'t enough, so he asked me to make another? \r\n\r\nBuzi\'s wife diligently followed the old style, poking a few holes here, smearing some oil there, making them wrinkled and tattered. [After] expending no small amount of effort, they were finally done. \r\n\r\nShe put the pants in front of Buzi, and pleased with herself said: \"Satisfied? The same style as your old pants.\"\r\n\r\nWhen speaking you must speak clearly, especially in important matters. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Short story: 《卜妻为裤》Buzi\'s wife makes a pair of pants', 'A gentleman named Buzi (卜子) asks his wife (卜妻) to make him a new pair of pants (裤子), but he doesn\'t give her very clear instructions. HSK 3-4. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2443-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-06-01 01:16:59', '2020-06-01 05:16:59', '', 2443, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/06/01/2443-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2460, 1, '2020-05-31 00:36:42', '2020-05-31 04:36:42', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<strong>Public service announcement:</strong> you may or may not have heard that the <a href=\"https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2020/05/25/hsk-to-be-overhauled-first-time-in-11-years\">HSK system is about to get a major overhaul</a> for the first time in a decade. There will now be 9 HSK levels instead of 6, so my half-assed grading system on this site is about to become inaccurate. But the details aren\'t totally clear yet, so guess I\'ll be sticking with this until we know more.\r\n\r\nAnyway, in this story, a gentleman named Buzi (卜子 - [pinyin]bu3 zi[/pinyin]) asks his wife (卜妻 - [pinyin]bu3 qi1[/pinyin]) to make him a new pair of pants (裤子 - [pinyin]ku4 zi[/pinyin]), but he doesn\'t give her very clear instructions. \r\n \r\n<a href=\"http://www.rensheng5.com/xiaogushi/id-6042.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</span>\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nFirst, a note on the use of 为 in the title 《卜妻为裤》. 为 has so many meanings in Chinese, in this case the definition used is \"to make\". \r\n\r\nA couple key words that will inform your understanding of the story:\r\n\r\n<strong>讲究</strong> [pinyin]jiang3 jiu[/pinyin] - You may have learned this one already, but if you don\'t know it, it\'s crucial to understanding the plot. 讲究 means to be meticulous or fastidious about something. The phrased used here is 不讲究穿着 - \"to not be fastidious about what one is wearing\". \r\n\r\n破烂 [pinyin]po4 lan4[/pinyin] - This means ragged, ripped or torn. 破, by itself, usually means \"broken\", in this story, it is used to mean \"tattered\".\r\n\r\n照 [pinyin]zhao4[/pinyin] - We usually first learn this character in the word 照片, \"photograph\", and 照 is also present in a lot of words that have to do with light, like 照亮 [pinyin]zhao4 liang4[/pinyin], to illuminate or shine upon. But that is not the definition of 照 being used here. In this case, 照 is short for 按照 [pinyin]an4 zhao4[/pinyin], to be based on, or 仿照 [pinyin]fang3 zhao4[/pinyin], to imitate or follow.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>《卜妻为裤》</h4>\r\n从前，住着一个名叫<span class=\"highlightText\">卜子</span>的人。\r\n\r\n他平时很不<span class=\"highlightText\">讲究</span>穿着，经常是穿着一身<span class=\"highlightText\">破烂</span>的衣服就出去了。\r\n\r\n有一天，他还是和平时一样穿着一条又脏又破的裤子出去了，走到街上，很多人都在看他的破裤子，他自己觉得很难堪，就买一块布头，回到家叫妻子给他做一条新裤子。\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">卜妻</span>量量尺寸，问他：“这条裤子做成什么式样啊?”\r\n\r\n卜子随口回答：“<span class=\"highlightText\">照</span>老样子做吧！”\r\n\r\n妻子以为丈夫喜欢那种又脏又破衣服的款式，就想：他是不是觉得穿这种裤子很舒服，而且这一条裤子不够穿，所以叫我再做一条？\r\n\r\n卜妻就认认真真地<span class=\"highlightText\">仿照</span>老裤子的模样，这里戳几个破洞，那里抹一摊油，弄得皱皱巴巴、破破烂烂的。花费了不少工夫，总算完成了。\r\n\r\n她把裤子放到卜子面前，得意地说：“满意吧?同老裤子一样的样式。”\r\n\r\n说话一定要说清楚，尤其是大事情。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nLong ago, there lived a man named Buzi. \r\n\r\nHe typically wasn\'t meticulous about what he wore, and often went out wearing ragged clothes.\r\n\r\nOne day, same as usual he went out wearing a pair of dirty, torn pants, but when he walked onto the street, many people were looking at his torn pants, and he felt quite embarrassed, so be bought a piece of cloth, and went back home to ask his wife to make him a new pair of pants.\r\n\r\nBuzi\'s wife took measurements, asking him: \"In what kind of style should the pants be made?\" \r\n\r\nBuzi casually answered, \"Base them on the old style!\"\r\n\r\n[His] wife thought her husband like that kind of dirty, tattered style, so she thought: Does he feel that wearing this kind of pants is comfortable, and feel that one pair isn\'t enough, so he asked me to make another? \r\n\r\nBuzi\'s wife diligently followed the old style, poking a few holes here, smearing some oil there, making them wrinkled and tattered. [After] expending no small amount of effort, they were finally done. \r\n\r\nShe put the pants in front of Buzi, and pleased with herself said: \"Satisfied? The same style as your old pants.\"\r\n\r\nWhen speaking you must speak clearly, especially in important matters. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Short story: 《卜妻为裤》Buzi\'s wife makes a pair of pants', 'A gentleman named Buzi (卜子 - [pinyin]bu zi[/pinyin]) asks his wife (卜妻 - [pinyin]bu qi[/pinyin]) to make him a new pair of pants (裤子 - [pinyin]bu zi[/pinyin]), but he doesn\'t give her very clear instructions. HSK 3-4. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2443-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-31 00:36:42', '2020-05-31 04:36:42', '', 2443, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/31/2443-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1214, 1, '2012-08-12 23:50:22', '2012-08-13 03:50:22', '[two_third]\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. \n\nI found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describes a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel: the location of this horror novel. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n独生子 - [pinyin]du2 sheng1 zi3[/pinyin] - Only child\n养 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To raise\n解闷 - [pinyin]jie3 men4[/pinyin] - Relieve bordom\n放走 - [pinyin]fang4 zou3[/pinyin] - To let go, to free (an animal)\n陪伴 - [pinyin]pei ban4[/pinyin] - To accompany, be with\n忠臣 - [pinyin]zhong1 chen2[/pinyin] - Loyal subject\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越狭窄，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃穹顶的尖塔了。\n\n灰蒙蒙的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被戳了好几个窟窿。\n\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，它们被开在高处， 上面还钉了好多木条。\n\n这栋房子从1911年起就矗立在这座孤零零的山丘上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\n\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是光秃秃的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\n\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被杂草所掩埋。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, to the topmost floor was just a small glass domed-topped minaret. \n\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark 灰蒙蒙的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被戳了好几个窟窿。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-12 23:50:22', '2012-08-13 03:50:22', '', 1209, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/12/1209-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1215, 1, '2012-08-13 00:54:29', '2012-08-13 04:54:29', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Practice Exercizes and Passages for Advanced Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120817', '', '', '2012-08-13 00:54:29', '2012-08-13 04:54:29', '', 1209, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120817.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1216, 1, '2012-08-13 00:54:31', '2012-08-13 04:54:31', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Practice Exercizes and Passages for Advanced Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120817-inline', '', '', '2012-08-13 00:54:31', '2012-08-13 04:54:31', '', 1209, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120817-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1217, 1, '2012-08-13 00:50:05', '2012-08-13 04:50:05', '[two_third]\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\n\nI found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here the chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \n\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But thanks to my Chinese friend Anna, I learned that 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \n\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 大于 was a new word for me, and I didn\'t know that 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n狭窄 - [pinyin]xia2 zhai3[/pinyin] - Narrow\n穹顶 - [pinyin]qiong2 ding3[/pinyin] - Domed / vaulted roof\n尖塔 - [pinyin]jian1 ta3[/pinyin] - Minaret\n灰蒙蒙 - [pinyin]hui1 meng1 meng1[/pinyin] - Dusky\n戳 - [pinyin]chuo1[/pinyin] - poke, stab\n矗立 - [pinyin]chu4 li4[/pinyin] - To tower (of buildings)\n孤零零 - [pinyin]gu1 ling2 ling2[/pinyin] - Solitary\n山丘 - [pinyin]shan1 qiu1[/pinyin] - Hill\n光秃秃 - [pinyin]guang1 tu1 tu1[/pinyin] - Bare, bald\n杂草 - [pinyin]za2 cao3[/pinyin] - Weeds\n掩埋 - [pinyin]yan3 mai2[/pinyin] - Bury\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\n\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\n\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\n\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\n\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\n\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \n\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \n\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \n\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \n\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \n\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-13 00:50:05', '2012-08-13 04:50:05', '', 1209, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/13/1209-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1218, 1, '2012-08-13 00:58:27', '2012-08-13 04:58:27', '[two_third]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120817-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Beginner, Advanced and Intermediate Chinese: Exercises for Advanced Learners\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Practice Exercizes and Passages for Advanced Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here the chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But thanks to my Chinese friend Anna, I learned that 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 大于 was a new word for me, and I didn\'t know that 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n狭窄 - [pinyin]xia2 zhai3[/pinyin] - Narrow\r\n穹顶 - [pinyin]qiong2 ding3[/pinyin] - Domed / vaulted roof\r\n尖塔 - [pinyin]jian1 ta3[/pinyin] - Minaret\r\n灰蒙蒙 - [pinyin]hui1 meng1 meng1[/pinyin] - Dusky\r\n戳 - [pinyin]chuo1[/pinyin] - poke, stab\r\n矗立 - [pinyin]chu4 li4[/pinyin] - To tower (of buildings)\r\n孤零零 - [pinyin]gu1 ling2 ling2[/pinyin] - Solitary\r\n山丘 - [pinyin]shan1 qiu1[/pinyin] - Hill\r\n光秃秃 - [pinyin]guang1 tu1 tu1[/pinyin] - Bare, bald\r\n杂草 - [pinyin]za2 cao3[/pinyin] - Weeds\r\n掩埋 - [pinyin]yan3 mai2[/pinyin] - Bury\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-13 00:58:27', '2012-08-13 04:58:27', '', 1209, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/13/1209-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1254, 1, '2012-09-17 13:41:06', '2012-09-17 17:41:06', '[two_third]\r\nI\'ve been idly looking at moving to a new apartment lately (looks like I won\'t be moving after all - a good thing, too, because I like my current place), and I typically use the Chinese property search sites instead of the foreign ones. The prices are about 4 times as high on the English sites made for foreigners, and the properties they offer there are often aimed at high-rolling executives. It helps quite a bit to be able to browse the Chinese listings, so I\'m doing a few here. This is solidly advanced stuff. Local place names abound, so you have to be able to at least guess when something is or isn\'t a proper noun, and because we\'re working with real estate classifieds, a few words are shortened to save space or the formal version is used to sound professional.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120917-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Mandarin Chinese Reading: How and Where to Find an Apartment in Beijing\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Real Estate Classifieds and Apartment Hunting in Beijing\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />One thing to bear in mind if you\'re actually looking for an apartment in China is that quite a few of the pictures are fake, are from other houses in the same compound, or if you\'re dealing with an agency, you should know that most places online have been rented already, but the agencies have left the ads up in hopes you\'ll call them anyway and they can show you something else. \r\n\r\nYou really do have to go hunt around in person in China, but online apartment hunting can give you a few valuable pieces of info: what types of apartments are available in which areas (only old buildings? skyrises? hutong-houses?), which complexes are newer and have nicer amenities, and what apartments in a particular area usually go for. \r\n\r\nHere are three of the best and most popular Beijing real estate websites, if you want to practice on your own:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://bj.58.com/zufang/\">bj.58.com/zufang/</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://beijing.anjuke.com\">beijing.anjuke.com</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://zu.soufun.com/\">zu.soufun.com/</a>\r\n\r\nI\'m going to list and translate a few different Beijing listings here, but I won\'t link to the original listings as I imagine they\'ll come down fairly fast, so I\'ll just show a couple of photos. You can visit the links above for similar stuff. I\'m taking some examples from a little spectrum: one crappy (and very very typical) older apartment near Beijing, a cheaper and nicer apartment in the distant suburbs of Beijing, a high-rolling super luxury apartment city-center, and a traditional-style siheyuan home. \r\n\r\nYou\'ll see a lot of similarities between real estate and property listings in Beijing or anywhere, but a couple of major points of local flavor: \r\n\r\n押一付三　- This indicates how rent is paid. In Beijing, rent is not paid monthly. It can either be paid every three months, every six months, or you can pay the whole year in advance. This indicates rent is to be paid every 3 months (付三), which is by far the most common way to pay, and that a one-month deposit will be required (押一).\r\n\r\n朝向南北 - Man, the Chinese sure do care which way their apartment faces. People here will flat-out turn down an east/west facing place if they can afford to. The best apartments, apparently, face south / north, so you get sun all day, but it\'s not blasting in your windows. Less ideal is when a place faces east / west - and people here care SO MUCH about this, that you can get a cheaper place if you don\'t care that it faces east/west (though for haggling purposes, you\'re better off pretending you do care). This is why the direction is front and center. \r\n \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n享受 - [pinyin]xiang3 shou4[/pinyin] - To live it up\r\n户型 - [pinyin]hu4 xing2[/pinyin] - Type of house\r\n住宅 - [pinyin]zhu4 zhai2[/pinyin] - Residence (usually apartment)\r\n所属 - [pinyin]suo3 shu3[/pinyin] - Belonging to, comprising\r\n环岛 - [pinyin]huan2 dao3[/pinyin] - Traffic roundabout\r\n城铁 - [pinyin]cheng2 tie3[/pinyin] - High speed rail\r\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - To patrol\r\n周边 - [pinyin]zhou1 bian1[/pinyin] - Nearby\r\n入住 - [pinyin]ru4 zhu4[/pinyin] - To move in [to a house]\r\n宽带 - [pinyin]kuan1 dai4[/pinyin] - Broadband\r\n豪华 - [pinyin]hao2 hua2[/pinyin] - Luxurious\r\n装修 - [pinyin]zhuang1 xiu1[/pinyin] - Interior decor\r\n平房 - [pinyin]ping2 fang2[/pinyin] - Buangalow (separate house)\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\"><img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n\r\nTitle: 超低的价格 美好的<strong>享受</strong> 就在京通苑 ,3室精装修 \r\n租金价格： 3200 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋<strong>户型</strong>： 3室1厅1卫　108㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通<strong>住宅</strong>   精装修　朝向南北　\r\n<strong>所属</strong>楼层： 6层/6层\r\n所在区域： 朝阳 - 管庄 - 京通苑\r\n所在地址： 朝阳路杨闸<strong>环岛</strong>西北角 （交通地图）\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 《眼见为实》果园<strong>城铁</strong>低价出租翠屏里两居 首次出租 \r\n租金价格： 2900 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　89㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   简单装修　朝向东西　\r\n所属楼层： 2层/6层\r\n所在区域： 通州 - 果园 - 翠屏里\r\n所在地址： 通州区果园环岛南700米\r\n1.小区位于果园城铁站南侧，绿化面积达50%，有24小时保安<strong>巡查</strong>。\r\n2.<strong>周边</strong>配套设施齐全，有苏荷时代购物广场、物美大卖场，北机菜市场。\r\n3.出门就是果园城铁站，周边还有多路公交车站可直达大北窑。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle:拎包<strong>入住</strong>北京星河湾3期全新地暖房欧式豪装4居、品味高贵生活环境\r\n租 金：43000元/月 (押一付三)\r\n面积 ：353㎡\r\n户型： 3室2厅4卫\r\n装修： 豪华装修\r\n楼层： 23/33\r\n朝向： 南北\r\n入住： 随时\r\n建筑年代： 2009年\r\n楼盘：星河湾  朝阳\r\n配置： 电话，热水器，空调，冰箱，洗衣机，床，家具， 微波炉，厨具\r\n设施： 水，电，煤气/天然气，暖气，有线电视，<strong>宽带</strong>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 什刹海前海四合院 2室2厅110平米 <strong>豪华</strong><strong>装修 </strong>\r\n租金价格： 11000 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　110㎡\r\n房屋情况： <strong>平房</strong>   豪华装修　朝向南　\r\n所属楼层： 1层/2层\r\n所在区域： 西城 - 什刹海 - 前海四合院\r\n所在地址： 前海银锭桥附近\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Super Low Price - Wonderful Lifestyle - Located at JingTongYuan, Three Beds Nice Decor  \r\nRental Price: 3200 RMB / Month   Paid in 3-month increments 　\r\nRooms: 3 beds, 1 living room, 1 bath, 108 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, nice decor, facing south / north \r\nWhich floor [in the building]: Floor 6 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: Chaoyang - Guanzhuang - JingTongYuan\r\nAddress: ChaoYang Raod, YangZha Roundabout, Northwest Corner (transportation map [link]) \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: \"Seeing is Believing\" GuoYuan Rail Station - Low price Rental in Cui Ping Li - Two-Bedroom - First come, first serve \r\nRental Price: 2900 RMB / Month  Pay 3 months at a time   \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 89 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, simple decor, facing east / west \r\nFloor: Floor 2 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: TongZhou - GuoYuan - CuiPingLi \r\nAddress: TongZhou District, 700 meters south frmo the GuoYuan Roundabout\r\n1. The apartment block is located on the south side of GuoYuan rail station, the area\'s 50% greenery, and there are guards on patrol 24-hours \r\n2. [You\'ll have] a complete set of amenities nearby: there\'s SuHe ShiDai Shopping Mall, WuMei Retail Store, and BeiJi Food Market \r\n3. GuoYuan rail station is right outside the door, and close by there are also many bus stations with non-stop service to DaBeiYao.  \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Move in with just your handbag - Beijing\'s XingHeWan Block 3, Completely New Warm Home in European Style with Stunning Decor - 4 bedrooms, experience [lit: taste] a grand living environment\r\nRental price: 43000 RMB / month (pay in 3 month increments)\r\nArea: 353 square meters \r\nRooms: 3 beds, 2 living rooms, 4 baths \r\nDecor: Luxurious Interior Decor\r\nFloor: Floor 23 of 33\r\nDirection: South / North \r\nWhen you can move in: anytime \r\nBuilt in: 2009\r\nProperty: XingHeWan (Star River Bay), ChaoYang \r\nIncludes: Phone, water heater, air conditioning, fridge, washing machine, bed, furniture, microwave, kitchen implements\r\nInstalled: Water, electricity, coal / natural gas, heating, landline, broadband \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: ShiChaHai QianHai Courtyard House, 2 beds 2 living rooms 110 square meters, Luxurious Decor\r\nRental Price: 11000 RMB / month  Pay in 3 month increments 　 \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 110 square meters \r\nHome type: Bungalow, luxurious decor, facing south\r\nFloor: Floor 1 of 2 \r\nLocation: XiCheng - ShiChaHai - QianHai Courtyard \r\nAddress: In Qianhai near YinDing Bridge\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Understanding Chinese Apartment Rental Listings', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', 'understanding-chinese-apartment-rental-listings-and-real-estate-ads', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:43:06', '2020-04-20 11:43:06', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1254', 0, 'post', '', 6),
(1221, 1, '2012-07-22 21:11:18', '2012-07-23 01:11:18', '[two_third]\r\nSeeing as how I just got back from a trip to the Wall myself, I figured I\'d stay on that theme. This traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城 [pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3 ku1 chang2 cheng2[/pinyin], is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story happens between 259 B.C. and 210 B.C., and describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女[pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3[/pinyin], and her love, 范喜良 [pinyin]fan4 xi3 liang2[/pinyin], who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 [pinyin]qin2 shi3 huang2[/pinyin] during the building of the Great Wall. The story describe how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒 [pinyin]xi3 jiu3[/pinyin], meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房 [pinyin]dong4 fang2[/pinyin], or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看 [pinyin]yan3 kan4[/pinyin], which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" [pinyin]bu4 rong2 fen1 shuo1[/pinyin] charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\r\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\r\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\r\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\r\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\r\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\r\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\r\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\r\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\r\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\r\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\r\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\r\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\r\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\r\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\r\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\r\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\r\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\r\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\r\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:11:18', '2012-07-23 01:11:18', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-12/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1222, 1, '2012-06-27 22:34:02', '2012-06-28 02:34:02', '[two_third]\r\nThis is an upper-beginner or low-intermediate level text. It\'s good for beginner readers in the sense that a) it\'s short, and b) it\'s extremely repetitive - if you can puzzle out the first two or three sentences, the rest should be clear. To get you going, it might be worth noting there that the protagonist is a small blade of (or lump of, or field of - it\'s never really defined) grass named \"YinYin\" (小草银银), who keeps asking one particular favor of each season. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/20120615-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" title=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The seasons are personified as ladies - for example, \"The Lady of Spring\" (春姑娘) and \"the Lady of Summer\" (夏姑娘), etc. \r\n\r\nThere\'s so much metaphor going on in this I\'m not sure where to start. You could choose to interpret this as a statement about aging, about changing seasons, go nuts. \r\n\r\nAnd on a personal note, not 100% sure I\'m happy with the conclusion that\'s drawn here, considering I dye my hair all the time, but what the hell. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\r\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\r\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\r\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\r\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\r\n深绿 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\r\n秋天 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\r\n金黄 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\r\n冬天 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\r\n后悔 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\r\n可不要 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\r\n忽然 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n掉下来 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小草银银喜欢银色。\r\n　　<strong>春天</strong>，小草银银让春姑娘把她的头发<strong>染</strong>成银色。春姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>青色</strong>”。银银非常<strong>伤心</strong>。\r\n　　<strong>夏天</strong>小草银银让夏姑娘把她的头发染成银色。夏姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>深绿</strong>色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>秋天</strong>小草银银让秋姑娘把她的头发染成银色。秋姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成金黄色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>冬天</strong>小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你<strong>可不要</strong><strong>后悔</strong>呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\r\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。<strong>忽然</strong>，银银的头发<strong>掉下来</strong>了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe little grass YinYin liked the color silver. \r\n　　In spring time, little grass Yinyin asked the Lady of Spring to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Spring said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair blue/green [see explanation]. YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn summer time, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Summer to to dye her hair silver. The lady of summer said, \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair green!\" YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn autumn, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Autumn to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Autumn said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair golden yellow.\" YinYin was very broken-hearted.\r\n\r\nIn winter, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Winter to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Winter said, \"Okay, but won\'t you regret it?\" YinYin said, \"I won\'t, if I had hair that beautiful I couldn\'t be happier!\" And so YinYin\'s hair turned silver. Suddenly, YinYin\'s hair fell out - how could this be? Of course, if you dye your hair too often, it\'s not good for you. And after this YinYin was indeed regretful. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Grass\' Silver Hair', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1123-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-06-27 22:34:02', '2012-06-28 02:34:02', '', 1123, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/27/1123-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1282, 1, '2012-10-02 00:42:05', '2012-10-02 04:42:05', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 我们家的跳绳比赛</strong>\n\nA single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. <!--more-->\n\nHaven\'t had a ton of extra time in the last few weeks - just went on a trip to Dalian, and <img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121002-300x95.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" width=\"300\" height=\"95\" class=\"imgborder\" /> still catching up from that. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n跳 - [pinyin]lie4 ri4[/pinyin] - Scorching sun\n绳 - [pinyin]yan2 yan2[/pinyin] - Scorching\n失误 - [pinyin]bao4 shang4[/pinyin] - Pick up (the way one picks up a child, encircling them with both arms)\n砰砰 - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - Candy \n弃权 - [pinyin]zhong4[/pinyin] - To plant (eg. vegetable seeds)\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThis morning father and competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. So I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-02 00:42:05', '2012-10-02 04:42:05', '', 1277, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/02/1277-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1224, 1, '2012-08-13 01:05:11', '2012-08-13 05:05:11', '[two_third]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120817-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Beginner, Advanced and Intermediate Chinese: Exercises for Advanced Learners\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Practice Exercizes and Passages for Advanced Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here\'s the Chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But thanks to my Chinese friend Anna, I learned that 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 大于 was a new word for me, and I didn\'t know that 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n狭窄 - [pinyin]xia2 zhai3[/pinyin] - Narrow\r\n穹顶 - [pinyin]qiong2 ding3[/pinyin] - Domed / vaulted roof\r\n尖塔 - [pinyin]jian1 ta3[/pinyin] - Minaret\r\n灰蒙蒙 - [pinyin]hui1 meng1 meng1[/pinyin] - Dusky\r\n戳 - [pinyin]chuo1[/pinyin] - poke, stab\r\n矗立 - [pinyin]chu4 li4[/pinyin] - To tower (of buildings)\r\n孤零零 - [pinyin]gu1 ling2 ling2[/pinyin] - Solitary\r\n山丘 - [pinyin]shan1 qiu1[/pinyin] - Hill\r\n光秃秃 - [pinyin]guang1 tu1 tu1[/pinyin] - Bare, bald\r\n杂草 - [pinyin]za2 cao3[/pinyin] - Weeds\r\n掩埋 - [pinyin]yan3 mai2[/pinyin] - Bury\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-13 01:05:11', '2012-08-13 05:05:11', '', 1209, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/13/1209-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1225, 1, '2012-08-22 07:00:48', '2012-08-22 11:00:48', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n\r\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Bodhisattva of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants and Chinese medicine) but intermediate sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nShen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\r\n\r\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". So a very potent poison, then.\r\n\r\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. I made a tiny edit from the original to correct a mistake.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>神农尝百草</h4>\r\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，<strong>五脏六腑</strong>全都能看得<strong>一清二楚</strong>。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至<strong>丧命</strong>。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\r\n\r\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶</strong>。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各<strong>器官</strong>擦洗得<strong>清清爽爽</strong>，象<strong>巡查</strong>似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，<strong>香味扑鼻</strong>，这是“<strong>甘草</strong>”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次<strong>中毒</strong>，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\r\n\r\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还<strong>来不及</strong>吃茶<strong>解毒</strong>就死了。他是为了<strong>拯救</strong>人们而<strong>牺牲</strong>的，人们称他为“药王<strong>菩萨</strong>”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\r\n\r\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he used tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \r\n\r\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Bodhisattva of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Mythology: The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'the-farmer-god-shen-nong-tastes-all-the-plants', '', '', '2020-04-28 19:50:48', '2020-04-28 23:50:48', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1225', 0, 'post', '', 9),
(1766, 1, '2020-04-20 05:04:47', '2020-04-20 09:04:47', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n\r\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Bodhisattva of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants and Chinese medicine) but intermediate sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nShen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\r\n\r\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". So a very potent poison, then.\r\n\r\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. I made a tiny edit from the original to correct a mistake.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>神农尝百草</h4>\r\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，<strong>五脏六腑</strong>全都能看得<strong>一清二楚</strong>。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至<strong>丧命</strong>。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\r\n\r\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶</strong>。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各<strong>器官</strong>擦洗得<strong>清清爽爽</strong>，象<strong>巡查</strong>似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，<strong>香味扑鼻</strong>，这是“<strong>甘草</strong>”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次<strong>中毒</strong>，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\r\n\r\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还<strong>来不及</strong>吃茶<strong>解毒</strong>就死了。他是为了<strong>拯救</strong>人们而<strong>牺牲</strong>的，人们称他为“药王<strong>菩萨</strong>”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\r\n\r\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he used tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \r\n\r\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Bodhisattva of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1225-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:04:47', '2020-04-20 09:04:47', '', 1225, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1225-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1765, 1, '2020-04-20 05:04:15', '2020-04-20 09:04:15', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n\r\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Bodhisattva of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants and Chinese medicine) but intermediate sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120822-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Stories and Legends: Learn to Read Simplified Chinese\" title=\"Chinese Buddhist Fables: Learn to Read Chinese \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> Shen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\r\n\r\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". So a very potent poison, then.\r\n\r\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. I made a tiny edit from the original to correct a mistake.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>神农尝百草</h4>\r\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，<strong>五脏六腑</strong>全都能看得<strong>一清二楚</strong>。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至<strong>丧命</strong>。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\r\n\r\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶</strong>。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各<strong>器官</strong>擦洗得<strong>清清爽爽</strong>，象<strong>巡查</strong>似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，<strong>香味扑鼻</strong>，这是“<strong>甘草</strong>”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次<strong>中毒</strong>，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\r\n\r\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还<strong>来不及</strong>吃茶<strong>解毒</strong>就死了。他是为了<strong>拯救</strong>人们而<strong>牺牲</strong>的，人们称他为“药王<strong>菩萨</strong>”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\r\n\r\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he used tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \r\n\r\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Bodhisattva of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1225-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:04:15', '2020-04-20 09:04:15', '', 1225, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1225-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2394, 1, '2020-05-24 05:55:58', '2020-05-24 09:55:58', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments – positive, negative, or neutral – are not allowed, and will be deleted. Dinner table rules, please.\r\n\r\nZhu De (朱德 [pinyin]zhi1 de2[/pinyin]) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin]), also called the Red Army (红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin]). He was applauded as a people\'s general, and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin]) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担 [pinyin]bian3 dan[/pinyin]) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned many popular posters of him, like this one:\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole.jpeg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Practice Exercises: Communist Folk Stories Revolutionary Heroes\" width=\"425\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2387\" /> \r\n\r\nZhe De is a revolutionary from the early days of Chinese Communism. For those who don\'t know their CCP history: modern China was founded in 1949, but for the 20-odd years before that, the Red Army was fighting various wars for control of the country. Zhu De was instrumental in these wars, and after 1949, he became a key Party leader and politician. This story is set in the early days of the wars, in 1928. It\'s crazy to think that Zhu De, who was born in 1886 and died in 1976, lived to be 90 years old, but spent three or four decades of his life doing nothing but fighting battles. Considering how many people died in those wars, or were purged in political upheavals afterwards, this guy was a real survivor. \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nThis is an example of a story that will look much harder on first glance than it actually is. That\'s because some of the vocab is intermediate, but the sentence structure is beginner. The intermediate vocab is also used repetitively, so once you look up the tougher words, you\'ll immediately have an opportunity to see them again in the text. The first two sentences are much rougher than the rest, because they\'re almost entirely made up of intermediate words, so push through those and it\'ll be easier going from there. If you break the sentences down patiently, and you are at HSK 3 or up, I promise you can get through this. \r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here: \r\n朱德同志 [pinyin]zhu1 de2[/pinyin] - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin] - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 [pinyin]jing3 gang1 shan1[/pinyin] - Jinggang Mountain \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 [pinyin]dui4 wu[/pinyin] - troops \r\n敌人 [pinyin]di2 ren2[/pinyin] - enemy\r\n战士们 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4 men[/pinyin] - soldier \r\n打仗 [pinyin]da3 zhang4[/pinyin] to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnother word that come up quite a bit is 粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin] - Also just 粮 [pinyin]liang2[/pinyin]. This is a general term for \"grain\", could be wheat, rice, millet, oats, or whatever.\r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n争着去 [pinyin]zheng1 zhe qu4[/pinyin] - 争 means \"to fight\" or \"to struggle\", 着 is a present-tense grammar word, and 去 means \"go\" or \"leave\". At first glance, 争着去 looks like it means \"fighting in order to leave someplace\", but it\'s not. In this case, it\'s describing a group of people pushing and shoving to be the first to volunteer to go somewhere. Imagine a group of soldiers asked to undertake a hard mission - one person says, \"I\'ll go!\" and someone else says, \"No, choose me, I\'ll go!\". This is 争着去. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>朱德的扁担</h4>\r\n1928年，<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>带领一支<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>队伍到<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>。山上是<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>，山下不远就是<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上出产粮食不多，常常要抽出一些人到山下的田园去挑粮。<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>离田园很远，山高路窄，非常难走。可是每次挑粮大家都<span class=\"highlightText\">争着去</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>也跟战士们一起去挑粮。他穿着草鞋，挑起满满的一担粮食，跟大家一起爬山。白天挑粮，晚上还常常整夜整夜地学习怎样跟敌人打仗。大家觉得他要做的工作太多，就把他那根扁担藏了起来。可是<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>又找到了一根扁担，写上“<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德</span>扁担，不要拿走”八个大字。大家见了，更敬爱<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>，不好意思再藏他的扁担了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nIn 1928, Comrade Zhu De lead a detachment of Red Army troops to Jinggang Mountain. The Red Army was on the mountain, but down the mountain not far away was the enemy. \r\n \r\nNot much grain was produced on Jinggang Mountain, so [they] often had to select a few people to go down to the fields below and tote back some grain. From Jinggang Mountain to the fields was 50 or 60 kilometers round-trip, the mountain was high and the roads were narrow, it was very hard going. But each time grain had to be carried back, everyone fought to be the one to go.\r\n \r\nComrade Zhu De also went along with the soldiers to carry grain. He wore grass shoes, carrying a pole packed full of grain, and climbed the mountain with everybody else. During the day [he] carried grain, and during the evening he often spent the whole night studying how to make war on the enemy. Everyone felt he had too much work to do, so they took his carrying pole and hid it. But Comrade Zhu De found another carrying pole, and wrote 8 big words on it: \"Zhu Du\'s carrying pole, please don\'t take it\". Everyone saw this, and loved and respected Comrade Zhu De even more, and were too ashamed to hide his carrying pole again. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De\'s Carrying Pole', 'Zhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). This popular revolutionary story highlights his willingness to toil alongside the rank and file soldiers. HSK 3-4. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 05:55:58', '2020-05-24 09:55:58', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2395, 1, '2020-05-24 06:09:40', '2020-05-24 10:09:40', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments - positive, negative, or neutral - are not allowed, and will be deleted.\r\n\r\nThis song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing. This rousing anthem worships the glory of Chairman Mao (毛主席). To be clear: this is not the official Chinese national anthem, but during the height of the Cultural Revolution it was kind of an unofficial national anthem, and most folks on mainland usually remember at least some of the lyrics. \r\n\r\nI often get requests from readers to add audio to my posts, and I can\'t do it because of time constraints, but since this was such a popular song, there are still lots of places you can listen to it. So, if you want to listen to the song with music and lyrics, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwFt6YH2t74\">you can check it out here</a> (and if that link breaks in the future, just look up 东方红 on Youtube, there are lots of vids). \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nI had an impossible time trying to find actual beginner-level reading on Communism. Even the children\'s stories are pretty hard. To read this smoothly without looking anything up, you\'d have to be an advanced reader. But this song is great for HSK 3-4 readers who are willing to put in a bit of effort, because it\'s a good overview of all the entry-level Communist vocab, the lyrics are very repetitive and bite-sized, and there are enough beginner-level words here to point you in the right direction, so with some study, you can get this. However, because there\'s a lot to parse here, I\'m going to do a lot of explaining.\r\n\r\nFirst, some critical Communist-themed vocab: \r\n \r\n<strong>毛泽东</strong> [pinyin]mao2 ze2 dong1[/pinyin] - Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China, who died in 1976\r\n\r\n<strong>毛主席</strong> [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao, Mao Zedong\'s official title\r\n\r\n<strong>大救星</strong> [pinyin]da4 jiu4 xing1[/pinyin] - You can probably figure out the general idea here by looking at each character individually. 大 is \"big\" or \"great\", 救 is \"to rescue\", and 星 is \"star\". All together, this means \"great savior\", one of the many worshipful terms used to describe Chairman Mao during the Cultural Revolution.\r\n\r\n<strong>共产党</strong> [pinyin]gong4 chan3 dang3[/pinyin] - The Communist Party (CCP)\r\n\r\n<strong>人民</strong> [pinyin]ren2 min2[/pinyin] - The People. This is used in almost every line of this song, so I won\'t highlight every instance. \r\n\r\n<strong>解放</strong> [pinyin]jie3 fang4[/pinyin] - Liberation\r\n\r\nThen, some grammatical points of order:\r\n\r\n<strong>了</strong> [pinyin]le / liao3[/pinyin] - If you listen to the audio, you\'ll notice that the singers pronounce 了 as <em>liao</em>, rather than <em>le</em>. This is just a colloquial pronunciation thing, the meaning of this grammar word has not changed.\r\n\r\n<strong>出了</strong> [pinyin]chu1 le / liao3[/pinyin] - Grammatically speaking, the most difficult part of these lyrics for me is translating 出了, because it\'s a little abstract. The full lyric is 中国出了个毛泽东, which I\'ll break down here:\r\n\r\n中国 - China\r\n出了 - ???\r\n个 - A / one\r\n毛泽东 - Mao Zedong\r\n\r\nWe know that 出 means \"to go out\", \"to issue forth\". It\'s present in the word 出生 [pinyin]chu1 sheng1[/pinyin], \"to be born\", and also present in the word 出现 [pinyin]chu1 xian4[/pinyin], \"to appear\". So, this lyric means something like \"Mao Zedong appeared in China\", or \"China gave birth to one Mao Zedong\". Neither of those translations feel exactly right, but you get the point.   \r\n\r\n<strong>为</strong> [pinyin]wei4[/pinyin] - Another tricky grammar point here is the use of 为. We see this being used in two ways, once just by itself, and once as 为了. These two uses have different definitions. When 为 is by itself before a noun, it means \"for (noun)\". As in \"for the people\". When it is 为了, before a verb, it means \"in order to (do something)\". \r\n\r\n<strong>得</strong> [pinyin]de2[/pinyin] - The definition of 得 being used here is \"to receive\". \r\n\r\n<strong>呼儿嗨哟</strong> [pinyin]hu1 er hei1 yo1[/pinyin] - Don\'t get tripped up on this, these aren\'t real words. These are just sounds that round out the song, as in the \"ooooh\" or \"la la la\", that you might hear in English songs. You might best translate this as \"Hurrah!\", a sound that expresses joy and victory.\r\n\r\nAlright, ready? Let\'s do this.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>东方红</h4>\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>爱人民 \r\n他是我们的带路人\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n领导我们向前进 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span> \r\n领导我们向前进\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>像太阳 \r\n照到那里那里亮\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span> \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThe East is Red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\n\r\nChairman Mao loves the People\r\nHe is our guide\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\n\r\nThe Communist Party is like the sun\r\nWherever it shines, there is light\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\n\r\nThe east is red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nHe is working for the people\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nGreat savior\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist songs: 《东方红》- The East is Red', 'This song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2343-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:09:40', '2020-05-24 10:09:40', '', 2343, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2343-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1227, 1, '2012-08-14 02:30:43', '2012-08-14 06:30:43', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 神农尝百草</strong>\n\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Buddha of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants) but simple sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\n\nShen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say he \'had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\n\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hilltribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". \n\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n狭窄 - [pinyin]xia2 zhai3[/pinyin] - Narrow\n穹顶 - [pinyin]qiong2 ding3[/pinyin] - Domed / vaulted roof\n尖塔 - [pinyin]jian1 ta3[/pinyin] - Minaret\n灰蒙蒙 - [pinyin]hui1 meng1 meng1[/pinyin] - Dusky\n戳 - [pinyin]chuo1[/pinyin] - poke, stab\n矗立 - [pinyin]chu4 li4[/pinyin] - To tower (of buildings)\n孤零零 - [pinyin]gu1 ling2 ling2[/pinyin] - Solitary\n山丘 - [pinyin]shan1 qiu1[/pinyin] - Hill\n光秃秃 - [pinyin]guang1 tu1 tu1[/pinyin] - Bare, bald\n杂草 - [pinyin]za2 cao3[/pinyin] - Weeds\n掩埋 - [pinyin]yan3 mai2[/pinyin] - Bury\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，五脏六腑全都能看得一清二楚。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至丧命。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\n\n第一次，神农尝了一片小嫩叶。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各器官擦洗得清清爽爽，象巡查似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，香味扑鼻，这是“甘草”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次中毒，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\n\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还来不及吃茶解毒就死了。他是为了拯救人们而牺牲的，人们称他为“药王菩萨”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\n\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he [drank] the tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \n\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还来不及吃茶解毒就死了。他是为了拯救人们而牺牲的，人们称他为“药王菩萨”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1225-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 02:30:43', '2012-08-14 06:30:43', '', 1225, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1225-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1228, 1, '2012-08-14 02:46:03', '2012-08-14 06:46:03', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 神农尝百草</strong>\n\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Buddha of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants and Chinese medicine) but simple sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\n\nShen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\n\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". \n\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys\n一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear\n丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one\'s life\n嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves\n器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ\n清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one\'s rounds on patrol\n香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils\n甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice\n中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned\n来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...\n解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify\n拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue\n牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself\n菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，<strong>五脏六腑</strong>全都能看得<strong>一清二楚</strong>。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至<strong>丧命</strong>。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\n\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶</strong>。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各<strong>器官</strong>擦洗得<strong>清清爽爽</strong>，象<strong>巡查</strong>似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，<strong>香味扑鼻</strong>，这是“<strong>甘草</strong>”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次<strong>中毒</strong>，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\n\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还<strong>来不及</strong>吃茶<strong>解毒</strong>就死了。他是为了<strong>拯救</strong>人们而<strong>牺牲</strong>的，人们称他为“药王<strong>菩萨</strong>”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\n\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he [drank] the tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \n\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Buddha of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1225-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 02:46:03', '2012-08-14 06:46:03', '', 1225, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1225-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1229, 1, '2012-08-14 03:29:49', '2012-08-14 07:29:49', '', 'Chinese Buddhist Fables: Learn to Read Chinese ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120822', '', '', '2012-08-14 03:29:49', '2012-08-14 07:29:49', '', 1225, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120822.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1230, 1, '2012-08-14 03:29:55', '2012-08-14 07:29:55', '', 'Chinese Buddhist Fables: Learn to Read Chinese ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120822-inline', '', '', '2012-08-14 03:29:55', '2012-08-14 07:29:55', '', 1225, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120822-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1231, 1, '2012-08-14 03:31:57', '2012-08-14 07:31:57', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 神农尝百草</strong>\n\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Bodhisattva of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants and Chinese medicine) but intermediate sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120822-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Stories and Legends: Learn to Read Simplified Chinese\" title=\"Chinese Buddhist Fables: Learn to Read Chinese \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder a\" /> Shen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\n\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". So a very potent poison, then.\n\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. I made a tiny edit from the original to correct a mistake.\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys\n一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear\n丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one\'s life\n嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves\n器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ\n清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one\'s rounds on patrol\n香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils\n甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice\n中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned\n来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...\n解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify\n拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue\n牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself\n菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，<strong>五脏六腑</strong>全都能看得<strong>一清二楚</strong>。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至<strong>丧命</strong>。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\n\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶</strong>。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各<strong>器官</strong>擦洗得<strong>清清爽爽</strong>，象<strong>巡查</strong>似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，<strong>香味扑鼻</strong>，这是“<strong>甘草</strong>”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次<strong>中毒</strong>，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\n\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还<strong>来不及</strong>吃茶<strong>解毒</strong>就死了。他是为了<strong>拯救</strong>人们而<strong>牺牲</strong>的，人们称他为“药王<strong>菩萨</strong>”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\n\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he used tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \n\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Bodhisattva of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1225-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 03:31:57', '2012-08-14 07:31:57', '', 1225, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1225-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1232, 1, '2020-04-20 05:03:47', '2020-04-20 09:03:47', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\n\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Bodhisattva of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants and Chinese medicine) but intermediate sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120822-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Stories and Legends: Learn to Read Simplified Chinese\" title=\"Chinese Buddhist Fables: Learn to Read Chinese \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> Shen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\n\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". So a very potent poison, then.\n\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. I made a tiny edit from the original to correct a mistake.\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys\n一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear\n丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one\'s life\n嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves\n器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ\n清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one\'s rounds on patrol\n香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils\n甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice\n中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned\n来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...\n解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify\n拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue\n牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself\n菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<h4>神农尝百草</h4>\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，<strong>五脏六腑</strong>全都能看得<strong>一清二楚</strong>。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至<strong>丧命</strong>。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\n\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶</strong>。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各<strong>器官</strong>擦洗得<strong>清清爽爽</strong>，象<strong>巡查</strong>似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，<strong>香味扑鼻</strong>，这是“<strong>甘草</strong>”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次<strong>中毒</strong>，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\n\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还<strong>来不及</strong>吃茶<strong>解毒</strong>就死了。他是为了<strong>拯救</strong>人们而<strong>牺牲</strong>的，人们称他为“药王<strong>菩萨</strong>”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \n[/su_column]\n[/su_row]\n\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\n[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\n\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he used tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \n\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Bodhisattva of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1225-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:03:47', '2020-04-20 09:03:47', '', 1225, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1225-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1233, 1, '2012-04-18 23:52:24', '2012-04-19 03:52:24', '[two_third]\r\nIn this essay you\'ll learn to read Chinese martial arts words - well, a few, anyway - but it\'s not really the vocabulary that places this in the \"advanced\" category. It\'s more that most of the text is full of wax-on, wax-off Karate Kid statements, as the martial arts master talks about how putting oneself in a position of inferiority allows you to attain superiority. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120419-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese Free - Martial Arts Mastery Essay\" title=\"Reading Chinese: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Chinese Practice Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />This kind of \"making logic out of illogical-sounding contradictions\" is very typical of martial arts and Eastern mysticism, and most of this type of stuff comes strait out of Taoist philosophy. \r\n\r\nThere are two phrases I found grammatically difficult to get past, the first being 处于劣势, or as the text has it, 处于一种劣势. \"处于\" [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] means to \"be in a state of...\", or \"to be in a position of...\". 劣势 [pinyin]lie4 shi4[/pinyin] means \"inferior\". Put together, this translates into English as \"to be at a disadvantage\", or in the case of 处于一种劣势, \"to be at some kind of disadvantage\".\r\n\r\nThe second and more difficult phrase is found in the third paragraph: 以剑招之长补兵器之短. The thing that makes this sentence difficult is all the accursed nebulous words that have many meanings - we\'ve got 以, 之, and 补 all smooshed together, and these words are the keys to unlocking the meaning of this sentence. So let\'s break this down word by word and see if all the definitions together don\'t give us a clue: \r\n\r\n以 - [pinyin]yi3[/pinyin] - The definition of 以 that\'s being used here is \"by means of\" or \"by way of\"\r\n剑招 - [pinyin]jian4 zhao1[/pinyin] - Swordsmanship maneuvers\r\n之 - [pinyin]zhi1[/pinyin] - of\r\n长 - [pinyin]chang2[/pinyin] - length\r\n补 - [pinyin]bu3[/pinyin] -   \"to make up for\"\r\n兵器 - [pinyin]bing1 qi4[/pinyin] -  Weapon\r\n之 - [pinyin]zhi1[/pinyin] - of\r\n短 - [pinyin]duan3[/pinyin] - shortness\r\n\r\nAh hah! Though this is still a little convoluted, once we know the meaning of 以 and 补 in this instance, this now becomes much simpler to read. It says: \"By means of the \'length\' of [my] swordsmanship maneuvers, [I] make up for the shortness of [my] weapon.\" We can see here that \"length\" doesn\'t really mean how \"long\" something is - \"length\" here means a high level of skill. The word \"length\" is just being used to juxtapose against the word \"short\". \r\n\r\nYou\'ll enjoy this if you\'re an upper-intermediate or advanced reader, and are interested in some specialized vocabulary. \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://gushi365.com/info/6017.html\">See the original</a>\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n剑客 - [pinyin]jian4 ke4[/pinyin] - Swordsman, fencer\r\n武林泰斗 - [pinyin]wu3 lin2 tai4 dou3[/pinyin] - Martial arts master - lit: leading scholar in martial arts circles\r\n请教 - [pinyin]qing3 jiao4[/pinyin] - Ask for guidance\r\n多亏 - [pinyin]duo1 kui1[/pinyin] - Thanks to\r\n大为不解 - [pinyin]da4 wei4 bu4 jie3[/pinyin] - Bewildered\r\n兵器 - [pinyin]bing1 qi4[/pinyin] - Department of Women, Family and Community Development\r\n谱 - [pinyin]pu3[/pinyin] - Chart, table, register\r\n处于 - [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] - To be in a state of...\r\n劣势 - [pinyin]lie4 shi4[/pinyin] - Inferior, disadvantaged\r\n对阵 - [pinyin]dui4 zhen4[/pinyin] - Poised for battle\r\n招 - [pinyin]zhao1[/pinyin] - Square up for a fight\r\n补 - [pinyin]bu3[/pinyin] - To make up for\r\n优势 - [pinyin]you1 shi4[/pinyin] - Advantage, superior\r\n注入 - [pinyin]zhu4 ru4[/pinyin] - To pour into\r\n敢于 - [pinyin]gan3 yu2[/pinyin] - To dare to\r\n胜利 - [pinyin]sheng4 li4[/pinyin] - Victory\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n一名<strong>剑客</strong>去拜访一位<strong>武林泰斗</strong>，<strong>请教</strong>他是如何练就非凡武艺的。武林泰斗拿出一把只有一尺长的剑，说:“<strong>多亏</strong>了它，才让我有了今天的成就。”\r\n\r\n 剑客<strong>大为不解</strong>，问:“别人的剑都是三尺三寸长的，而你的剑为什么只有一尺长呢?<strong>兵器</strong><strong>谱</strong>上说:剑短一分，险增三分。拿着这么短的剑无疑是<strong>处于</strong>一种<strong>劣势</strong>，你怎么还说这剑好呢?”\r\n\r\n武林泰斗说:“就因为在兵器上我处于劣势，所以我才会时时刻刻想到，如果与别人<strong>对阵</strong>，我会是多么的危险，所以我只有勤练剑<strong>招</strong>，以剑招之长<strong>补</strong>兵器之短，这样一来，我的剑招不断进步，劣势就转化为<strong>优势</strong>了。”\r\n\r\n    的确，优势和劣势有时候并不是绝对的。把自己放在劣势，就是给自己压力，为自己<strong>注入</strong>进取的动力，<strong>敢于</strong>把自己放在劣势的人，最终就有可能把劣势转化成为优势，从而取得<strong>胜利</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nA swordsman went to pay a visit to a martial arts master [literally: a leading figure in martial arts circles] to ask for guidance on how to train [so as to attain] exceptional martial skill. The martial arts master took out a sword that was only 1 foot long, and said: \"Thanks to this, I\'ve accomplished what I have today.\" \r\n\r\nBewildered, the swordsman asked, \"Other people\'s swords are all 3 feet 3 inches long, so why is yours only one foot long? The weapons chart says that: if your sword is one-fold shorter, the danger to you is threefold greater. Using this short of a sword undoubtedly places you at a disadvantage, how can you say this is a good sword?\" \r\n\r\nThe martial arts master said: \"That\'s precisely it - my weapon puts me at a disadvantage, so I must always be thinking that if I\'m up against another person in a fight, the danger to me is greater, and all I have is my diligently practiced sword maneuvers, so the \"length\" of my maneuvers must make up for the shortness of my sword; thus, I\'m always improving, and a disadvantage is transformed into an advantage.    \r\n\r\nIndeed, \"advantage\" and \"disadvantage\" really isn\'t always set in stone. If you put yourself at a disadvantage, you put pressure on yourself, pouring into yourself the power to forge ahead; those who dare to place themselves in an inferior position, can perhaps in the end turn their disadvantage into an advantage, and thereby achieve victory. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Martial Arts Mastery: Put Yourself at a Disadvantage', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '989-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-18 23:52:24', '2012-04-19 03:52:24', '', 989, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/18/989-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1234, 1, '2012-08-13 01:36:08', '2012-08-13 05:36:08', '[two_third]\r\nSeeing as how I just got back from a trip to the Wall myself, I figured I\'d stay on that theme. This traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城 [pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3 ku1 chang2 cheng2[/pinyin], is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story happens between 259 B.C. and 210 B.C., and describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女[pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3[/pinyin], and her love, 范喜良 [pinyin]fan4 xi3 liang2[/pinyin], who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 [pinyin]qin2 shi3 huang2[/pinyin] during the building of the Great Wall. The story describes how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒 [pinyin]xi3 jiu3[/pinyin], meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房 [pinyin]dong4 fang2[/pinyin], or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看 [pinyin]yan3 kan4[/pinyin], which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" [pinyin]bu4 rong2 fen1 shuo1[/pinyin] charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\r\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\r\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\r\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\r\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\r\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\r\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\r\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\r\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\r\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\r\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\r\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\r\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\r\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\r\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\r\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\r\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\r\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\r\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\r\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-13 01:36:08', '2012-08-13 05:36:08', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/13/1176-revision-13/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1235, 1, '2012-08-29 07:00:15', '2012-08-29 11:00:15', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis essay is about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results). <!--more-->\r\n\r\nOnly thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\r\n\r\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\r\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\r\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\r\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\r\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\r\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\r\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\r\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\r\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\r\n\r\nPretty straightforward when you look at it that way. A quick note on that: though the word 糖果 (which appears a lot in this text) means \"candy\", it does not mean \"candy fruit\" or \"sweet fruit\", as you might guess from the character 果. This is just a general word for candy, though the Chinese don\'t consider chocolate a \"candy\" - it\'s in its own category. \r\n\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>童年傻事</h4>\r\n童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\r\n\r\n我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\r\n\r\n我四岁时，一个<strong>烈日</strong><strong>炎炎</strong>的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸<strong>抱上</strong>我去商店、给我买了很多<strong>糖果</strong>。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院<strong>种</strong>苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么<strong>种子</strong>就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我<strong>心想</strong>如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\r\n\r\n我说做就做，我<strong>刨</strong>了个<strong>坑</strong>，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土<strong>埋</strong>了。我<strong>默默</strong>的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小<strong>宝贝</strong>，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\r\n\r\n<strong>如今</strong>我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nChildhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \r\n\r\nI was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \r\n\r\n[The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother and my elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself, if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \r\n\r\nI did just that, I dug a hole, took my leftover candy and put it all in the hole, using dirt to bury it. In silence I fervently hoped: \"Candy, grow quickly! Candy, grow quickly! Grow into a big tree, and sprout lots and lots of candy.\" I told this wish to my father, and he listened. Laughing heartily he said: \"Candy can\'t grow into a big tree, and it definitely can\'t sprout more candy.\" I heard my father\'s words and I sat down on the grass and started sobbing, my candy, my candy. Father quickly ran up to me, embraced me and said: \"Oh, don\'t cry little darling, daddy will buy you lots and lots of candy.\" I listened to him and stopped crying.\r\n\r\nNowadays I\'ve already grown up, and I won\'t try foolishly planting candy again.\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Essay: A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'a-foolish-affair-from-my-childhood', '', '', '2020-05-02 09:13:18', '2020-05-02 13:13:18', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1235', 0, 'post', '', 20),
(2222, 1, '2020-05-02 09:03:40', '2020-05-02 13:03:40', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis essay is about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results). <!--more-->\r\n\r\nOnly thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\r\n\r\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\r\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\r\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\r\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\r\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\r\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\r\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\r\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\r\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\r\n\r\nPretty straightforward when you look at it that way. A quick note on that: though the word 糖果 (which appears a lot in this text) means \"candy\", it does not mean \"candy fruit\" or \"sweet fruit\", as you might guess from the character 果. This is just a general word for candy, though the Chinese don\'t consider chocolate a \"candy\" - it\'s in its own category. \r\n\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>童年傻事</h4>\r\n童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\r\n\r\n我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\r\n\r\n我四岁时，一个<strong>烈日</strong><strong>炎炎</strong>的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸<strong>抱上</strong>我去商店、给我买了很多<strong>糖果</strong>。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院<strong>种</strong>苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么<strong>种子</strong>就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我<strong>心想</strong>如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\r\n\r\n我说做就做，我<strong>刨</strong>了个<strong>坑</strong>，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土<strong>埋</strong>了。我<strong>默默</strong>的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小<strong>宝贝</strong>，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\r\n\r\n<strong>如今</strong>我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nChildhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \r\n\r\nI was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \r\n\r\n[The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother and my elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \r\n\r\nI did just that, I dug a hole, took my left over candy and put it all in the hole, using dirt to bury it. In silence I fervently hoped: \"Candy, grow quickly! Candy, grow quickly! Grow into a big tree, and sprout lots and lots of candy.\" I told this wish to my father, and he listened. Laughing heartily he said: \"Candy can\'t grow into a big tree, and it definitely can\'t sprout more candy.\" I heard my father\'s words and I sat down on the grass and started sobbing, my candy, my candy. Father quickly ran up to me, embraced me and said: \"Oh, don\'t cry little darling, daddy will buy you lots and lots of candy.\" I listened to him and stopped crying.\r\n\r\nNowadays I\'ve already grown up, and I won\'t try foolishly planting candy again.\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1235-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-02 09:03:40', '2020-05-02 13:03:40', '', 1235, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/02/1235-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1737, 1, '2020-04-20 03:39:39', '2020-04-20 07:39:39', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis essay about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results) is almost as beginner as a five-paragraph read can get. You\'ll find very few intermediate-level words, and extremely basic sentence structure. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nOnly thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\r\n\r\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\r\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\r\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\r\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\r\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\r\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\r\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\r\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\r\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\r\n\r\nPretty straightforward when you look at it that way. A quick note on that: though the word 糖果 (which appears a lot in this text) means \"candy\", it does not mean \"candy fruit\" or \"sweet fruit\", as you might guess from the character 果. This is just a general word for candy, though the Chinese don\'t consider chocolate a \"candy\" - it\'s in its own category. \r\n\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>童年傻事</h4>\r\n童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\r\n\r\n我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\r\n\r\n我四岁时，一个<strong>烈日</strong><strong>炎炎</strong>的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸<strong>抱上</strong>我去商店、给我买了很多<strong>糖果</strong>。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院<strong>种</strong>苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么<strong>种子</strong>就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我<strong>心想</strong>如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\r\n\r\n我说做就做，我<strong>刨</strong>了个<strong>坑</strong>，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土<strong>埋</strong>了。我<strong>默默</strong>的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小<strong>宝贝</strong>，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\r\n\r\n<strong>如今</strong>我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nChildhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \r\n\r\nI was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \r\n\r\n[The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother and my elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \r\n\r\nI did just that, I dug a hole, took my left over candy and put it all in the hole, using dirt to bury it. In silence I fervently hoped: \"Candy, grow quickly! Candy, grow quickly! Grow into a big tree, and sprout lots and lots of candy.\" I told this wish to my father, and he listened. Laughing heartily he said: \"Candy can\'t grow into a big tree, and it definitely can\'t sprout more candy.\" I heard my father\'s words and I sat down on the grass and started sobbing, my candy, my candy. Father quickly ran up to me, embraced me and said: \"Oh, don\'t cry little darling, daddy will buy you lots and lots of candy.\" I listened to him and stopped crying.\r\n\r\nNowadays I\'ve already grown up, and I won\'t try foolishly planting candy again.\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1235-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 03:39:39', '2020-04-20 07:39:39', '', 1235, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1235-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1734, 1, '2020-04-20 03:39:03', '2020-04-20 07:39:03', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis essay about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results) is almost as beginner as a five-paragraph read can get. You\'ll find very few intermediate-level words, and extremely basic sentence structure. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120829-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Beginner Simplified Chinese Essays: Learn to Read Mandarin\" title=\"Chinese Essays for Beginners: Learn to Read Chinese Essays \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Only thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\r\n\r\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\r\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\r\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\r\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\r\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\r\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\r\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\r\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\r\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\r\n\r\nPretty straightforward when you look at it that way. A quick note on that: though the word 糖果 (which appears a lot in this text) means \"candy\", it does not mean \"candy fruit\" or \"sweet fruit\", as you might guess from the character 果. This is just a general word for candy, though the Chinese don\'t consider chocolate a \"candy\" - it\'s in its own category. \r\n\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>童年傻事</h4>\r\n童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\r\n\r\n我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\r\n\r\n我四岁时，一个<strong>烈日</strong><strong>炎炎</strong>的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸<strong>抱上</strong>我去商店、给我买了很多<strong>糖果</strong>。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院<strong>种</strong>苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么<strong>种子</strong>就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我<strong>心想</strong>如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\r\n\r\n我说做就做，我<strong>刨</strong>了个<strong>坑</strong>，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土<strong>埋</strong>了。我<strong>默默</strong>的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小<strong>宝贝</strong>，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\r\n\r\n<strong>如今</strong>我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nChildhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \r\n\r\nI was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \r\n\r\n[The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother and my elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \r\n\r\nI did just that, I dug a hole, took my left over candy and put it all in the hole, using dirt to bury it. In silence I fervently hoped: \"Candy, grow quickly! Candy, grow quickly! Grow into a big tree, and sprout lots and lots of candy.\" I told this wish to my father, and he listened. Laughing heartily he said: \"Candy can\'t grow into a big tree, and it definitely can\'t sprout more candy.\" I heard my father\'s words and I sat down on the grass and started sobbing, my candy, my candy. Father quickly ran up to me, embraced me and said: \"Oh, don\'t cry little darling, daddy will buy you lots and lots of candy.\" I listened to him and stopped crying.\r\n\r\nNowadays I\'ve already grown up, and I won\'t try foolishly planting candy again.\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1235-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 03:39:03', '2020-04-20 07:39:03', '', 1235, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1235-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1236, 1, '2012-08-14 10:30:22', '2012-08-14 14:30:22', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 童年傻事</strong>\n\nThis essay about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results) is almost as beginner as a multi-paragraph read can get. You\'ll find very few intermediate-level words, and extremely basic sentence structure. \n\nOnly thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\n\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\n\nThe original is from a Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2011113020504.html\">essay composition site</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys\n一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear\n丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one\'s life\n嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves\n器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ\n清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one\'s rounds on patrol\n香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils\n甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice\n中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned\n来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...\n解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify\n拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue\n牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself\n菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\n\n我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\n\n我四岁时，一个烈日炎炎的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸抱上我去商店、给我买了很多糖果。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院种苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么种子就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我心想如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\n\n我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\n\n如今我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nChildhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \n\nI was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \n\n[The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother an dmy elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \n\n我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\n\n如今我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1235-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 10:30:22', '2012-08-14 14:30:22', '', 1235, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1235-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(1239, 1, '2012-08-14 10:30:24', '2012-08-14 14:30:24', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 童年傻事</strong>\r\n\r\nThis essay about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results) is almost as beginner as a multi-paragraph read can get. You\'ll find very few intermediate-level words, and extremely basic sentence structure. \r\n\r\nOnly thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\r\n\r\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\r\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\r\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\r\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\r\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\r\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\r\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\r\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\r\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\r\n\r\nThe original is from a Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2011113020504.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys\r\n一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear\r\n丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one\'s life\r\n嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves\r\n器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ\r\n清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool\r\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one\'s rounds on patrol\r\n香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils\r\n甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice\r\n中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned\r\n来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...\r\n解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify\r\n拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue\r\n牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself\r\n菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\r\n\r\n我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\r\n\r\n我四岁时，一个烈日炎炎的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸抱上我去商店、给我买了很多糖果。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院种苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么种子就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我心想如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\r\n\r\n我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\r\n\r\n如今我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nChildhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \r\n\r\nI was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \r\n\r\n[The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother an dmy elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \r\n\r\n我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\r\n\r\n如今我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1235-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 10:30:24', '2012-08-14 14:30:24', '', 1235, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1235-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1240, 1, '2020-05-02 09:12:36', '2020-05-02 13:12:36', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nThis essay is about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results). <!--more-->\n\nOnly thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\n\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\n\nPretty straightforward when you look at it that way. A quick note on that: though the word 糖果 (which appears a lot in this text) means \"candy\", it does not mean \"candy fruit\" or \"sweet fruit\", as you might guess from the character 果. This is just a general word for candy, though the Chinese don\'t consider chocolate a \"candy\" - it\'s in its own category. When you shop online in China, 糖果 is in one \n\n[/su_column]\n[/su_row]\n\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\n[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<h4>童年傻事</h4>\n童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\n\n我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\n\n我四岁时，一个<strong>烈日</strong><strong>炎炎</strong>的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸<strong>抱上</strong>我去商店、给我买了很多<strong>糖果</strong>。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院<strong>种</strong>苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么<strong>种子</strong>就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我<strong>心想</strong>如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\n\n我说做就做，我<strong>刨</strong>了个<strong>坑</strong>，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土<strong>埋</strong>了。我<strong>默默</strong>的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小<strong>宝贝</strong>，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\n\n<strong>如今</strong>我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\n</div>\n[/su_column]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\nChildhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \n\nI was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \n\n[The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother and my elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself, if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \n\nI did just that, I dug a hole, took my leftover candy and put it all in the hole, using dirt to bury it. In silence I fervently hoped: \"Candy, grow quickly! Candy, grow quickly! Grow into a big tree, and sprout lots and lots of candy.\" I told this wish to my father, and he listened. Laughing heartily he said: \"Candy can\'t grow into a big tree, and it definitely can\'t sprout more candy.\" I heard my father\'s words and I sat down on the grass and started sobbing, my candy, my candy. Father quickly ran up to me, embraced me and said: \"Oh, don\'t cry little darling, daddy will buy you lots and lots of candy.\" I listened to him and stopped crying.\n\nNowadays I\'ve already grown up, and I won\'t try foolishly planting candy again.\n[/hide-this-part]\n[/su_column]\n[/su_row]', 'A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1235-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-05-02 09:12:36', '2020-05-02 13:12:36', '', 1235, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1235-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1739, 1, '2020-04-20 04:53:55', '2020-04-20 08:53:55', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nFor those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\n\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\n\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \n\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \n\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \n[/su_column]\n[/su_row]\n\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\n[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<h4>拿到压岁钱以后</h4>\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了。<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\n\n我觉得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\n</div>\n[/su_column]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\nI really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes and play joyfully, but also, I get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year, in a flash I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, my heart was glad, but at the same time, my spirits were dampened. I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here], so I discussed it with my mother [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so readily, and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly.  \n\nI thought that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and I would gradually become more mature.\n[/hide-this-part]\n[/su_column]\n[/su_row]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1241-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:53:55', '2020-04-20 08:53:55', '', 1241, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1241-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1241, 1, '2012-09-10 05:41:17', '2012-09-10 09:41:17', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nFor those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\r\n\r\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \r\n\r\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \r\n\r\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>拿到压岁钱以后</h4>\r\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了。\r\n\r\n<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\r\n\r\n我觉得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nI really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes and play joyfully, but also, I get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year, in a flash I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, my heart was glad, but at the same time, my spirits were dampened, because I was afraid mama would take it away from me. \r\n\r\nIn the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here], so I discussed it with my mother [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so readily, and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly.  \r\n\r\nI thought that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and I would gradually become more mature.\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'after-i-got-my-new-years-money', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:43:18', '2020-04-20 11:43:18', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1241', 0, 'post', '', 20),
(1763, 1, '2020-04-20 04:54:37', '2020-04-20 08:54:37', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nFor those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\r\n\r\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \r\n\r\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \r\n\r\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>拿到压岁钱以后</h4>\r\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了。\r\n\r\n<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\r\n\r\n我觉得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nI really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes and play joyfully, but also, I get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year, in a flash I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, my heart was glad, but at the same time, my spirits were dampened, because I was afraid mama would take it away from me. \r\n\r\nIn the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here], so I discussed it with my mother [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so readily, and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly.  \r\n\r\nI thought that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and I would gradually become more mature.\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:54:37', '2020-04-20 08:54:37', '', 1241, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1241-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1242, 1, '2012-08-16 10:47:17', '2012-08-16 14:47:17', '', 'Auto Draft', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-16 10:47:17', '2012-08-16 14:47:17', '', 1241, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/16/1241-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1246, 1, '2012-08-20 13:06:44', '2012-08-20 17:06:44', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\nFor those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. <!--more-->\n\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\n\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. \n\nChinese is bad for run-on sentences - there are many cases when they use a comma when we\'d use a period, but the first paragraph of this contains one of the longest run-ons I\'ve ever seen. \n\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n烈日 - [pinyin]lie4 ri4[/pinyin] - Scorching sun\n炎炎 - [pinyin]yan2 yan2[/pinyin] - Scorching\n抱上 - [pinyin]bao4 shang4[/pinyin] - Pick up (the way one picks up a child, encircling them with both arms)\n糖果 - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - Candy \n种 - [pinyin]zhong4[/pinyin] - To plant (eg. vegetable seeds)\n种子 - [pinyin]zhong3 zi5[/pinyin] - A seed\n心想 - [pinyin]xin1 xiang3[/pinyin] - Think to oneself\n刨 - [pinyin]pao2[/pinyin] - To dig\n坑 - [pinyin]keng1[/pinyin] - Hole\n埋 - [pinyin]mai2[/pinyin] - To bury\n默默 - [pinyin]mo4 mo4[/pinyin] - Without speaking\n宝贝 - [pinyin]bao3 bei4[/pinyin] - \"Baby\", \"Darling\" - term of endearment\n如今 - [pinyin]ru2 jin1[/pinyin] - Nowadays\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n我非常喜欢过新年，因为过年不但能穿新衣服，玩得快活，而且还能收到很多的压岁钱。今年我一下子就收到了700余元压岁钱，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，以往的压岁钱都要上缴的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱由我来保管，没想到妈妈很爽快的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的肯德基？我苦思冥想了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者订报纸、献爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\n\n    我决得这样做，不但可以从小学会勤俭节约、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我逐渐成长起来。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \n\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills?], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-20 13:06:44', '2012-08-20 17:06:44', '', 1241, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/20/1241-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1243, 1, '2012-08-14 01:07:15', '2012-08-14 05:07:15', '[two_third]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120817-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Beginner, Advanced and Intermediate Chinese: Exercises for Advanced Learners\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Practice Exercizes and Passages for Advanced Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here\'s the Chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But thanks to my Chinese friend Anna, I learned that 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 大于 was a new word for me, and I didn\'t know that 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n狭窄 - [pinyin]xia2 zhai3[/pinyin] - Narrow\r\n穹顶 - [pinyin]qiong2 ding3[/pinyin] - Domed / vaulted roof\r\n尖塔 - [pinyin]jian1 ta3[/pinyin] - Minaret\r\n灰蒙蒙 - [pinyin]hui1 meng1 meng1[/pinyin] - Dusky\r\n戳 - [pinyin]chuo1[/pinyin] - poke, stab\r\n矗立 - [pinyin]chu4 li4[/pinyin] - To tower (of buildings)\r\n孤零零 - [pinyin]gu1 ling2 ling2[/pinyin] - Solitary\r\n山丘 - [pinyin]shan1 qiu1[/pinyin] - Hill\r\n光秃秃 - [pinyin]guang1 tu1 tu1[/pinyin] - Bare, bald\r\n杂草 - [pinyin]za2 cao3[/pinyin] - Weeds\r\n掩埋 - [pinyin]yan3 mai2[/pinyin] - Bury\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Excerpt from Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 01:07:15', '2012-08-14 05:07:15', '', 1209, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1209-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1244, 1, '2012-08-16 21:55:05', '2012-08-17 01:55:05', '[two_third]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120817-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Beginner, Advanced and Intermediate Chinese: Exercises for Advanced Learners\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Practice Exercizes and Passages for Advanced Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here\'s the Chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But thanks to my Chinese friend Anna, I learned that 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 大于 was a new word for me, and I didn\'t know that 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n狭窄 - [pinyin]xia2 zhai3[/pinyin] - Narrow\r\n穹顶 - [pinyin]qiong2 ding3[/pinyin] - Domed / vaulted roof\r\n尖塔 - [pinyin]jian1 ta3[/pinyin] - Minaret\r\n灰蒙蒙 - [pinyin]hui1 meng1 meng1[/pinyin] - Dusky\r\n戳 - [pinyin]chuo1[/pinyin] - poke, stab\r\n矗立 - [pinyin]chu4 li4[/pinyin] - To tower (of buildings)\r\n孤零零 - [pinyin]gu1 ling2 ling2[/pinyin] - Solitary\r\n山丘 - [pinyin]shan1 qiu1[/pinyin] - Hill\r\n光秃秃 - [pinyin]guang1 tu1 tu1[/pinyin] - Bare, bald\r\n杂草 - [pinyin]za2 cao3[/pinyin] - Weeds\r\n掩埋 - [pinyin]yan3 mai2[/pinyin] - Bury\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Excerpt from Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-16 21:55:05', '2012-08-17 01:55:05', '', 1209, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/16/1209-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1245, 1, '2012-08-16 21:55:18', '2012-08-17 01:55:18', '[two_third]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120817-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Beginner, Advanced and Intermediate Chinese: Exercises for Advanced Learners\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Practice Exercizes and Passages for Advanced Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here\'s the Chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But thanks to my Chinese friend Anna, I learned that 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 大于 was a new word for me, and I didn\'t know that 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n狭窄 - [pinyin]xia2 zhai3[/pinyin] - Narrow\r\n穹顶 - [pinyin]qiong2 ding3[/pinyin] - Domed / vaulted roof\r\n尖塔 - [pinyin]jian1 ta3[/pinyin] - Minaret\r\n灰蒙蒙 - [pinyin]hui1 meng1 meng1[/pinyin] - Dusky\r\n戳 - [pinyin]chuo1[/pinyin] - poke, stab\r\n矗立 - [pinyin]chu4 li4[/pinyin] - To tower (of buildings)\r\n孤零零 - [pinyin]gu1 ling2 ling2[/pinyin] - Solitary\r\n山丘 - [pinyin]shan1 qiu1[/pinyin] - Hill\r\n光秃秃 - [pinyin]guang1 tu1 tu1[/pinyin] - Bare, bald\r\n杂草 - [pinyin]za2 cao3[/pinyin] - Weeds\r\n掩埋 - [pinyin]yan3 mai2[/pinyin] - Bury\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Excerpt from Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-16 21:55:18', '2012-08-17 01:55:18', '', 1209, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/16/1209-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1247, 1, '2012-08-14 03:32:12', '2012-08-14 07:32:12', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 神农尝百草</strong>\r\n\r\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Bodhisattva of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants and Chinese medicine) but intermediate sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120822-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Stories and Legends: Learn to Read Simplified Chinese\" title=\"Chinese Buddhist Fables: Learn to Read Chinese \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> Shen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\r\n\r\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". So a very potent poison, then.\r\n\r\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. I made a tiny edit from the original to correct a mistake.\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys\r\n一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear\r\n丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one\'s life\r\n嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves\r\n器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ\r\n清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool\r\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one\'s rounds on patrol\r\n香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils\r\n甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice\r\n中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned\r\n来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...\r\n解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify\r\n拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue\r\n牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself\r\n菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，<strong>五脏六腑</strong>全都能看得<strong>一清二楚</strong>。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至<strong>丧命</strong>。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\r\n\r\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶</strong>。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各<strong>器官</strong>擦洗得<strong>清清爽爽</strong>，象<strong>巡查</strong>似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，<strong>香味扑鼻</strong>，这是“<strong>甘草</strong>”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次<strong>中毒</strong>，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\r\n\r\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还<strong>来不及</strong>吃茶<strong>解毒</strong>就死了。他是为了<strong>拯救</strong>人们而<strong>牺牲</strong>的，人们称他为“药王<strong>菩萨</strong>”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\r\n\r\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he used tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \r\n\r\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Bodhisattva of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1225-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 03:32:12', '2012-08-14 07:32:12', '', 1225, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1225-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1248, 1, '2011-05-07 18:24:11', '2011-05-07 22:24:11', 'After spending six years in China studying Mandarin and working, I took a several-year haitus and returned to my native country. It was alarming how quickly my language skills began distinegrating. I searched online for Chinese reading materials, and though I found plenty of dictionaries and flash card sources, I had a very difficult time finding something that was at an appropriate reading level, was different than the typical textbook-y stuff available online, was presented in a way that was easy to read, and that I was sure I could get through. I ended up spending more time looking for something that was suitable than actually doing any reading.\r\n\r\nAs someone who organizes her thoughts into a series of domain names, it was inevitable I\'d eventually start a website about it, and here you are. I post whenever I get a chance.\r\n\r\nThis site doesn\'t exist to teach you Chinese from scratch - there are plenty of sites and programs that do that. But this collection might help you keep your skills fresh, or pick up the occasional new vocabulary word.\r\n<h4>About the Translations</h4>\r\nMany of the translations on this site are done by me, and I don\'t post anything unless I\'ve checked it several times, but that doesn\'t mean I haven\'t missed something. Do feel free to comment if you see anything that ought to have a better translation - it won\'t be taken amiss. Quite a few of the translations, however, are done by others, are taken from old Chinese textbooks or hardcopy magazines I picked up overseas, or were sent in by a third party.\r\n\r\nIt\'s often quite difficult to do a word-for-word translation, as Chinese words that fit well into a particular Chinese sentence read very awkwardly after they\'ve been translated - sometimes a direct translation just sounds \"off\". This is more and more true the higher your reading level. I stick to a word-for-word translation when it\'s appropriate, but I\'ll often change a sentence a little so that it makes sense or reads well in English.\r\n\r\nYou\'ll also notice that I often remove commas, split long Chinese sentences into two or more English sentences, or rearrange the order of clauses, which is necessary to accommodate Chinese grammar.  The translation is meant as a guidepost to help point you in the right direction and keep you grounded in the text when needed - it\'s up to you to dissect sentence structure.\r\n<h4>How I Classify Reading Levels</h4>\r\nUltimately, my classifications are pretty arbitrary, but I\'ll try to lay out some of my basic reasoning here.\r\n\r\n<strong>Beginner</strong> - None of the texts here are truly beginner texts; at least I haven\'t been able to find any real beginner stuff yet (I\'m still looking for good sources of real beginner texts that aren\'t boring dialogs - if you know of any, please write!). This is because for any story, article or essay to really take shape, it usually must involve some intermediate grammar or intermediate vocabulary. This is why most truly beginner textbooks stick to dialogs as opposed to actual articles. In order to do any real reading, you\'ve got to at least know the basics of sentence structure. I will classify something as beginner if at least a couple of the following criteria are met:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>The sentence structure is easy</li>\r\n	<li>It contains only words that you can find in the dictionary (or I can explain them)</li>\r\n	<li>There is no modern slang</li>\r\n	<li>The subject matter is basic / or for children</li>\r\n	<li>It\'s not too long</li>\r\n	<li>It contains few or no idioms</li>\r\n<li>It contains intermediate vocabulary but the story structure is very repetitive, so you can pick up the thread more easily as you go along.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Intermediate</strong> - I classify something as intermediate if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It\'s a longer piece that you have to hold a narrative thread through.</li>\r\n<li>The language is intermediate or upper-intermediate.</li>\r\n<li>There are some light idioms.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Advanced</strong> - Most of what\'s out there online is advanced reading. That\'s why as of now, there are more advanced texts on here than anything else. I classify something as advanced if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It contains specialized or technical words (technology, health, beauty, geography, etc.)</li>\r\n<li>It contains high-level structures, like newspaper-y or literary writing styles.</li>\r\n<li>It contains any archaic words.</li>\r\n<li>The sentence structure is very complicated.</li>\r\n<li>It contains a lot of modern slang.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\nEnjoy, and good luck with your studies.', 'About', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '2-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-05-07 18:24:11', '2011-05-07 22:24:11', '', 2, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/05/07/2-revision-22/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(1251, 1, '2012-09-10 05:36:17', '2012-09-10 09:36:17', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\nFor those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\n\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\n\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \n\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \n\nAnd finally: Beware the definition I give for the word 由 here. It\'s one of those grammar words that means a ton of different things in different contexts - kind of like how the English word \"to\" is hard to define and used often. In my definition list, I only ever show the definition relevant to this text, so you\'re going to see the word 由 in many contexts in many essays and it doesn\'t always mean what it means here. \n\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\n\n我决得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \n\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 05:36:17', '2012-09-10 09:36:17', '', 1241, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1241-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1252, 1, '2012-09-10 05:40:16', '2012-09-10 09:40:16', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120910-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"How to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learning to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Kids\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />For those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\n\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\n\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \n\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \n\nAnd finally: Beware the definition I give for the word 由 here. It\'s one of those grammar words that means a ton of different things in different contexts - kind of like how the English word \"to\" is hard to define and used often. In my definition list, I only ever show the definition relevant to this text, so you\'re going to see the word 由 in many contexts in many essays and it doesn\'t always mean what it means here. \n\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\n\n我决得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \n\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 05:40:16', '2012-09-10 09:40:16', '', 1241, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1241-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1253, 1, '2012-09-10 05:41:17', '2012-09-10 09:41:17', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120910-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"How to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learning to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Kids\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />For those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\r\n\r\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \r\n\r\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \r\n\r\nAnd finally: Beware the definition I give for the word 由 here. It\'s one of those grammar words that means a ton of different things in different contexts - kind of like how the English word \"to\" is hard to define and used often. In my definition list, I only ever show the definition relevant to this text, so you\'re going to see the word 由 in many contexts in many essays and it doesn\'t always mean what it means here. \r\n\r\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\r\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\r\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\r\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\r\n\r\n我决得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \r\n\r\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 05:41:17', '2012-09-10 09:41:17', '', 1241, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1241-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(1264, 1, '2012-09-10 13:32:27', '2012-09-10 17:32:27', '[two_third]\nI\'ve been idly looking at moving to a new apartment lately (looks like I won\'t be moving after all - a good thing, too, because I like my current place), and I typically use the Chinese property search sites instead of the foreign ones. The prices are about 4 times as high on the English sites made for foreigners, and the properties they offer there are often aimed at high-rolling executives. It helps quite a bit to be able to browse the Chinese listings, so I\'m doing a few here. This is solidly advanced stuff. Local place names abound, so you have to be able to at least guess when something is or isn\'t a proper noun, and because we\'re working with real estate classifieds, a few words are shortened to save space or the formal version is used to sound professional.<!--more-->\n\nOne thing to bear in mind if you\'re actually looking for an apartment in China is that quite a few of the pictures are fake, are from other houses in the same compound, or if you\'re dealing with an agency, you should know that most places online have been rented already, but the agencies have left the ads up in hopes you\'ll call them anyway and they can show you something else. \n\nYou really do have to go hunt around in person in China, but online apartment hunting can give you a few valuable pieces of info: what types of apartments are available in which areas (only old buildings? skyrises? hutong-houses?), which complexes are newer and have nicer amenities, and what apartments in a particular area usually go for. \n\nHere are three of the best and most popular Beijing real estate websites, if you want to practice on your own:\n\n<a href=\"http://bj.58.com/zufang/\">bj.58.com/zufang/</a>\n<a href=\"http://beijing.anjuke.com\">beijing.anjuke.com</a>\n<a href=\"http://zu.soufun.com/\">zu.soufun.com/</a>\n\nI\'m going to list and translate a few different Beijing listings here, but I won\'t link to the original listings as I imagine they\'ll come down fairly fast, so I\'ll just show a couple of photos. You can visit the links above for similar stuff. I\'m taking some examples from a little spectrum: one crappy (and very very typical) older apartment near Beijing, a cheaper and nicer apartment in the distant suburbs of Beijing, a high-rolling super luxury apartment city-center, and a traditional-style siheyuan home. \n\nRENT / FACING\n \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\nTitle: 超低的价格 美好的享受 就在京通苑 ,3室精装修 \n租金价格： 3200 元/月 　押一付三　 \n房屋户型： 3室1厅1卫　108㎡\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   精装修　朝向南北　\n所属楼层： 6层/6层\n所在区域： 朝阳 - 管庄 - 京通苑\n所在地址： 朝阳路杨闸环岛西北角 （交通地图）\n\nTitle: 《眼见为实》果园城铁低价出租翠屏里两居 首次出租 \n租金价格： 2900 元/月 　押一付三　 \n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　89㎡\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   简单装修　朝向东西　\n所属楼层： 2层/6层\n所在区域： 通州 - 果园 - 翠屏里\n所在地址： 通州区果园环岛南700米\n1.小区位于果园城铁站南侧，绿化面积达50%，有24小时保安巡查。\n2.周边配套设施齐全，有苏荷时代购物广场、物美大卖场，北机菜市场。\n3.出门就是果园城铁站，周边还有多路公交车站可直达大北窑。\n\nTitle:拎包入住北京星河湾3期全新地暖房欧式豪装4居、品味高贵生活环境\n租 金：43000元/月 (押一付三)\n面积 ：353㎡\n户型： 3室2厅4卫\n装修： 豪华装修\n楼层： 23/33\n朝向： 南北\n入住： 随时\n建筑年代： 2009年\n楼盘：星河湾  朝阳\n配置： 电话，热水器，空调，冰箱，洗衣机，床，家具， 微波炉，厨具\n设施： 水，电，煤气/天然气，暖气，有线电视，宽带\n\nTitle: 什刹海前海四合院 2室2厅110平米 豪华装修 \n租金价格： 11000 元/月 　押一付三　 \n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　110㎡\n房屋情况： 平房   豪华装修　朝向南　\n所属楼层： 1层/2层\n所在区域： 西城 - 什刹海 - 前海四合院\n所在地址： 前海银锭桥附近\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nTitle: Super Low Price - Wonderful Lifestyle - Located at JingTongYuan, Three Beds Nice Decor  \nRental Price: 3200 RMB / Month   Paid in 3-month increments 　\nRooms: 3 beds, 1 living room, 1 bath, 108 square meters \nHome type: Standard residence, nice decor, facing south / north \nWhich floor [in the building]: Floor 6 of 6 \nDistrict / location: Chaoyang - Guanzhuang - JingTongYuan\nAddress: ChaoYang Raod, YangZha Roundabout, Northwest Corner (transportation map [link]) \n\nTitle: \"Seeing is Believing\" GuoYuan Rail Station - Low price Rental in Cui Ping Li - Two-Bedroom - First come, first serve \nRental Price: 2900 RMB / Month  Pay 3 months at a time   \nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 89 square meters \nHome type: Standard residence, simple decor, facing east / west \nFloor: Floor 2 of 6 \nDistrict / location: TongZhou - GuoYuan - CuiPingLi \nAddress: TongZhou District, 700 meters south frmo the GuoYuan Roundabout\n1. The apartment block is located on the south side of GuoYuan rail station, the area\'s 50% greenery, and there are guards on patrol 24-hours \n2. [You\'ll have] a complete set of amenities nearby: there\'s SuHe ShiDai Shopping Mall, WuMei Retail Store, and BeiJi Food Market \n3. GuoYuan rail station is right outside the door, and close by there are also many bus stations with non-stop service to DaBeiYao.  \n\nTitle: Move in with just your handbag - Beijing\'s XingHeWan Block 3, Completely New Warm Home in European Style with Stunning Decor - 4 bedrooms, experience [lit: taste] a grand living environment\nRental price: 43000 RMB / month (pay in 3 month increments)\nArea: 353 square meters \nRooms: 3 beds, 2 living rooms, 4 baths \nDecor: Luxurious Interior Decor\nFloor: Floor 23 of 33\nDirection: South / North \nWhen you can move in: anytime \nBuilt in: 2009\nProperty: XingHeWan (Star River Bay), ChaoYang \nIncludes: Phone, water heater, air conditioning, fridge, washing machine, bed, furniture, microwave, kitchen implements\nInstalled: Water, electricity, coal / natural gas, heating, landline, broadband \n\nTitle: ShiChaHai QianHai Courtyard House, 2 beds 2 living rooms 110 square meters, Luxurious Decor\nRental Price: 11000 RMB / month  Pay in 3 month increments 　 \nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 110 square meters \nHome type: Bungalow, luxurious decor, facing south\nFloor: Floor 1 of 2 \nLocation: XiCheng - ShiChaHai - QianHai Courtyard \nAddress: In Qianhai  YinDing Bridge所在地址： 前海银锭桥附近\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Understanding Chinese Apartment Rental Listings and Real Estate Ads', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1254-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 13:32:27', '2012-09-10 17:32:27', '', 1254, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1254-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1265, 1, '2012-09-10 13:34:29', '2012-09-10 17:34:29', '[two_third]\r\nI\'ve been idly looking at moving to a new apartment lately (looks like I won\'t be moving after all - a good thing, too, because I like my current place), and I typically use the Chinese property search sites instead of the foreign ones. The prices are about 4 times as high on the English sites made for foreigners, and the properties they offer there are often aimed at high-rolling executives. It helps quite a bit to be able to browse the Chinese listings, so I\'m doing a few here. This is solidly advanced stuff. Local place names abound, so you have to be able to at least guess when something is or isn\'t a proper noun, and because we\'re working with real estate classifieds, a few words are shortened to save space or the formal version is used to sound professional.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nOne thing to bear in mind if you\'re actually looking for an apartment in China is that quite a few of the pictures are fake, are from other houses in the same compound, or if you\'re dealing with an agency, you should know that most places online have been rented already, but the agencies have left the ads up in hopes you\'ll call them anyway and they can show you something else. \r\n\r\nYou really do have to go hunt around in person in China, but online apartment hunting can give you a few valuable pieces of info: what types of apartments are available in which areas (only old buildings? skyrises? hutong-houses?), which complexes are newer and have nicer amenities, and what apartments in a particular area usually go for. \r\n\r\nHere are three of the best and most popular Beijing real estate websites, if you want to practice on your own:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://bj.58.com/zufang/\">bj.58.com/zufang/</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://beijing.anjuke.com\">beijing.anjuke.com</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://zu.soufun.com/\">zu.soufun.com/</a>\r\n\r\nI\'m going to list and translate a few different Beijing listings here, but I won\'t link to the original listings as I imagine they\'ll come down fairly fast, so I\'ll just show a couple of photos. You can visit the links above for similar stuff. I\'m taking some examples from a little spectrum: one crappy (and very very typical) older apartment near Beijing, a cheaper and nicer apartment in the distant suburbs of Beijing, a high-rolling super luxury apartment city-center, and a traditional-style siheyuan home. \r\n\r\nRENT / FACING\r\n \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\r\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\r\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\r\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"imgborder\" /><img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n\r\nTitle: 超低的价格 美好的享受 就在京通苑 ,3室精装修 \r\n租金价格： 3200 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 3室1厅1卫　108㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   精装修　朝向南北　\r\n所属楼层： 6层/6层\r\n所在区域： 朝阳 - 管庄 - 京通苑\r\n所在地址： 朝阳路杨闸环岛西北角 （交通地图）\r\n\r\nTitle: 《眼见为实》果园城铁低价出租翠屏里两居 首次出租 \r\n租金价格： 2900 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　89㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   简单装修　朝向东西　\r\n所属楼层： 2层/6层\r\n所在区域： 通州 - 果园 - 翠屏里\r\n所在地址： 通州区果园环岛南700米\r\n1.小区位于果园城铁站南侧，绿化面积达50%，有24小时保安巡查。\r\n2.周边配套设施齐全，有苏荷时代购物广场、物美大卖场，北机菜市场。\r\n3.出门就是果园城铁站，周边还有多路公交车站可直达大北窑。\r\n\r\nTitle:拎包入住北京星河湾3期全新地暖房欧式豪装4居、品味高贵生活环境\r\n租 金：43000元/月 (押一付三)\r\n面积 ：353㎡\r\n户型： 3室2厅4卫\r\n装修： 豪华装修\r\n楼层： 23/33\r\n朝向： 南北\r\n入住： 随时\r\n建筑年代： 2009年\r\n楼盘：星河湾  朝阳\r\n配置： 电话，热水器，空调，冰箱，洗衣机，床，家具， 微波炉，厨具\r\n设施： 水，电，煤气/天然气，暖气，有线电视，宽带\r\n\r\nTitle: 什刹海前海四合院 2室2厅110平米 豪华装修 \r\n租金价格： 11000 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　110㎡\r\n房屋情况： 平房   豪华装修　朝向南　\r\n所属楼层： 1层/2层\r\n所在区域： 西城 - 什刹海 - 前海四合院\r\n所在地址： 前海银锭桥附近\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nTitle: Super Low Price - Wonderful Lifestyle - Located at JingTongYuan, Three Beds Nice Decor  \r\nRental Price: 3200 RMB / Month   Paid in 3-month increments 　\r\nRooms: 3 beds, 1 living room, 1 bath, 108 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, nice decor, facing south / north \r\nWhich floor [in the building]: Floor 6 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: Chaoyang - Guanzhuang - JingTongYuan\r\nAddress: ChaoYang Raod, YangZha Roundabout, Northwest Corner (transportation map [link]) \r\n\r\nTitle: \"Seeing is Believing\" GuoYuan Rail Station - Low price Rental in Cui Ping Li - Two-Bedroom - First come, first serve \r\nRental Price: 2900 RMB / Month  Pay 3 months at a time   \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 89 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, simple decor, facing east / west \r\nFloor: Floor 2 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: TongZhou - GuoYuan - CuiPingLi \r\nAddress: TongZhou District, 700 meters south frmo the GuoYuan Roundabout\r\n1. The apartment block is located on the south side of GuoYuan rail station, the area\'s 50% greenery, and there are guards on patrol 24-hours \r\n2. [You\'ll have] a complete set of amenities nearby: there\'s SuHe ShiDai Shopping Mall, WuMei Retail Store, and BeiJi Food Market \r\n3. GuoYuan rail station is right outside the door, and close by there are also many bus stations with non-stop service to DaBeiYao.  \r\n\r\nTitle: Move in with just your handbag - Beijing\'s XingHeWan Block 3, Completely New Warm Home in European Style with Stunning Decor - 4 bedrooms, experience [lit: taste] a grand living environment\r\nRental price: 43000 RMB / month (pay in 3 month increments)\r\nArea: 353 square meters \r\nRooms: 3 beds, 2 living rooms, 4 baths \r\nDecor: Luxurious Interior Decor\r\nFloor: Floor 23 of 33\r\nDirection: South / North \r\nWhen you can move in: anytime \r\nBuilt in: 2009\r\nProperty: XingHeWan (Star River Bay), ChaoYang \r\nIncludes: Phone, water heater, air conditioning, fridge, washing machine, bed, furniture, microwave, kitchen implements\r\nInstalled: Water, electricity, coal / natural gas, heating, landline, broadband \r\n\r\nTitle: ShiChaHai QianHai Courtyard House, 2 beds 2 living rooms 110 square meters, Luxurious Decor\r\nRental Price: 11000 RMB / month  Pay in 3 month increments 　 \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 110 square meters \r\nHome type: Bungalow, luxurious decor, facing south\r\nFloor: Floor 1 of 2 \r\nLocation: XiCheng - ShiChaHai - QianHai Courtyard \r\nAddress: In Qianhai near YinDing Bridge\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Understanding Chinese Apartment Rental Listings and Real Estate Ads', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1254-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 13:34:29', '2012-09-10 17:34:29', '', 1254, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1254-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1266, 1, '2012-09-10 13:39:04', '2012-09-10 17:39:04', '[two_third]\r\nI\'ve been idly looking at moving to a new apartment lately (looks like I won\'t be moving after all - a good thing, too, because I like my current place), and I typically use the Chinese property search sites instead of the foreign ones. The prices are about 4 times as high on the English sites made for foreigners, and the properties they offer there are often aimed at high-rolling executives. It helps quite a bit to be able to browse the Chinese listings, so I\'m doing a few here. This is solidly advanced stuff. Local place names abound, so you have to be able to at least guess when something is or isn\'t a proper noun, and because we\'re working with real estate classifieds, a few words are shortened to save space or the formal version is used to sound professional.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nOne thing to bear in mind if you\'re actually looking for an apartment in China is that quite a few of the pictures are fake, are from other houses in the same compound, or if you\'re dealing with an agency, you should know that most places online have been rented already, but the agencies have left the ads up in hopes you\'ll call them anyway and they can show you something else. \r\n\r\nYou really do have to go hunt around in person in China, but online apartment hunting can give you a few valuable pieces of info: what types of apartments are available in which areas (only old buildings? skyrises? hutong-houses?), which complexes are newer and have nicer amenities, and what apartments in a particular area usually go for. \r\n\r\nHere are three of the best and most popular Beijing real estate websites, if you want to practice on your own:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://bj.58.com/zufang/\">bj.58.com/zufang/</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://beijing.anjuke.com\">beijing.anjuke.com</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://zu.soufun.com/\">zu.soufun.com/</a>\r\n\r\nI\'m going to list and translate a few different Beijing listings here, but I won\'t link to the original listings as I imagine they\'ll come down fairly fast, so I\'ll just show a couple of photos. You can visit the links above for similar stuff. I\'m taking some examples from a little spectrum: one crappy (and very very typical) older apartment near Beijing, a cheaper and nicer apartment in the distant suburbs of Beijing, a high-rolling super luxury apartment city-center, and a traditional-style siheyuan home. \r\n\r\nRENT / FACING\r\n \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\r\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\r\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\r\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\"><img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n\r\nTitle: 超低的价格 美好的享受 就在京通苑 ,3室精装修 \r\n租金价格： 3200 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 3室1厅1卫　108㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   精装修　朝向南北　\r\n所属楼层： 6层/6层\r\n所在区域： 朝阳 - 管庄 - 京通苑\r\n所在地址： 朝阳路杨闸环岛西北角 （交通地图）\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 《眼见为实》果园城铁低价出租翠屏里两居 首次出租 \r\n租金价格： 2900 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　89㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   简单装修　朝向东西　\r\n所属楼层： 2层/6层\r\n所在区域： 通州 - 果园 - 翠屏里\r\n所在地址： 通州区果园环岛南700米\r\n1.小区位于果园城铁站南侧，绿化面积达50%，有24小时保安巡查。\r\n2.周边配套设施齐全，有苏荷时代购物广场、物美大卖场，北机菜市场。\r\n3.出门就是果园城铁站，周边还有多路公交车站可直达大北窑。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle:拎包入住北京星河湾3期全新地暖房欧式豪装4居、品味高贵生活环境\r\n租 金：43000元/月 (押一付三)\r\n面积 ：353㎡\r\n户型： 3室2厅4卫\r\n装修： 豪华装修\r\n楼层： 23/33\r\n朝向： 南北\r\n入住： 随时\r\n建筑年代： 2009年\r\n楼盘：星河湾  朝阳\r\n配置： 电话，热水器，空调，冰箱，洗衣机，床，家具， 微波炉，厨具\r\n设施： 水，电，煤气/天然气，暖气，有线电视，宽带\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 什刹海前海四合院 2室2厅110平米 豪华装修 \r\n租金价格： 11000 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　110㎡\r\n房屋情况： 平房   豪华装修　朝向南　\r\n所属楼层： 1层/2层\r\n所在区域： 西城 - 什刹海 - 前海四合院\r\n所在地址： 前海银锭桥附近\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nTitle: Super Low Price - Wonderful Lifestyle - Located at JingTongYuan, Three Beds Nice Decor  \r\nRental Price: 3200 RMB / Month   Paid in 3-month increments 　\r\nRooms: 3 beds, 1 living room, 1 bath, 108 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, nice decor, facing south / north \r\nWhich floor [in the building]: Floor 6 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: Chaoyang - Guanzhuang - JingTongYuan\r\nAddress: ChaoYang Raod, YangZha Roundabout, Northwest Corner (transportation map [link]) \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nTitle: \"Seeing is Believing\" GuoYuan Rail Station - Low price Rental in Cui Ping Li - Two-Bedroom - First come, first serve \r\nRental Price: 2900 RMB / Month  Pay 3 months at a time   \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 89 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, simple decor, facing east / west \r\nFloor: Floor 2 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: TongZhou - GuoYuan - CuiPingLi \r\nAddress: TongZhou District, 700 meters south frmo the GuoYuan Roundabout\r\n1. The apartment block is located on the south side of GuoYuan rail station, the area\'s 50% greenery, and there are guards on patrol 24-hours \r\n2. [You\'ll have] a complete set of amenities nearby: there\'s SuHe ShiDai Shopping Mall, WuMei Retail Store, and BeiJi Food Market \r\n3. GuoYuan rail station is right outside the door, and close by there are also many bus stations with non-stop service to DaBeiYao.  \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nTitle: Move in with just your handbag - Beijing\'s XingHeWan Block 3, Completely New Warm Home in European Style with Stunning Decor - 4 bedrooms, experience [lit: taste] a grand living environment\r\nRental price: 43000 RMB / month (pay in 3 month increments)\r\nArea: 353 square meters \r\nRooms: 3 beds, 2 living rooms, 4 baths \r\nDecor: Luxurious Interior Decor\r\nFloor: Floor 23 of 33\r\nDirection: South / North \r\nWhen you can move in: anytime \r\nBuilt in: 2009\r\nProperty: XingHeWan (Star River Bay), ChaoYang \r\nIncludes: Phone, water heater, air conditioning, fridge, washing machine, bed, furniture, microwave, kitchen implements\r\nInstalled: Water, electricity, coal / natural gas, heating, landline, broadband \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nTitle: ShiChaHai QianHai Courtyard House, 2 beds 2 living rooms 110 square meters, Luxurious Decor\r\nRental Price: 11000 RMB / month  Pay in 3 month increments 　 \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 110 square meters \r\nHome type: Bungalow, luxurious decor, facing south\r\nFloor: Floor 1 of 2 \r\nLocation: XiCheng - ShiChaHai - QianHai Courtyard \r\nAddress: In Qianhai near YinDing Bridge\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Understanding Chinese Apartment Rental Listings and Real Estate Ads', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1254-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 13:39:04', '2012-09-10 17:39:04', '', 1254, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1254-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1267, 1, '2012-09-10 13:41:06', '2012-09-10 17:41:06', '[two_third]\r\nI\'ve been idly looking at moving to a new apartment lately (looks like I won\'t be moving after all - a good thing, too, because I like my current place), and I typically use the Chinese property search sites instead of the foreign ones. The prices are about 4 times as high on the English sites made for foreigners, and the properties they offer there are often aimed at high-rolling executives. It helps quite a bit to be able to browse the Chinese listings, so I\'m doing a few here. This is solidly advanced stuff. Local place names abound, so you have to be able to at least guess when something is or isn\'t a proper noun, and because we\'re working with real estate classifieds, a few words are shortened to save space or the formal version is used to sound professional.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nOne thing to bear in mind if you\'re actually looking for an apartment in China is that quite a few of the pictures are fake, are from other houses in the same compound, or if you\'re dealing with an agency, you should know that most places online have been rented already, but the agencies have left the ads up in hopes you\'ll call them anyway and they can show you something else. \r\n\r\nYou really do have to go hunt around in person in China, but online apartment hunting can give you a few valuable pieces of info: what types of apartments are available in which areas (only old buildings? skyrises? hutong-houses?), which complexes are newer and have nicer amenities, and what apartments in a particular area usually go for. \r\n\r\nHere are three of the best and most popular Beijing real estate websites, if you want to practice on your own:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://bj.58.com/zufang/\">bj.58.com/zufang/</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://beijing.anjuke.com\">beijing.anjuke.com</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://zu.soufun.com/\">zu.soufun.com/</a>\r\n\r\nI\'m going to list and translate a few different Beijing listings here, but I won\'t link to the original listings as I imagine they\'ll come down fairly fast, so I\'ll just show a couple of photos. You can visit the links above for similar stuff. I\'m taking some examples from a little spectrum: one crappy (and very very typical) older apartment near Beijing, a cheaper and nicer apartment in the distant suburbs of Beijing, a high-rolling super luxury apartment city-center, and a traditional-style siheyuan home. \r\n\r\nRENT / FACING\r\n \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\r\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\r\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\r\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\"><img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n\r\nTitle: 超低的价格 美好的享受 就在京通苑 ,3室精装修 \r\n租金价格： 3200 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 3室1厅1卫　108㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   精装修　朝向南北　\r\n所属楼层： 6层/6层\r\n所在区域： 朝阳 - 管庄 - 京通苑\r\n所在地址： 朝阳路杨闸环岛西北角 （交通地图）\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 《眼见为实》果园城铁低价出租翠屏里两居 首次出租 \r\n租金价格： 2900 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　89㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   简单装修　朝向东西　\r\n所属楼层： 2层/6层\r\n所在区域： 通州 - 果园 - 翠屏里\r\n所在地址： 通州区果园环岛南700米\r\n1.小区位于果园城铁站南侧，绿化面积达50%，有24小时保安巡查。\r\n2.周边配套设施齐全，有苏荷时代购物广场、物美大卖场，北机菜市场。\r\n3.出门就是果园城铁站，周边还有多路公交车站可直达大北窑。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle:拎包入住北京星河湾3期全新地暖房欧式豪装4居、品味高贵生活环境\r\n租 金：43000元/月 (押一付三)\r\n面积 ：353㎡\r\n户型： 3室2厅4卫\r\n装修： 豪华装修\r\n楼层： 23/33\r\n朝向： 南北\r\n入住： 随时\r\n建筑年代： 2009年\r\n楼盘：星河湾  朝阳\r\n配置： 电话，热水器，空调，冰箱，洗衣机，床，家具， 微波炉，厨具\r\n设施： 水，电，煤气/天然气，暖气，有线电视，宽带\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 什刹海前海四合院 2室2厅110平米 豪华装修 \r\n租金价格： 11000 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　110㎡\r\n房屋情况： 平房   豪华装修　朝向南　\r\n所属楼层： 1层/2层\r\n所在区域： 西城 - 什刹海 - 前海四合院\r\n所在地址： 前海银锭桥附近\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Super Low Price - Wonderful Lifestyle - Located at JingTongYuan, Three Beds Nice Decor  \r\nRental Price: 3200 RMB / Month   Paid in 3-month increments 　\r\nRooms: 3 beds, 1 living room, 1 bath, 108 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, nice decor, facing south / north \r\nWhich floor [in the building]: Floor 6 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: Chaoyang - Guanzhuang - JingTongYuan\r\nAddress: ChaoYang Raod, YangZha Roundabout, Northwest Corner (transportation map [link]) \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: \"Seeing is Believing\" GuoYuan Rail Station - Low price Rental in Cui Ping Li - Two-Bedroom - First come, first serve \r\nRental Price: 2900 RMB / Month  Pay 3 months at a time   \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 89 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, simple decor, facing east / west \r\nFloor: Floor 2 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: TongZhou - GuoYuan - CuiPingLi \r\nAddress: TongZhou District, 700 meters south frmo the GuoYuan Roundabout\r\n1. The apartment block is located on the south side of GuoYuan rail station, the area\'s 50% greenery, and there are guards on patrol 24-hours \r\n2. [You\'ll have] a complete set of amenities nearby: there\'s SuHe ShiDai Shopping Mall, WuMei Retail Store, and BeiJi Food Market \r\n3. GuoYuan rail station is right outside the door, and close by there are also many bus stations with non-stop service to DaBeiYao.  \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Move in with just your handbag - Beijing\'s XingHeWan Block 3, Completely New Warm Home in European Style with Stunning Decor - 4 bedrooms, experience [lit: taste] a grand living environment\r\nRental price: 43000 RMB / month (pay in 3 month increments)\r\nArea: 353 square meters \r\nRooms: 3 beds, 2 living rooms, 4 baths \r\nDecor: Luxurious Interior Decor\r\nFloor: Floor 23 of 33\r\nDirection: South / North \r\nWhen you can move in: anytime \r\nBuilt in: 2009\r\nProperty: XingHeWan (Star River Bay), ChaoYang \r\nIncludes: Phone, water heater, air conditioning, fridge, washing machine, bed, furniture, microwave, kitchen implements\r\nInstalled: Water, electricity, coal / natural gas, heating, landline, broadband \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: ShiChaHai QianHai Courtyard House, 2 beds 2 living rooms 110 square meters, Luxurious Decor\r\nRental Price: 11000 RMB / month  Pay in 3 month increments 　 \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 110 square meters \r\nHome type: Bungalow, luxurious decor, facing south\r\nFloor: Floor 1 of 2 \r\nLocation: XiCheng - ShiChaHai - QianHai Courtyard \r\nAddress: In Qianhai near YinDing Bridge\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Understanding Chinese Apartment Rental Listings and Real Estate Ads', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1254-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 13:41:06', '2012-09-10 17:41:06', '', 1254, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1254-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1268, 1, '2012-09-10 13:48:31', '2012-09-10 17:48:31', '[two_third]\nI\'ve been idly looking at moving to a new apartment lately (looks like I won\'t be moving after all - a good thing, too, because I like my current place), and I typically use the Chinese property search sites instead of the foreign ones. The prices are about 4 times as high on the English sites made for foreigners, and the properties they offer there are often aimed at high-rolling executives. It helps quite a bit to be able to browse the Chinese listings, so I\'m doing a few here. This is solidly advanced stuff. Local place names abound, so you have to be able to at least guess when something is or isn\'t a proper noun, and because we\'re working with real estate classifieds, a few words are shortened to save space or the formal version is used to sound professional.<!--more-->\n\nOne thing to bear in mind if you\'re actually looking for an apartment in China is that quite a few of the pictures are fake, are from other houses in the same compound, or if you\'re dealing with an agency, you should know that most places online have been rented already, but the agencies have left the ads up in hopes you\'ll call them anyway and they can show you something else. \n\nYou really do have to go hunt around in person in China, but online apartment hunting can give you a few valuable pieces of info: what types of apartments are available in which areas (only old buildings? skyrises? hutong-houses?), which complexes are newer and have nicer amenities, and what apartments in a particular area usually go for. \n\nHere are three of the best and most popular Beijing real estate websites, if you want to practice on your own:\n\n<a href=\"http://bj.58.com/zufang/\">bj.58.com/zufang/</a>\n<a href=\"http://beijing.anjuke.com\">beijing.anjuke.com</a>\n<a href=\"http://zu.soufun.com/\">zu.soufun.com/</a>\n\nI\'m going to list and translate a few different Beijing listings here, but I won\'t link to the original listings as I imagine they\'ll come down fairly fast, so I\'ll just show a couple of photos. You can visit the links above for similar stuff. I\'m taking some examples from a little spectrum: one crappy (and very very typical) older apartment near Beijing, a cheaper and nicer apartment in the distant suburbs of Beijing, a high-rolling super luxury apartment city-center, and a traditional-style siheyuan home. \n\nYou\'ll see a lot of similarities between real estate and property listings in Beijing or anywhere, but a couple of major points of local flavor: \n\n押一付三　- This indicates how rent is paid. In Beijing, rent is not paid monthly. It can either be paid every three months, every six months, or you can pay the whole year in advance. This indicates rent is to be paid every 3 months, which is by far the most common way to pay. \n\n朝向南北 - Man, the Chinese sure do care which way their apartment faces. People here will flat-out turn down an east/west facing place if they can afford to. The best apartments, apparently, face south / north, so you get sun all day, but it\'s not blasting in your windows. Less ideal is when a place faces east / west - and people here care SO MUCH about this, that you can get a cheaper place if you don\'t care that it faces east/west (though for haggling purposes, you\'re better off pretending you do care). This is why the direction is front and center. \n \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\"><img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\n\nTitle: 超低的价格 美好的享受 就在京通苑 ,3室精装修 \n租金价格： 3200 元/月 　押一付三　 \n房屋户型： 3室1厅1卫　108㎡\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   精装修　朝向南北　\n所属楼层： 6层/6层\n所在区域： 朝阳 - 管庄 - 京通苑\n所在地址： 朝阳路杨闸环岛西北角 （交通地图）\n\n<hr />\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\nTitle: 《眼见为实》果园城铁低价出租翠屏里两居 首次出租 \n租金价格： 2900 元/月 　押一付三　 \n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　89㎡\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   简单装修　朝向东西　\n所属楼层： 2层/6层\n所在区域： 通州 - 果园 - 翠屏里\n所在地址： 通州区果园环岛南700米\n1.小区位于果园城铁站南侧，绿化面积达50%，有24小时保安巡查。\n2.周边配套设施齐全，有苏荷时代购物广场、物美大卖场，北机菜市场。\n3.出门就是果园城铁站，周边还有多路公交车站可直达大北窑。\n\n<hr />\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\nTitle:拎包入住北京星河湾3期全新地暖房欧式豪装4居、品味高贵生活环境\n租 金：43000元/月 (押一付三)\n面积 ：353㎡\n户型： 3室2厅4卫\n装修： 豪华装修\n楼层： 23/33\n朝向： 南北\n入住： 随时\n建筑年代： 2009年\n楼盘：星河湾  朝阳\n配置： 电话，热水器，空调，冰箱，洗衣机，床，家具， 微波炉，厨具\n设施： 水，电，煤气/天然气，暖气，有线电视，宽带\n\n<hr />\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\nTitle: 什刹海前海四合院 2室2厅110平米 豪华装修 \n租金价格： 11000 元/月 　押一付三　 \n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　110㎡\n房屋情况： 平房   豪华装修　朝向南　\n所属楼层： 1层/2层\n所在区域： 西城 - 什刹海 - 前海四合院\n所在地址： 前海银锭桥附近\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\nTitle: Super Low Price - Wonderful Lifestyle - Located at JingTongYuan, Three Beds Nice Decor  \nRental Price: 3200 RMB / Month   Paid in 3-month increments 　\nRooms: 3 beds, 1 living room, 1 bath, 108 square meters \nHome type: Standard residence, nice decor, facing south / north \nWhich floor [in the building]: Floor 6 of 6 \nDistrict / location: Chaoyang - Guanzhuang - JingTongYuan\nAddress: ChaoYang Raod, YangZha Roundabout, Northwest Corner (transportation map [link]) \n\n<hr />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\nTitle: \"Seeing is Believing\" GuoYuan Rail Station - Low price Rental in Cui Ping Li - Two-Bedroom - First come, first serve \nRental Price: 2900 RMB / Month  Pay 3 months at a time   \nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 89 square meters \nHome type: Standard residence, simple decor, facing east / west \nFloor: Floor 2 of 6 \nDistrict / location: TongZhou - GuoYuan - CuiPingLi \nAddress: TongZhou District, 700 meters south frmo the GuoYuan Roundabout\n1. The apartment block is located on the south side of GuoYuan rail station, the area\'s 50% greenery, and there are guards on patrol 24-hours \n2. [You\'ll have] a complete set of amenities nearby: there\'s SuHe ShiDai Shopping Mall, WuMei Retail Store, and BeiJi Food Market \n3. GuoYuan rail station is right outside the door, and close by there are also many bus stations with non-stop service to DaBeiYao.  \n\n<hr />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\nTitle: Move in with just your handbag - Beijing\'s XingHeWan Block 3, Completely New Warm Home in European Style with Stunning Decor - 4 bedrooms, experience [lit: taste] a grand living environment\nRental price: 43000 RMB / month (pay in 3 month increments)\nArea: 353 square meters \nRooms: 3 beds, 2 living rooms, 4 baths \nDecor: Luxurious Interior Decor\nFloor: Floor 23 of 33\nDirection: South / North \nWhen you can move in: anytime \nBuilt in: 2009\nProperty: XingHeWan (Star River Bay), ChaoYang \nIncludes: Phone, water heater, air conditioning, fridge, washing machine, bed, furniture, microwave, kitchen implements\nInstalled: Water, electricity, coal / natural gas, heating, landline, broadband \n\n<hr />\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\nTitle: ShiChaHai QianHai Courtyard House, 2 beds 2 living rooms 110 square meters, Luxurious Decor\nRental Price: 11000 RMB / month  Pay in 3 month increments 　 \nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 110 square meters \nHome type: Bungalow, luxurious decor, facing south\nFloor: Floor 1 of 2 \nLocation: XiCheng - ShiChaHai - QianHai Courtyard \nAddress: In Qianhai near YinDing Bridge\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Understanding Chinese Apartment Rental Listings ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1254-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 13:48:31', '2012-09-10 17:48:31', '', 1254, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1254-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(1270, 1, '2012-09-10 13:51:48', '2012-09-10 17:51:48', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Real Estate Classifieds and Apartment Hunting in Beijing', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120917-inline', '', '', '2012-09-10 13:51:48', '2012-09-10 17:51:48', '', 1254, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120917-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1271, 1, '2012-09-10 13:48:33', '2012-09-10 17:48:33', '[two_third]\r\nI\'ve been idly looking at moving to a new apartment lately (looks like I won\'t be moving after all - a good thing, too, because I like my current place), and I typically use the Chinese property search sites instead of the foreign ones. The prices are about 4 times as high on the English sites made for foreigners, and the properties they offer there are often aimed at high-rolling executives. It helps quite a bit to be able to browse the Chinese listings, so I\'m doing a few here. This is solidly advanced stuff. Local place names abound, so you have to be able to at least guess when something is or isn\'t a proper noun, and because we\'re working with real estate classifieds, a few words are shortened to save space or the formal version is used to sound professional.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nOne thing to bear in mind if you\'re actually looking for an apartment in China is that quite a few of the pictures are fake, are from other houses in the same compound, or if you\'re dealing with an agency, you should know that most places online have been rented already, but the agencies have left the ads up in hopes you\'ll call them anyway and they can show you something else. \r\n\r\nYou really do have to go hunt around in person in China, but online apartment hunting can give you a few valuable pieces of info: what types of apartments are available in which areas (only old buildings? skyrises? hutong-houses?), which complexes are newer and have nicer amenities, and what apartments in a particular area usually go for. \r\n\r\nHere are three of the best and most popular Beijing real estate websites, if you want to practice on your own:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://bj.58.com/zufang/\">bj.58.com/zufang/</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://beijing.anjuke.com\">beijing.anjuke.com</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://zu.soufun.com/\">zu.soufun.com/</a>\r\n\r\nI\'m going to list and translate a few different Beijing listings here, but I won\'t link to the original listings as I imagine they\'ll come down fairly fast, so I\'ll just show a couple of photos. You can visit the links above for similar stuff. I\'m taking some examples from a little spectrum: one crappy (and very very typical) older apartment near Beijing, a cheaper and nicer apartment in the distant suburbs of Beijing, a high-rolling super luxury apartment city-center, and a traditional-style siheyuan home. \r\n\r\nYou\'ll see a lot of similarities between real estate and property listings in Beijing or anywhere, but a couple of major points of local flavor: \r\n\r\n押一付三　- This indicates how rent is paid. In Beijing, rent is not paid monthly. It can either be paid every three months, every six months, or you can pay the whole year in advance. This indicates rent is to be paid every 3 months, which is by far the most common way to pay. \r\n\r\n朝向南北 - Man, the Chinese sure do care which way their apartment faces. People here will flat-out turn down an east/west facing place if they can afford to. The best apartments, apparently, face south / north, so you get sun all day, but it\'s not blasting in your windows. Less ideal is when a place faces east / west - and people here care SO MUCH about this, that you can get a cheaper place if you don\'t care that it faces east/west (though for haggling purposes, you\'re better off pretending you do care). This is why the direction is front and center. \r\n \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\r\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\r\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\r\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\"><img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n\r\nTitle: 超低的价格 美好的享受 就在京通苑 ,3室精装修 \r\n租金价格： 3200 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 3室1厅1卫　108㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   精装修　朝向南北　\r\n所属楼层： 6层/6层\r\n所在区域： 朝阳 - 管庄 - 京通苑\r\n所在地址： 朝阳路杨闸环岛西北角 （交通地图）\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 《眼见为实》果园城铁低价出租翠屏里两居 首次出租 \r\n租金价格： 2900 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　89㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   简单装修　朝向东西　\r\n所属楼层： 2层/6层\r\n所在区域： 通州 - 果园 - 翠屏里\r\n所在地址： 通州区果园环岛南700米\r\n1.小区位于果园城铁站南侧，绿化面积达50%，有24小时保安巡查。\r\n2.周边配套设施齐全，有苏荷时代购物广场、物美大卖场，北机菜市场。\r\n3.出门就是果园城铁站，周边还有多路公交车站可直达大北窑。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle:拎包入住北京星河湾3期全新地暖房欧式豪装4居、品味高贵生活环境\r\n租 金：43000元/月 (押一付三)\r\n面积 ：353㎡\r\n户型： 3室2厅4卫\r\n装修： 豪华装修\r\n楼层： 23/33\r\n朝向： 南北\r\n入住： 随时\r\n建筑年代： 2009年\r\n楼盘：星河湾  朝阳\r\n配置： 电话，热水器，空调，冰箱，洗衣机，床，家具， 微波炉，厨具\r\n设施： 水，电，煤气/天然气，暖气，有线电视，宽带\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 什刹海前海四合院 2室2厅110平米 豪华装修 \r\n租金价格： 11000 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　110㎡\r\n房屋情况： 平房   豪华装修　朝向南　\r\n所属楼层： 1层/2层\r\n所在区域： 西城 - 什刹海 - 前海四合院\r\n所在地址： 前海银锭桥附近\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Super Low Price - Wonderful Lifestyle - Located at JingTongYuan, Three Beds Nice Decor  \r\nRental Price: 3200 RMB / Month   Paid in 3-month increments 　\r\nRooms: 3 beds, 1 living room, 1 bath, 108 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, nice decor, facing south / north \r\nWhich floor [in the building]: Floor 6 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: Chaoyang - Guanzhuang - JingTongYuan\r\nAddress: ChaoYang Raod, YangZha Roundabout, Northwest Corner (transportation map [link]) \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: \"Seeing is Believing\" GuoYuan Rail Station - Low price Rental in Cui Ping Li - Two-Bedroom - First come, first serve \r\nRental Price: 2900 RMB / Month  Pay 3 months at a time   \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 89 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, simple decor, facing east / west \r\nFloor: Floor 2 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: TongZhou - GuoYuan - CuiPingLi \r\nAddress: TongZhou District, 700 meters south frmo the GuoYuan Roundabout\r\n1. The apartment block is located on the south side of GuoYuan rail station, the area\'s 50% greenery, and there are guards on patrol 24-hours \r\n2. [You\'ll have] a complete set of amenities nearby: there\'s SuHe ShiDai Shopping Mall, WuMei Retail Store, and BeiJi Food Market \r\n3. GuoYuan rail station is right outside the door, and close by there are also many bus stations with non-stop service to DaBeiYao.  \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Move in with just your handbag - Beijing\'s XingHeWan Block 3, Completely New Warm Home in European Style with Stunning Decor - 4 bedrooms, experience [lit: taste] a grand living environment\r\nRental price: 43000 RMB / month (pay in 3 month increments)\r\nArea: 353 square meters \r\nRooms: 3 beds, 2 living rooms, 4 baths \r\nDecor: Luxurious Interior Decor\r\nFloor: Floor 23 of 33\r\nDirection: South / North \r\nWhen you can move in: anytime \r\nBuilt in: 2009\r\nProperty: XingHeWan (Star River Bay), ChaoYang \r\nIncludes: Phone, water heater, air conditioning, fridge, washing machine, bed, furniture, microwave, kitchen implements\r\nInstalled: Water, electricity, coal / natural gas, heating, landline, broadband \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: ShiChaHai QianHai Courtyard House, 2 beds 2 living rooms 110 square meters, Luxurious Decor\r\nRental Price: 11000 RMB / month  Pay in 3 month increments 　 \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 110 square meters \r\nHome type: Bungalow, luxurious decor, facing south\r\nFloor: Floor 1 of 2 \r\nLocation: XiCheng - ShiChaHai - QianHai Courtyard \r\nAddress: In Qianhai near YinDing Bridge\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Understanding Chinese Apartment Rental Listings ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1254-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 13:48:33', '2012-09-10 17:48:33', '', 1254, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1254-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1277, 1, '2012-10-02 00:43:24', '2012-10-02 04:43:24', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nA single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nHaven\'t had a ton of extra time in the last few weeks - just went on a trip to Dalian, and still catching up from that. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>我们家的跳绳比赛</h4>\r\n今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThis morning father and I competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. Mother abstained from participating, so I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'our-familys-jump-rope-contest', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:42:56', '2020-04-20 11:42:56', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1277', 0, 'post', '', 17),
(1762, 1, '2020-04-20 04:44:00', '2020-04-20 08:44:00', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nA single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nHaven\'t had a ton of extra time in the last few weeks - just went on a trip to Dalian, and still catching up from that. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>我们家的跳绳比赛</h4>\r\n今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThis morning father and I competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. Mother abstained from participating, so I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:44:00', '2020-04-20 08:44:00', '', 1277, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1277-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1273, 1, '2012-09-10 13:53:35', '2012-09-10 17:53:35', '[two_third]\r\nI\'ve been idly looking at moving to a new apartment lately (looks like I won\'t be moving after all - a good thing, too, because I like my current place), and I typically use the Chinese property search sites instead of the foreign ones. The prices are about 4 times as high on the English sites made for foreigners, and the properties they offer there are often aimed at high-rolling executives. It helps quite a bit to be able to browse the Chinese listings, so I\'m doing a few here. This is solidly advanced stuff. Local place names abound, so you have to be able to at least guess when something is or isn\'t a proper noun, and because we\'re working with real estate classifieds, a few words are shortened to save space or the formal version is used to sound professional.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nOne thing to bear in mind if you\'re actually looking for an apartment in China is that quite a few of the pictures are fake, are from other houses in the same compound, or if you\'re dealing with an agency, you should know that most places online have been rented already, but the agencies have left the ads up in hopes you\'ll call them anyway and they can show you something else. \r\n\r\nYou really do have to go hunt around in person in China, but online apartment hunting can give you a few valuable pieces of info: what types of apartments are available in which areas (only old buildings? skyrises? hutong-houses?), which complexes are newer and have nicer amenities, and what apartments in a particular area usually go for. \r\n\r\nHere are three of the best and most popular Beijing real estate websites, if you want to practice on your own:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://bj.58.com/zufang/\">bj.58.com/zufang/</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://beijing.anjuke.com\">beijing.anjuke.com</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://zu.soufun.com/\">zu.soufun.com/</a>\r\n\r\nI\'m going to list and translate a few different Beijing listings here, but I won\'t link to the original listings as I imagine they\'ll come down fairly fast, so I\'ll just show a couple of photos. You can visit the links above for similar stuff. I\'m taking some examples from a little spectrum: one crappy (and very very typical) older apartment near Beijing, a cheaper and nicer apartment in the distant suburbs of Beijing, a high-rolling super luxury apartment city-center, and a traditional-style siheyuan home. \r\n\r\nYou\'ll see a lot of similarities between real estate and property listings in Beijing or anywhere, but a couple of major points of local flavor: \r\n\r\n押一付三　- This indicates how rent is paid. In Beijing, rent is not paid monthly. It can either be paid every three months, every six months, or you can pay the whole year in advance. This indicates rent is to be paid every 3 months, which is by far the most common way to pay. \r\n\r\n朝向南北 - Man, the Chinese sure do care which way their apartment faces. People here will flat-out turn down an east/west facing place if they can afford to. The best apartments, apparently, face south / north, so you get sun all day, but it\'s not blasting in your windows. Less ideal is when a place faces east / west - and people here care SO MUCH about this, that you can get a cheaper place if you don\'t care that it faces east/west (though for haggling purposes, you\'re better off pretending you do care). This is why the direction is front and center. \r\n \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\r\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\r\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\r\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\"><img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n\r\nTitle: 超低的价格 美好的享受 就在京通苑 ,3室精装修 \r\n租金价格： 3200 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 3室1厅1卫　108㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   精装修　朝向南北　\r\n所属楼层： 6层/6层\r\n所在区域： 朝阳 - 管庄 - 京通苑\r\n所在地址： 朝阳路杨闸环岛西北角 （交通地图）\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 《眼见为实》果园城铁低价出租翠屏里两居 首次出租 \r\n租金价格： 2900 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　89㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   简单装修　朝向东西　\r\n所属楼层： 2层/6层\r\n所在区域： 通州 - 果园 - 翠屏里\r\n所在地址： 通州区果园环岛南700米\r\n1.小区位于果园城铁站南侧，绿化面积达50%，有24小时保安巡查。\r\n2.周边配套设施齐全，有苏荷时代购物广场、物美大卖场，北机菜市场。\r\n3.出门就是果园城铁站，周边还有多路公交车站可直达大北窑。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle:拎包入住北京星河湾3期全新地暖房欧式豪装4居、品味高贵生活环境\r\n租 金：43000元/月 (押一付三)\r\n面积 ：353㎡\r\n户型： 3室2厅4卫\r\n装修： 豪华装修\r\n楼层： 23/33\r\n朝向： 南北\r\n入住： 随时\r\n建筑年代： 2009年\r\n楼盘：星河湾  朝阳\r\n配置： 电话，热水器，空调，冰箱，洗衣机，床，家具， 微波炉，厨具\r\n设施： 水，电，煤气/天然气，暖气，有线电视，宽带\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 什刹海前海四合院 2室2厅110平米 豪华装修 \r\n租金价格： 11000 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　110㎡\r\n房屋情况： 平房   豪华装修　朝向南　\r\n所属楼层： 1层/2层\r\n所在区域： 西城 - 什刹海 - 前海四合院\r\n所在地址： 前海银锭桥附近\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Super Low Price - Wonderful Lifestyle - Located at JingTongYuan, Three Beds Nice Decor  \r\nRental Price: 3200 RMB / Month   Paid in 3-month increments 　\r\nRooms: 3 beds, 1 living room, 1 bath, 108 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, nice decor, facing south / north \r\nWhich floor [in the building]: Floor 6 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: Chaoyang - Guanzhuang - JingTongYuan\r\nAddress: ChaoYang Raod, YangZha Roundabout, Northwest Corner (transportation map [link]) \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: \"Seeing is Believing\" GuoYuan Rail Station - Low price Rental in Cui Ping Li - Two-Bedroom - First come, first serve \r\nRental Price: 2900 RMB / Month  Pay 3 months at a time   \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 89 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, simple decor, facing east / west \r\nFloor: Floor 2 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: TongZhou - GuoYuan - CuiPingLi \r\nAddress: TongZhou District, 700 meters south frmo the GuoYuan Roundabout\r\n1. The apartment block is located on the south side of GuoYuan rail station, the area\'s 50% greenery, and there are guards on patrol 24-hours \r\n2. [You\'ll have] a complete set of amenities nearby: there\'s SuHe ShiDai Shopping Mall, WuMei Retail Store, and BeiJi Food Market \r\n3. GuoYuan rail station is right outside the door, and close by there are also many bus stations with non-stop service to DaBeiYao.  \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Move in with just your handbag - Beijing\'s XingHeWan Block 3, Completely New Warm Home in European Style with Stunning Decor - 4 bedrooms, experience [lit: taste] a grand living environment\r\nRental price: 43000 RMB / month (pay in 3 month increments)\r\nArea: 353 square meters \r\nRooms: 3 beds, 2 living rooms, 4 baths \r\nDecor: Luxurious Interior Decor\r\nFloor: Floor 23 of 33\r\nDirection: South / North \r\nWhen you can move in: anytime \r\nBuilt in: 2009\r\nProperty: XingHeWan (Star River Bay), ChaoYang \r\nIncludes: Phone, water heater, air conditioning, fridge, washing machine, bed, furniture, microwave, kitchen implements\r\nInstalled: Water, electricity, coal / natural gas, heating, landline, broadband \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: ShiChaHai QianHai Courtyard House, 2 beds 2 living rooms 110 square meters, Luxurious Decor\r\nRental Price: 11000 RMB / month  Pay in 3 month increments 　 \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 110 square meters \r\nHome type: Bungalow, luxurious decor, facing south\r\nFloor: Floor 1 of 2 \r\nLocation: XiCheng - ShiChaHai - QianHai Courtyard \r\nAddress: In Qianhai near YinDing Bridge\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Understanding Chinese Apartment Rental Listings ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1254-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 13:53:35', '2012-09-10 17:53:35', '', 1254, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1254-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
