INSERT INTO `wp_posts` (`ID`, `post_author`, `post_date`, `post_date_gmt`, `post_content`, `post_title`, `post_excerpt`, `post_status`, `comment_status`, `ping_status`, `post_password`, `post_name`, `to_ping`, `pinged`, `post_modified`, `post_modified_gmt`, `post_content_filtered`, `post_parent`, `guid`, `menu_order`, `post_type`, `post_mime_type`, `comment_count`) VALUES
(937, 1, '2011-11-29 19:15:25', '2011-11-30 00:15:25', '[two_third]\nA short, easy (very) beginner read about a child going ice-skating. The word \"ice skating\" appears about a bazillion times in the space of these few sentences, so, after reading this, you may expect to recognize the word for the rest of your natural life. <!--more-->\n\nA note: The characters 周井寒 which appear in this essay are a person\'s name. The person is referred to twice, first by their given name, 井寒, then by their full name, 周井寒. The person\'s relationship to the author isn\'t really specified. This clearly isn\'t the name of the child\'s mother, as 周井寒 is referred to as a \"he\". \n\nThe Chinese title of this essay is 快乐的我. \n\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2011-11-28/1322449584234905.html\">And here\'s the original source</a>\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n作业 - [pinyin]zuo4 ye4[/pinyin] - Homework\n早饭 - [pinyin]zao3 fan4[/pinyin] - Breakfast\n带 - [pinyin]dai4[/pinyin] - To take (someone) to do (something)\n溜冰 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1[/pinyin] - Ice skating\n溜冰场 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 chang2[/pinyin] - Ice skating rink\n溜冰鞋 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 xie2[/pinyin] - Ice skates\n摔倒 - [pinyin]shuai1 dao3[/pinyin] - To fall down\n扶 - [pinyin]fu2[/pinyin] - Help someone up, to support with one\'s hand\n连声 - [pinyin]lian2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Say repeatedly, say over and over\n互相 - [pinyin]hu4 xiang1[/pinyin] - Each other, mutually\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n早上，我把<strong>作业</strong>写好了，妈妈起来了，我对妈妈说: “妈妈，我把作业都做好了。”吃过<strong>早饭</strong>后，妈妈<strong>带</strong>我去<strong>溜冰</strong>。到了<strong>溜冰场</strong>，我穿好<strong>溜冰鞋</strong>，开始溜冰了。溜冰的时候，我一不小心<strong>摔倒</strong>了，井寒把我<strong>扶</strong>起来了，我<strong>连声</strong>说: “谢谢你，周井寒。”周井寒摔倒了，我也把他扶起来。　　\n\n今天，你帮我，我帮你，我们<strong>互相</strong>帮助，我们真快乐啊！　　\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn the morning, I finished my homework, and [when] mother got up, I said to her: \"Mama, I finished all my homework.\" After we ate breakfast, mama took me ice skating. When we got to the ice rink, I put on my ice skates and began ice skating. When I was ice skating, I wasn\'t being careful and fell down, and Jing Han helped me back up, I repeatedly said: \"Thank you, Zhou Jing Han.\" Zhou Jing Han fell down, and I also helped him up.  \n\nToday, you help me, I help you, we help each other, we\'re so happy! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Happy Me!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '933-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 19:15:25', '2011-11-30 00:15:25', '', 933, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/933-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(938, 1, '2011-11-29 19:19:03', '2011-11-30 00:19:03', '[two_third]\r\nA short, easy (very) beginner read about a child going ice-skating. The word \"ice skating\" appears about a bazillion times in the space of these few sentences, so, after reading this, you may expect to recognize the word for the rest of your natural life. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/20111210-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Beginner Simplified Chinese Essay - Chinese Reading Passage\" title=\"Beginner Simplified Chinese Essay - Chinese Reading Passage\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />A note: The characters 周井寒 which appear in this essay are a person\'s name. The person is referred to twice, first by their given name, 井寒, then by their full name, 周井寒. The person\'s relationship to the author isn\'t really specified. This clearly isn\'t the name of the child\'s mother, as 周井寒 is referred to as a \"he\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this essay is 快乐的我. \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2011-11-28/1322449584234905.html\">And here\'s the original source</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作业 - [pinyin]zuo4 ye4[/pinyin] - Homework\r\n早饭 - [pinyin]zao3 fan4[/pinyin] - Breakfast\r\n带 - [pinyin]dai4[/pinyin] - To take (someone) to do (something)\r\n溜冰 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1[/pinyin] - Ice skating\r\n溜冰场 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 chang2[/pinyin] - Ice skating rink\r\n溜冰鞋 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 xie2[/pinyin] - Ice skates\r\n摔倒 - [pinyin]shuai1 dao3[/pinyin] - To fall down\r\n扶 - [pinyin]fu2[/pinyin] - Help someone up, to support with one\'s hand\r\n连声 - [pinyin]lian2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Say repeatedly, say over and over\r\n互相 - [pinyin]hu4 xiang1[/pinyin] - Each other, mutually\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早上，我把<strong>作业</strong>写好了，妈妈起来了，我对妈妈说: “妈妈，我把作业都做好了。”吃过<strong>早饭</strong>后，妈妈<strong>带</strong>我去<strong>溜冰</strong>。到了<strong>溜冰场</strong>，我穿好<strong>溜冰鞋</strong>，开始溜冰了。溜冰的时候，我一不小心<strong>摔倒</strong>了，井寒把我<strong>扶</strong>起来了，我<strong>连声</strong>说: “谢谢你，周井寒。”周井寒摔倒了，我也把他扶起来。　　\r\n\r\n今天，你帮我，我帮你，我们<strong>互相</strong>帮助，我们真快乐啊！　　\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn the morning, I finished my homework, and [when] mother got up, I said to her: \"Mama, I finished all my homework.\" After we ate breakfast, mama took me ice skating. When we got to the ice rink, I put on my ice skates and began ice skating. When I was ice skating, I wasn\'t being careful and fell down, and Jing Han helped me back up, I repeatedly said: \"Thank you, Zhou Jing Han.\" Zhou Jing Han fell down, and I also helped him up.  \r\n\r\nToday, you help me, I help you, we help each other, we\'re so happy! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Happy Me!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '933-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 19:19:03', '2011-11-30 00:19:03', '', 933, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/933-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(940, 1, '2011-12-20 07:00:08', '2011-12-20 12:00:08', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nWhile we\'re busy prepping for our holiday season, I figured I\'d post something about a Chinese holiday. This is a culturally-rich and comfortably intermediate essay describing how one family celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节 [pinyin]duan1 wu3 jie2[/pinyin]. If you\'re curious what the typical Chinese household does on this late-spring holiday (held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar), you\'ll love this read. The customs described are quite unlike any holidays in the West. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duanwu_Festival\">dragon boat festival</a> is held in remembrance of poet Qu Yuan\'s death. Qu Yuan was a faithful servant of his emperor, but was falsely accused of being a traitor. He drowned himself in a river after several decades in exile, but the local people loved him and remember him fondly. Sounds morbid, but actually the festival is a joyous one, where dragon boats are raced on the river (to commemorate the search for Qu Yuan\'s body) and 粽子 [pinyin]zong4 zi5[/pinyin] (boiled triangular rice balls wrapped in leaves) are eaten (when he died, it\'s said that 粽子 were thrown into the river to feed him in the afterlife - other stories have it that people threw 粽子 into the river to keep the fish from eating his body before they could find it).\r\n\r\nA couple of words in this essay are not in the dictionary, and need explaining: namely 艾香. I this case, 艾香 [pinyin]ai4 xiang1[/pinyin] means \"the smell of wormwood\", and it refers to the smell produced by bouquets of wormwood (艾草) that people hang on their door during the Dragon Boat Festival to drive away bad luck.\r\n\r\nAnother word here is 雄黄酒, something that I\'ve seen but never tried, and while there is an English word for this, I\'ve never heard this spoken in English. 雄黄酒 is \"realgar wine\", whatever the heck realgar is. If you\'re curious, <a href=\"http://english.sina.com/life/p/2009/0527/244239.html\">this article</a> has more information on realgar wine and it\'s association with the Dragon Boat Festival. \r\n\r\nAnd finally, there\'s 趟露水, literally \"to wade in the dew\", and it refers to (what I think is a) regional custom of going out on an early morning walk and anointing one\'s face with dew drops. \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>我家的端午节</h4>\r\n今天是端午节，我们一家人五点就起床，按照<strong>习俗</strong>上山去趟露水。一路上我用双手<strong>捧</strong>起<strong>晶莹</strong>的<strong>露珠</strong>往眼睛上抹，一时间我觉得眼睛好像亮了好多。直到坐在教室读书时还觉得眼睛特别亮，什么字都能看清楚。\r\n\r\n放学后，我<strong>撒</strong>开腿就往家里跑。刚到门口就闻到粽子香，一进门就看见爸爸做了一桌子好菜专门等我回家吃。我洗过手来到饭桌前，先给爸爸妈妈一人<strong>解</strong>了一个粽子，<strong>撒</strong>上白糖，然后给我自己解了一个漂亮的三角粽子，撒上白糖就<strong>津津有味</strong>地吃起来。饭桌上，我们一家边吃边聊，屋子里充满了端午节的快乐气氛，<strong>弥漫</strong>着<strong>香喷喷</strong>的粽子味和浓浓的艾香。\r\n\r\n吃完饭，妈妈给我耳朵上抹了雄黄酒，给我嘴上摸了<strong>唇膏</strong>，给我手腕上戴了红线<strong>绳</strong>，把我打扮得和粽子一样香，就让我到学校去学习。\r\n\r\n我爱吃粽子，爱过端午节，爱享受节日的欢乐气氛。\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\nToday is the Dragon Boat Festival, my family got out of bed at 5:00, and in accordance with local customs, when up the mountain to wade in the dew. On the road, I used both hands to cup sparkling dewdrops and smear them on my eyes, for a moment I felt as if they [my eyes] were considerably brightened. I felt they remained extremely bright as I sat in the classroom and read books; I could see every word clearly. \r\n\r\nWhen school let out, I let my legs loose and ran towards home. As soon as I reached the door I could smell the scent of zongzi, and as I entered I saw my father had made a whole table of delicious food that was just waiting for me to come home and eat it. I washed my hands and went to the dining table, first I broke open one <em>zongzi</em> each for father and mother and sprinkled them with white sugar, then I broke open a beautiful triangular zongzi for myself, sprinkled it with white sugar and heartily began eating.  At the dining table, our family ate and chatted, the woom was full of Dragon Boat Festival good cheer, suffused with the savory smell of zongzi and thick with the smell of wormwood.\r\n\r\nAfter we\'d had eaten, mother spread realgar wine on my ears, put lipstick on my lips, placed [bracelets of] red rope around my wrists, and made sure I smelled as sweetly as a <em>zongzi</em>, then sent me off back to school to study. \r\n\r\nI love eating zongzi, I loved the Dragon Boat Festival, and I love enjoying the holiday cheer. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Essay: My Family\'s Dragon Boat Festival', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'my-familys-dragon-boat-festival', '', '', '2020-04-28 19:39:53', '2020-04-28 23:39:53', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=940', 0, 'post', '', 6),
(1813, 1, '2020-04-20 06:07:14', '2020-04-20 10:07:14', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nWhile we\'re busy prepping for our holiday season, I figured I\'d post something about a Chinese holiday. This is a culturally-rich and comfortably intermediate essay describing how one family celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节 [pinyin]duan1 wu3 jie2[/pinyin]. If you\'re curious what the typical Chinese household does on this late-spring holiday (held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar), you\'ll love this read. The customs described are quite unlike any holidays in the West. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duanwu_Festival\">dragon boat festival</a> is held in remembrance of poet Qu Yuan\'s death. Qu Yuan was a faithful servant of his emperor, but was falsely accused of being a traitor. He drowned himself in a river after several decades in exile, but the local people loved him and remember him fondly. Sounds morbid, but actually the festival is a joyous one, where dragon boats are raced on the river (to commemorate the search for Qu Yuan\'s body) and 粽子 [pinyin]zong4 zi5[/pinyin] (boiled triangular rice balls wrapped in leaves) are eaten (when he died, it\'s said that 粽子 were thrown into the river to feed him in the afterlife - other stories have it that people threw 粽子 into the river to keep the fish from eating his body before they could find it).\r\n\r\nA couple of words in this essay are not in the dictionary, and need explaining: namely 艾香. I this case, 艾香 [pinyin]ai4 xiang1[/pinyin] means \"the smell of wormwood\", and it refers to the smell produced by bouquets of wormwood (艾草) that people hang on their door during the Dragon Boat Festival to drive away bad luck.\r\n\r\nAnother word here is 雄黄酒, something that I\'ve seen but never tried, and while there is an English word for this, I\'ve never heard this spoken in English. 雄黄酒 is \"realgar wine\", whatever the heck realgar is. If you\'re curious, <a href=\"http://english.sina.com/life/p/2009/0527/244239.html\">this article</a> has more information on realgar wine and it\'s association with the Dragon Boat Festival. \r\n\r\nAnd finally, there\'s 趟露水, literally \"to wade in the dew\", and it refers to (what I think is a) regional custom of going out on an early morning walk and anointing one\'s face with dew drops. \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>我家的端午节</h4>\r\n今天是端午节，我们一家人五点就起床，按照<strong>习俗</strong>上山去趟露水。一路上我用双手<strong>捧</strong>起<strong>晶莹</strong>的<strong>露珠</strong>往眼睛上抹，一时间我觉得眼睛好像亮了好多。直到坐在教室读书时还觉得眼睛特别亮，什么字都能看清楚。\r\n\r\n放学后，我<strong>撒</strong>开腿就往家里跑。刚到门口就闻到粽子香，一进门就看见爸爸做了一桌子好菜专门等我回家吃。我洗过手来到饭桌前，先给爸爸妈妈一人<strong>解</strong>了一个粽子，<strong>撒</strong>上白糖，然后给我自己解了一个漂亮的三角粽子，撒上白糖就<strong>津津有味</strong>地吃起来。饭桌上，我们一家边吃边聊，屋子里充满了端午节的快乐气氛，<strong>弥漫</strong>着<strong>香喷喷</strong>的粽子味和浓浓的艾香。\r\n\r\n吃完饭，妈妈给我耳朵上抹了雄黄酒，给我嘴上摸了<strong>唇膏</strong>，给我手腕上戴了红线<strong>绳</strong>，把我打扮得和粽子一样香，就让我到学校去学习。\r\n\r\n我爱吃粽子，爱过端午节，爱享受节日的欢乐气氛。\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\nToday is the Dragon Boat Festival, my family got out of bed at 5:00, and in accordance with local customs, when up the mountain to wade in the dew. On the road, I used both hands to cup sparkling dewdrops and smear them on my eyes, for a moment I felt as if they [my eyes] were considerably brightened. I felt they remained extremely bright as I sat in the classroom and read books; I could see every word clearly. \r\n\r\nWhen school let out, I let my legs loose and ran towards home. As soon as I reached the door I could smell the scent of zongzi, and as I entered I saw my father had made a whole table of delicious food that was just waiting for me to come home and eat it. I washed my hands and went to the dining table, first I broke open one <em>zongzi</em> each for father and mother and sprinkled them with white sugar, then I broke open a beautiful triangular zongzi for myself, sprinkled it with white sugar and heartily began eating.  At the dining table, our family ate and chatted, the woom was full of Dragon Boat Festival good cheer, suffused with the savory smell of zongzi and thick with the smell of wormwood.\r\n\r\nAfter we\'d had eaten, mother spread realgar wine on my ears, put lipstick on my lips, placed [bracelets of] red rope around my wrists, and made sure I smelled as sweetly as a <em>zongzi</em>, then sent me off back to school to study. \r\n\r\nI love eating zongzi, I loved the Dragon Boat Festival, and I love enjoying the holiday cheer. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'My Family\'s Dragon Boat Festival', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '940-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 06:07:14', '2020-04-20 10:07:14', '', 940, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/940-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(941, 1, '2011-11-29 20:05:14', '2011-11-30 01:05:14', '[two_third]\nA culturally-rich intermediate essay describing how one family celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节 [pinyin]duan1 wu3 jie2[/pinyin]. If you\'re curious what the typical Chinese household does on this late-spring holiday (held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar), you\'ll love this read. The customs described are quite unlike any holidays in the West. <!--more-->\n\nThe <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duanwu_Festival\">dragon boat festival</a> is held in remembrance of poet Qu Yuan\'s death. Qu Yuan was a faithful servant of his emperor, but was falsely accused of being a traitor. He drowned himself in a river after several decades in exile, but the local people loved him and remember him fondly. Sounds morbid, but actually the festival is a joyous one, where dragon boats are raced on the river (to commemorate the search for Qu Yuan\'s body) and 粽子 [pinyin]zong4 zi5[/pinyin] (boiled triangular rice balls wrapped in leaves) are eaten (when he died, it\'s said that 粽子 were thrown into the river to feed him in the afterlife - other stories have it that people threw 粽子 into the river to keep the fish from eating his body before they could find it).\n\nA couple of words in this essay are not in the dictionary, and need explaining: namely 艾香. I this case, 艾香 [pinyin]ai4 xiang1[/pinyin] means \"the smell of wormwood\", and it refers to the smell produced by bouquets of wormwood (艾草) that people hang on their door during the Dragon Boat Festival to drive away bad luck.\n\nAnother word here is 趟露水, literally \"to wade in the dew\", and it refers to (what I think is a) regional custom of going out on an early morning walk and anointing one\'s face with dew drops. And without further adew (har!), the Chinese title of this essay is 我家的端午节.\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n作业 - [pinyin]zuo4 ye4[/pinyin] - Homework\n早饭 - [pinyin]zao3 fan4[/pinyin] - Breakfast\n带 - [pinyin]dai4[/pinyin] - To take (someone) to do (something)\n溜冰 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1[/pinyin] - Ice skating\n溜冰场 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 chang2[/pinyin] - Ice skating rink\n溜冰鞋 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 xie2[/pinyin] - Ice skates\n摔倒 - [pinyin]shuai1 dao3[/pinyin] - To fall down\n扶 - [pinyin]fu2[/pinyin] - Help someone up, to support with one\'s hand\n连声 - [pinyin]lian2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Say repeatedly, say over and over\n互相 - [pinyin]hu4 xiang1[/pinyin] - Each other, mutually\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n今天是端午节，我们一家人五点就起床，按照习俗上山去趟露水。一路上我用双手捧起晶莹的露珠往眼睛上抹，一时间我觉得眼睛好像亮了好多。直到坐在教室读书时还觉得眼睛特别亮，什么字都能看清楚。\n\n放学后，我撒开腿就往家里跑。刚到门口就闻到粽子香，一进门就看见爸爸做了一桌子好菜专门等我回家吃。我洗过手来到饭桌前，先给爸爸妈妈一人解了一个粽子，撒上白糖，然后给我自己解了一个漂亮的三角粽子，撒上白糖就津津有味地吃起来。饭桌上，我们一家边吃边聊，屋子里充满了端午节的快乐气氛，弥漫着香喷喷的粽子味和浓浓的艾香。\n\n吃完饭，妈妈给我耳朵上抹了雄黄酒，给我嘴上摸了唇膏，给我手腕上戴了红线绳，把我打扮得和粽子一样香，就让我到学校去学习。\n\n我爱吃粽子，爱过端午节，爱享受节日的欢乐气氛。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nToday is the Dragon Boat Festival, my family got out of bed at 5:00, and in accordance with local customs, when up the mountain to wade in the dew. On the road, I used both hands to cup sparkling dewdrops and smear them on my eyes, for a moment I felt as if they [my eyes] were considerably brightened. I felt they remained extremely bright as I sat in the classroom and read books; I could see every word clearly. \n\nAfter school, I let my legs loose and ran towards home. As soon as I reached the door I could smell the scent of zongzi, and as I entered I saw my father had made a whole table of delicious food that was just waiting for me to come home and eat it. I washed my hands and went to the dining table, first I broke open a zongzi for father and mother and sprinkled it with white sugar, then I broke open a beautiful triangle zongzi for myself, sprinkled it with white sugar and heartily began eating.  At the dining table, our family ate and chatted, 。饭桌上，我们一家边吃边聊，屋子里充满了端午节的快乐气氛，弥漫着香喷喷的粽子味和浓浓的艾香。\n\n吃完饭，妈妈给我耳朵上抹了雄黄酒，给我嘴上摸了唇膏，给我手腕上戴了红线绳，把我打扮得和粽子一样香，就让我到学校去学习。\n\n我爱吃粽子，爱过端午节，爱享受节日的欢乐气氛。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Family\'s Dragon Boat Festival', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '940-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 20:05:14', '2011-11-30 01:05:14', '', 940, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/940-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(942, 1, '2011-11-29 20:34:42', '2011-11-30 01:34:42', '', 'Practice Reading Chinese - Easy Intermediate Chinese Reader', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20111220', '', '', '2011-11-29 20:34:42', '2011-11-30 01:34:42', '', 940, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/20111220.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(943, 1, '2011-11-29 20:37:16', '2011-11-30 01:37:16', '', 'Practice Reading Chinese - Easy Intermediate Chinese Reader', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20111220-inline', '', '', '2011-11-29 20:37:16', '2011-11-30 01:37:16', '', 940, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/20111220-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(944, 1, '2011-11-29 20:33:11', '2011-11-30 01:33:11', '[two_third]\nWhile we\'re busy prepping for our holiday season, I figured I\'d post something about a Chinese holiday. This is a culturally-rich and comfortably intermediate essay describing how one family celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节 [pinyin]duan1 wu3 jie2[/pinyin]. If you\'re curious what the typical Chinese household does on this late-spring holiday (held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar), you\'ll love this read. The customs described are quite unlike any holidays in the West. <!--more-->\n\nThe <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duanwu_Festival\">dragon boat festival</a> is held in remembrance of poet Qu Yuan\'s death. Qu Yuan was a faithful servant of his emperor, but was falsely accused of being a traitor. He drowned himself in a river after several decades in exile, but the local people loved him and remember him fondly. Sounds morbid, but actually the festival is a joyous one, where dragon boats are raced on the river (to commemorate the search for Qu Yuan\'s body) and 粽子 [pinyin]zong4 zi5[/pinyin] (boiled triangular rice balls wrapped in leaves) are eaten (when he died, it\'s said that 粽子 were thrown into the river to feed him in the afterlife - other stories have it that people threw 粽子 into the river to keep the fish from eating his body before they could find it).\n\nA couple of words in this essay are not in the dictionary, and need explaining: namely 艾香. I this case, 艾香 [pinyin]ai4 xiang1[/pinyin] means \"the smell of wormwood\", and it refers to the smell produced by bouquets of wormwood (艾草) that people hang on their door during the Dragon Boat Festival to drive away bad luck.\n\nAnother word here is 雄黄酒, something that I\'ve seen but never tried, and while there is an English word for this, I\'ve never heard this spoken in English. 雄黄酒 is \"realgar wine\", whatever the heck realgar is. If you\'re curious, <a href=\"http://english.sina.com/life/p/2009/0527/244239.html\">this article</a> has more information on realgar wine and it\'s association with the Dragon Boat Festival. \n\nAnd finally, there\'s 趟露水, literally \"to wade in the dew\", and it refers to (what I think is a) regional custom of going out on an early morning walk and anointing one\'s face with dew drops. And without further adew (har!), the Chinese title of this essay is 我家的端午节.\n\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n习俗 - [pinyin]xi2 su2[/pinyin] - Custom, local tradition\n捧 - [pinyin]peng3[/pinyin] - To cup in the hands\n晶莹 - [pinyin]jing1 ying2[/pinyin] - Sparkling and translucent\n露珠 - [pinyin]lu4 zhu1[/pinyin] - Dewdrop\n撒 - [pinyin]sa1[/pinyin] - (definition 1): To let loose, to let fly\n解 - [pinyin]jie3[/pinyin] - To break up, divide\n撒 - [pinyin]sa3[/pinyin] - (definition 2): To sprinkle\n津津有味 - [pinyin]jin1 jin1 you3 wei4[/pinyin] - With relish, with gusto\n弥漫 - [pinyin]mi2 man4[/pinyin] - to pervade, be diffused with\n香喷喷 - [pinyin]xiang1 pen1 pen1[/pinyin] - Savory\n唇膏 - [pinyin]chun2 gao1[/pinyin] - Lipstick\n绳 - [pinyin]sheng2[/pinyin] - Rope\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n今天是端午节，我们一家人五点就起床，按照<strong>习俗</strong>上山去趟露水。一路上我用双手<strong>捧</strong>起<strong>晶莹</strong>的<strong>露珠</strong>往眼睛上抹，一时间我觉得眼睛好像亮了好多。直到坐在教室读书时还觉得眼睛特别亮，什么字都能看清楚。\n\n放学后，我<strong>撒</strong>开腿就往家里跑。刚到门口就闻到粽子香，一进门就看见爸爸做了一桌子好菜专门等我回家吃。我洗过手来到饭桌前，先给爸爸妈妈一人<strong>解</strong>了一个粽子，<strong>撒</strong>上白糖，然后给我自己解了一个漂亮的三角粽子，撒上白糖就<strong>津津有味</strong>地吃起来。饭桌上，我们一家边吃边聊，屋子里充满了端午节的快乐气氛，<strong>弥漫</strong>着<strong>香喷喷</strong>的粽子味和浓浓的艾香。\n\n吃完饭，妈妈给我耳朵上抹了雄黄酒，给我嘴上摸了<strong>唇膏</strong>，给我手腕上戴了红线<strong>绳</strong>，把我打扮得和粽子一样香，就让我到学校去学习。\n\n我爱吃粽子，爱过端午节，爱享受节日的欢乐气氛。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nToday is the Dragon Boat Festival, my family got out of bed at 5:00, and in accordance with local customs, when up the mountain to wade in the dew. On the road, I used both hands to cup sparkling dewdrops and smear them on my eyes, for a moment I felt as if they [my eyes] were considerably brightened. I felt they remained extremely bright as I sat in the classroom and read books; I could see every word clearly. \n\nWhen school let out, I let my legs loose and ran towards home. As soon as I reached the door I could smell the scent of zongzi, and as I entered I saw my father had made a whole table of delicious food that was just waiting for me to come home and eat it. I washed my hands and went to the dining table, first I broke open one zongzi each for father and mother and sprinkled them with white sugar, then I broke open a beautiful triangular zongzi for myself, sprinkled it with white sugar and heartily began eating.  At the dining table, our family ate and chatted, the woom was full of Dragon Boat Festival good cheer, suffused with the savory smell of zongzi and thick with the smell of wormwood.\n\nAfter we\'d had eaten, mother spread realgar wine on my ears, put lipstick on my lips, placed [bracelets of] red rope around my wrists, and made sure I smelled as sweetly as a zongzi, then sent me off back to school to study. \n\nI love eating zongzi, I loved the Dragon Boat Festival, and I love enjoying the holiday cheer. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Family\'s Dragon Boat Festival', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '940-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 20:33:11', '2011-11-30 01:33:11', '', 940, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/940-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(945, 1, '2011-11-29 20:37:30', '2011-11-30 01:37:30', '[two_third]\r\nWhile we\'re busy prepping for our holiday season, I figured I\'d post something about a Chinese holiday. This is a culturally-rich and comfortably intermediate essay describing how one family celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节 [pinyin]duan1 wu3 jie2[/pinyin]. If you\'re curious what the typical Chinese household does on this late-spring holiday (held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar), you\'ll love this read. The customs described are quite unlike any holidays in the West. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/20111220-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Practice Reading Chinese - Easy Intermediate Chinese Reader\" title=\"Practice Reading Chinese - Easy Intermediate Chinese Reader\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignnone\" />The <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duanwu_Festival\">dragon boat festival</a> is held in remembrance of poet Qu Yuan\'s death. Qu Yuan was a faithful servant of his emperor, but was falsely accused of being a traitor. He drowned himself in a river after several decades in exile, but the local people loved him and remember him fondly. Sounds morbid, but actually the festival is a joyous one, where dragon boats are raced on the river (to commemorate the search for Qu Yuan\'s body) and 粽子 [pinyin]zong4 zi5[/pinyin] (boiled triangular rice balls wrapped in leaves) are eaten (when he died, it\'s said that 粽子 were thrown into the river to feed him in the afterlife - other stories have it that people threw 粽子 into the river to keep the fish from eating his body before they could find it).\r\n\r\nA couple of words in this essay are not in the dictionary, and need explaining: namely 艾香. I this case, 艾香 [pinyin]ai4 xiang1[/pinyin] means \"the smell of wormwood\", and it refers to the smell produced by bouquets of wormwood (艾草) that people hang on their door during the Dragon Boat Festival to drive away bad luck.\r\n\r\nAnother word here is 雄黄酒, something that I\'ve seen but never tried, and while there is an English word for this, I\'ve never heard this spoken in English. 雄黄酒 is \"realgar wine\", whatever the heck realgar is. If you\'re curious, <a href=\"http://english.sina.com/life/p/2009/0527/244239.html\">this article</a> has more information on realgar wine and it\'s association with the Dragon Boat Festival. \r\n\r\nAnd finally, there\'s 趟露水, literally \"to wade in the dew\", and it refers to (what I think is a) regional custom of going out on an early morning walk and anointing one\'s face with dew drops. And without further adew (har!), the Chinese title of this essay is 我家的端午节.\r\n\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习俗 - [pinyin]xi2 su2[/pinyin] - Custom, local tradition\r\n捧 - [pinyin]peng3[/pinyin] - To cup in the hands\r\n晶莹 - [pinyin]jing1 ying2[/pinyin] - Sparkling and translucent\r\n露珠 - [pinyin]lu4 zhu1[/pinyin] - Dewdrop\r\n撒 - [pinyin]sa1[/pinyin] - (definition 1): To let loose, to let fly\r\n解 - [pinyin]jie3[/pinyin] - To break up, divide\r\n撒 - [pinyin]sa3[/pinyin] - (definition 2): To sprinkle\r\n津津有味 - [pinyin]jin1 jin1 you3 wei4[/pinyin] - With relish, with gusto\r\n弥漫 - [pinyin]mi2 man4[/pinyin] - to pervade, be diffused with\r\n香喷喷 - [pinyin]xiang1 pen1 pen1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n唇膏 - [pinyin]chun2 gao1[/pinyin] - Lipstick\r\n绳 - [pinyin]sheng2[/pinyin] - Rope\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今天是端午节，我们一家人五点就起床，按照<strong>习俗</strong>上山去趟露水。一路上我用双手<strong>捧</strong>起<strong>晶莹</strong>的<strong>露珠</strong>往眼睛上抹，一时间我觉得眼睛好像亮了好多。直到坐在教室读书时还觉得眼睛特别亮，什么字都能看清楚。\r\n\r\n放学后，我<strong>撒</strong>开腿就往家里跑。刚到门口就闻到粽子香，一进门就看见爸爸做了一桌子好菜专门等我回家吃。我洗过手来到饭桌前，先给爸爸妈妈一人<strong>解</strong>了一个粽子，<strong>撒</strong>上白糖，然后给我自己解了一个漂亮的三角粽子，撒上白糖就<strong>津津有味</strong>地吃起来。饭桌上，我们一家边吃边聊，屋子里充满了端午节的快乐气氛，<strong>弥漫</strong>着<strong>香喷喷</strong>的粽子味和浓浓的艾香。\r\n\r\n吃完饭，妈妈给我耳朵上抹了雄黄酒，给我嘴上摸了<strong>唇膏</strong>，给我手腕上戴了红线<strong>绳</strong>，把我打扮得和粽子一样香，就让我到学校去学习。\r\n\r\n我爱吃粽子，爱过端午节，爱享受节日的欢乐气氛。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nToday is the Dragon Boat Festival, my family got out of bed at 5:00, and in accordance with local customs, when up the mountain to wade in the dew. On the road, I used both hands to cup sparkling dewdrops and smear them on my eyes, for a moment I felt as if they [my eyes] were considerably brightened. I felt they remained extremely bright as I sat in the classroom and read books; I could see every word clearly. \r\n\r\nWhen school let out, I let my legs loose and ran towards home. As soon as I reached the door I could smell the scent of zongzi, and as I entered I saw my father had made a whole table of delicious food that was just waiting for me to come home and eat it. I washed my hands and went to the dining table, first I broke open one zongzi each for father and mother and sprinkled them with white sugar, then I broke open a beautiful triangular zongzi for myself, sprinkled it with white sugar and heartily began eating.  At the dining table, our family ate and chatted, the woom was full of Dragon Boat Festival good cheer, suffused with the savory smell of zongzi and thick with the smell of wormwood.\r\n\r\nAfter we\'d had eaten, mother spread realgar wine on my ears, put lipstick on my lips, placed [bracelets of] red rope around my wrists, and made sure I smelled as sweetly as a zongzi, then sent me off back to school to study. \r\n\r\nI love eating zongzi, I loved the Dragon Boat Festival, and I love enjoying the holiday cheer. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Family\'s Dragon Boat Festival', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '940-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 20:37:30', '2011-11-30 01:37:30', '', 940, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/940-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1007, 1, '2012-02-12 01:42:59', '2012-02-12 06:42:59', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nI apologize for not posting a month or so, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. But today, in place of something interesting, we\'ve got a slightly insipid story for young children about a bird who appears to have no head. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nNot sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used in a super positive context. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\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>没有脑袋的鸟</h4>\r\n一只<strong>白鹭</strong>在<strong>浅浅</strong>的<strong>池</strong>水中站着。\r\n\r\n一只小<strong>刺猬</strong>走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有<strong>脑袋</strong>！”\r\n\r\n“真的！”一只小<strong>鼹鼠</strong>也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\r\n\r\n“<strong>假如</strong>我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\r\n\r\n“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\r\n\r\n这时，白鹭从她那<strong>翅膀</strong>底下，<strong>伸出</strong>了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好短短的脑袋。\r\n\r\n白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，<strong>梳理</strong>梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\r\n\r\n小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\r\n\r\n“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\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\nAn egret stood in the middle of a shallow pond. \r\n\r\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! Somehow, that egret has no head!\" \r\n\r\n\"Really!\" a little mole also cried out, \"This is the first time I\'ve seen a bird without a head!\"　　\r\n\r\n\"If I didn\'t have a head, I wouldn\'t be able to live!\" the little hedgehog said.　　\r\n\r\n\"Yes, but this bird can still stand there not moving, how very impressive!\"　　\r\n\r\nAt this time, from beneath her wing the egret stretched out a long neck, and on top of that long neck grew a very short head.　　\r\n\r\nSmiling, the egret said, \"I had my head tucked beneath my wing to comb out my feathers, how could I be a bird with no head?\"　　\r\n\r\nThe little hedgehog and the little mole smiled, and they said:　　\r\n\r\n\"It was us that weren\'t using our heads to think, sorry Sister Egret!\"　　\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'The Little Bird with No Head', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'the-little-bird-with-no-head', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:59:44', '2020-04-20 11:59:44', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1007', 0, 'post', '', 38),
(1792, 1, '2020-04-20 05:35:46', '2020-04-20 09:35:46', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nI apologize for not posting a month or so, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. But today, in place of something interesting, we\'ve got a slightly insipid story for young children about a bird who appears to have no head. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nNot sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used in a super positive context. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\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>没有脑袋的鸟</h4>\r\n一只<strong>白鹭</strong>在<strong>浅浅</strong>的<strong>池</strong>水中站着。\r\n\r\n一只小<strong>刺猬</strong>走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有<strong>脑袋</strong>！”\r\n\r\n“真的！”一只小<strong>鼹鼠</strong>也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\r\n\r\n“<strong>假如</strong>我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\r\n\r\n“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\r\n\r\n这时，白鹭从她那<strong>翅膀</strong>底下，<strong>伸出</strong>了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好短短的脑袋。\r\n\r\n白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，<strong>梳理</strong>梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\r\n\r\n小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\r\n\r\n“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\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\nAn egret stood in the middle of a shallow pond. \r\n\r\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! Somehow, that egret has no head!\" \r\n\r\n\"Really!\" a little mole also cried out, \"This is the first time I\'ve seen a bird without a head!\"　　\r\n\r\n\"If I didn\'t have a head, I wouldn\'t be able to live!\" the little hedgehog said.　　\r\n\r\n\"Yes, but this bird can still stand there not moving, how very impressive!\"　　\r\n\r\nAt this time, from beneath her wing the egret stretched out a long neck, and on top of that long neck grew a very short head.　　\r\n\r\nSmiling, the egret said, \"I had my head tucked beneath my wing to comb out my feathers, how could I be a bird with no head?\"　　\r\n\r\nThe little hedgehog and the little mole smiled, and they said:　　\r\n\r\n\"It was us that weren\'t using our heads to think, sorry Sister Egret!\"　　\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'The Little Bird with No Head', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1007-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:35:46', '2020-04-20 09:35:46', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1007-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1790, 1, '2020-04-20 05:34:42', '2020-04-20 09:34:42', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nI apologize for not posting a month or so, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. But today, in place of something interesting, we\'ve got a slightly insipid story for young children about a bird who appears to have no head. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/20120212-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Childrens Beginner Chinese Reading Passage: The Little Bird with No Head\" title=\"Easy Beginner Chinese Reading Passage: The Little Bird with No Head\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Not sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used in a super positive context. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\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>没有脑袋的鸟</h4>\r\n一只<strong>白鹭</strong>在<strong>浅浅</strong>的<strong>池</strong>水中站着。\r\n\r\n一只小<strong>刺猬</strong>走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有<strong>脑袋</strong>！”\r\n\r\n“真的！”一只小<strong>鼹鼠</strong>也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\r\n\r\n“<strong>假如</strong>我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\r\n\r\n“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\r\n\r\n这时，白鹭从她那<strong>翅膀</strong>底下，<strong>伸出</strong>了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好短短的脑袋。\r\n\r\n白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，<strong>梳理</strong>梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\r\n\r\n小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\r\n\r\n“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\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\nAn egret stood in the middle of a shallow pond. \r\n\r\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! Somehow, that egret has no head!\" \r\n\r\n\"Really!\" a little mole also cried out, \"This is the first time I\'ve seen a bird without a head!\"　　\r\n\r\n\"If I didn\'t have a head, I wouldn\'t be able to live!\" the little hedgehog said.　　\r\n\r\n\"Yes, but this bird can still stand there not moving, how very impressive!\"　　\r\n\r\nAt this time, from beneath her wing the egret stretched out a long neck, and on top of that long neck grew a very short head.　　\r\n\r\nSmiling, the egret said, \"I had my head tucked beneath my wing to comb out my feathers, how could I be a bird with no head?\"　　\r\n\r\nThe little hedgehog and the little mole smiled, and they said:　　\r\n\r\n\"It was us that weren\'t using our heads to think, sorry Sister Egret!\"　　\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_row]', 'The Little Bird with No Head', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1007-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:34:42', '2020-04-20 09:34:42', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1007-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(948, 1, '2011-12-28 07:00:49', '2011-12-28 12:00:49', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nWelp, you can\'t get more forcefully patriotic than this. This transcript of a student\'s classroom speech reads like a political call-to-action and includes rousing images of bloody soldiers, strong Chinese athletes and Chinese workers throwing off the yoke of imperialist might. This might be upper intermediate level reading, but I\'m classifying it as advanced, as the sentence structure really isn\'t very straightforward, and there are quite a few new words. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThere\'s a saying in the third paragraph that makes no sense in English, only in Chinese. The saying is: \'国家国家，有国才有家\'. This translates to \"Country, country, have country, then home.\" Doesn\'t mean much, does it? But we must examine the structure of the sentence to see that this is actually a play on words. The word for \"country\" is 国家.  国, by itself, means \"country\" or \"kingdom\". 家, by itself, means \"home\" or \"family\". Put them together, and you get the complete, proper word for \"country\". So the author is first saying the word \"country\" twice (国家国家), then the second part means \"the word country is made up first of the character for country, THEN then character for \'home\'\", in other words, \"you must have a country before you can have a home or family\". This seems to also insinuate that \"country should come before family\".\r\n\r\nIf you remember no other word in this whole essay, remember this one: 祖国 [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin]. Look at it: 祖国 祖国 祖国 祖国. It means \"motherland\", and once you know it, you will see it everywhere. \r\n\r\nAnother interesting word here is 帝国主义者, which means \"imperialist\". If you ever have plans to use your Chinese skills to read old Maoist textbooks, you\'d better remember that one as well. It also contains a useful grammar point: 主义者 is equivalent to the English suffix \"ist\", as in \"imperial-ist\". 主义, without 者, is equivalent to the \"ism\". So 帝国主义 is \"imperialism\". This can be applied to other words, such as 女权主义者 (feminist) and 女权主义 (feminism), and 理想主义者 (idealist) and 理想主义 (idealism). \r\n\r\nThe title of this speech is: 爱我中华\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxuewunianjizuowen/2011-08-18/1313632636230846.html\">You can find the original here</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>爱我中华</h4>\r\n有两句话“生我者父母，养我者<strong>祖国</strong>．“ “国家国家，有国才有家．“ 我爱我的祖国，胜过爱我的一切！\r\n\r\n每当阅读起爱国书籍，看到<strong>詹天佑</strong>，<strong>钱学森</strong>等这样<strong>爱祖国</strong>的人，放弃好的<strong>待遇</strong>，放弃好的<strong>前程</strong>，就是给那些瞧不起中国的<strong>帝国主义者</strong>一个有力的<strong>回击</strong>，他们用行动大声的说:“ 祖国，我爱您！“\r\n\r\n每当看起爱国电影，看着英雄战士上<strong>战场</strong>为祖国，<strong>抛</strong>头颅，撒热血保卫<strong>边疆</strong>．一次次<strong>硝烟</strong>过去，战场上<strong>尸横遍野</strong>，那些快要死了的战士好象在说: “ 祖国，你永远在我心中！“ \r\n\r\n每当在<strong>荧屏</strong>上中国的奥运<strong>健儿</strong> 在比赛中<strong>夺得冠军</strong>时他们总是露着灿烂的笑容，身为祖国儿女的他们感到无比的自豪．升国旗时，他们流出滚滚热泪，望着五星红旗，心中在呼唤: “ 祖国，我为您<strong>争光</strong>了！“  \r\n\r\n我们不能像勇士那样血撒战场，不能像伟人一样建设祖国．．．．．．我们现在应该好好学习，用智慧和知识<strong>武装</strong>自己长大以后<strong>报效</strong>祖国，大家要像周总理那样，为中华之崛起而读书！\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\nThere are two sayings, \"My mother and father birthed me, my country raised me.\" And \"Country, country, you must have a country before you have a home.\" I love my motherland, it surpasses everything that I love! \r\n\r\nOn every patriotic work, we see Zhan TianYou, Qian XueSen, and similar patriots, who gave up good pay, gave up good career prospects, to forcefully fight back against the imperialists who looked down on China. They used their actions to say loudly, \"Motherland, I love you!\" \r\n\r\nIn every patriotic movie, we see heroic soldiers who lost their heads and sprinkled their blood on the battlefields for their motherland to defend our borders, and when the gun smoke cleared, the battlefields were littered with corpses. It\'s as if those soldiers who were about to die said, \"Motherland, you are forever in my heart!\"  \r\n\r\nEvery Chinese Olympic athlete on the TV screen who seizes the championship in a competition is always smiling brilliantly, as sons and daughters of the motherland, they feel matchless pride. When our flag is raised, hot tears roll down their cheeks as they gaze at the five-starred red flag, in their hearts they are shouting: \"Motherland, I won this honor for you!\" \r\n\r\nWe can\'t cast our blood on the battlefield like those warriors, we can\'t build the motherland as the great men did... right now we must study well, use our wisdom and knowledge to arm ourselves so that after we grow up we can return with our service the kindness our motherland has done us, we should be like Premier Zhou [Zhou EnLai], read books so that China may rise up! \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Love Our China: A Patriotic Speech', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'love-our-china-a-patriotic-speech', '', '', '2020-05-20 01:28:29', '2020-05-20 05:28:29', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=948', 0, 'post', '', 3);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` (`ID`, `post_author`, `post_date`, `post_date_gmt`, `post_content`, `post_title`, `post_excerpt`, `post_status`, `comment_status`, `ping_status`, `post_password`, `post_name`, `to_ping`, `pinged`, `post_modified`, `post_modified_gmt`, `post_content_filtered`, `post_parent`, `guid`, `menu_order`, `post_type`, `post_mime_type`, `comment_count`) VALUES
(1798, 1, '2020-04-20 05:45:25', '2020-04-20 09:45:25', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nWelp, you can\'t get more forcefully patriotic than this. This transcript of a student\'s classroom speech reads like a political call-to-action and includes rousing images of bloody soldiers, strong Chinese athletes and Chinese workers throwing off the yoke of imperialist might. This might be upper intermediate level reading, but I\'m classifying it as advanced, as the sentence structure really isn\'t very straightforward, and there are quite a few new words. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThere\'s a saying in the third paragraph that makes no sense in English, only in Chinese. The saying is: \'国家国家，有国才有家\'. This translates to \"Country, country, have country, then home.\" Doesn\'t mean much, does it? But we must examine the structure of the sentence to see that this is actually a play on words. The word for \"country\" is 国家.  国, by itself, means \"country\" or \"kingdom\". 家, by itself, means \"home\" or \"family\". Put them together, and you get the complete, proper word for \"country\". So the author is first saying the word \"country\" twice (国家国家), then the second part means \"the word country is made up first of the character for country, THEN then character for \'home\'\", in other words, \"you must have a country before you can have a home or family\". This seems to also insinuate that \"country should come before family\".\r\n\r\nIf you remember no other word in this whole essay, remember this one: 祖国 [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin]. Look at it: 祖国 祖国 祖国 祖国. It means \"motherland\", and once you know it, you will see it everywhere. \r\n\r\nAnother interesting word here is 帝国主义者, which means \"imperialist\". If you ever have plans to use your Chinese skills to read old Maoist textbooks, you\'d better remember that one as well. It also contains a useful grammar point: 主义者 is equivalent to the English suffix \"ist\", as in \"imperial-ist\". 主义, without 者, is equivalent to the \"ism\". So 帝国主义 is \"imperialism\". This can be applied to other words, such as 女权主义者 (feminist) and 女权主义 (feminism), and 理想主义者 (idealist) and 理想主义 (idealism). \r\n\r\nThe title of this speech is: 爱我中华\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxuewunianjizuowen/2011-08-18/1313632636230846.html\">You can find the original here</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>爱我中华</h4>\r\n有两句话“生我者父母，养我者<strong>祖国</strong>．“ “国家国家，有国才有家．“ 我爱我的祖国，胜过爱我的一切！\r\n\r\n每当阅读起爱国书籍，看到<strong>詹天佑</strong>，<strong>钱学森</strong>等这样<strong>爱祖国</strong>的人，放弃好的<strong>待遇</strong>，放弃好的<strong>前程</strong>，就是给那些瞧不起中国的<strong>帝国主义者</strong>一个有力的<strong>回击</strong>，他们用行动大声的说:“ 祖国，我爱您！“\r\n\r\n每当看起爱国电影，看着英雄战士上<strong>战场</strong>为祖国，<strong>抛</strong>头颅，撒热血保卫<strong>边疆</strong>．一次次<strong>硝烟</strong>过去，战场上<strong>尸横遍野</strong>，那些快要死了的战士好象在说: “ 祖国，你永远在我心中！“ \r\n\r\n每当在<strong>荧屏</strong>上中国的奥运<strong>健儿</strong> 在比赛中<strong>夺得冠军</strong>时他们总是露着灿烂的笑容，身为祖国儿女的他们感到无比的自豪．升国旗时，他们流出滚滚热泪，望着五星红旗，心中在呼唤: “ 祖国，我为您<strong>争光</strong>了！“  \r\n\r\n我们不能像勇士那样血撒战场，不能像伟人一样建设祖国．．．．．．我们现在应该好好学习，用智慧和知识<strong>武装</strong>自己长大以后<strong>报效</strong>祖国，大家要像周总理那样，为中华之崛起而读书！\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\nThere are two sayings, \"My mother and father birthed me, my country raised me.\" And \"Country, country, you must have a country before you have a home.\" I love my motherland, it surpasses everything that I love! \r\n\r\nOn every patriotic work, we see Zhan TianYou, Qian XueSen, and similar patriots, who gave up good pay, gave up good career prospects, to forcefully fight back against the imperialists who looked down on China. They used their actions to say loudly, \"Motherland, I love you!\" \r\n\r\nIn every patriotic movie, we see heroic soldiers who lost their heads and sprinkled their blood on the battlefields for their motherland to defend our borders, and when the gun smoke cleared, the battlefields were littered with corpses. It\'s as if those soldiers who were about to die said, \"Motherland, you are forever in my heart!\"  \r\n\r\nEvery Chinese Olympic athlete on the TV screen who seizes the championship in a competition is always smiling brilliantly, as sons and daughters of the motherland, they feel matchless pride. When our flag is raised, hot tears roll down their cheeks as they gaze at the five-starred red flag, in their hearts they are shouting: \"Motherland, I won this honor for you!\" \r\n\r\nWe can\'t cast our blood on the battlefield like those warriors, we can\'t build the motherland as the great men did... right now we must study well, use our wisdom and knowledge to arm ourselves so that after we grow up we can return with our service the kindness our motherland has done us, we should be like Premier Zhou [Zhou EnLai], read books so that China may rise up! \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Love Our China: A Patriotic Speech', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '948-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:45:25', '2020-04-20 09:45:25', '', 948, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/948-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(949, 1, '2011-11-29 20:49:52', '2011-11-30 01:49:52', '[two_third]\nWelp, you can\'t get more forcefully patriotic than this. This transcript of a student\'s speech includes rousing images of soldiers, strong Chinese athletes and Chinese workers throwing off the yoke of imperialist dogma. This is probably mid-upper intermediate. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n作业 - [pinyin]zuo4 ye4[/pinyin] - Homework\n早饭 - [pinyin]zao3 fan4[/pinyin] - Breakfast\n带 - [pinyin]dai4[/pinyin] - To take (someone) to do (something)\n溜冰 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1[/pinyin] - Ice skating\n溜冰场 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 chang2[/pinyin] - Ice skating rink\n溜冰鞋 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 xie2[/pinyin] - Ice skates\n摔倒 - [pinyin]shuai1 dao3[/pinyin] - To fall down\n扶 - [pinyin]fu2[/pinyin] - Help someone up, to support with one\'s hand\n连声 - [pinyin]lian2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Say repeatedly, say over and over\n互相 - [pinyin]hu4 xiang1[/pinyin] - Each other, mutually\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n早上，我把<strong>作业</strong>写好了，妈妈起来了，我对妈妈说: “妈妈，我把作业都做好了。”吃过<strong>早饭</strong>后，妈妈<strong>带</strong>我去<strong>溜冰</strong>。到了<strong>溜冰场</strong>，我穿好<strong>溜冰鞋</strong>，开始溜冰了。溜冰的时候，我一不小心<strong>摔倒</strong>了，井寒把我<strong>扶</strong>起来了，我<strong>连声</strong>说: “谢谢你，周井寒。”周井寒摔倒了，我也把他扶起来。　　\n\n今天，你帮我，我帮你，我们<strong>互相</strong>帮助，我们真快乐啊！　　\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn the morning, I finished my homework, and [when] mother got up, I said to her: \"Mama, I finished all my homework.\" After we ate breakfast, mama took me ice skating. When we got to the ice rink, I put on my ice skates and began ice skating. When I was ice skating, I wasn\'t being careful and fell down, and Jing Han helped me back up, I repeatedly said: \"Thank you, Zhou Jing Han.\" Zhou Jing Han fell down, and I also helped him up.  \n\nToday, you help me, I help you, we help each other, we\'re so happy! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'I love my China: A Patriotic Speech', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '948-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 20:49:52', '2011-11-30 01:49:52', '', 948, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/948-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(950, 1, '2011-11-29 21:22:32', '2011-11-30 02:22:32', '[two_third]\nWelp, you can\'t get more forcefully patriotic than this. This transcript of a student\'s classroom speech reads like a political essay and includes rousing images of soldiers, strong Chinese athletes and Chinese workers throwing off the yoke of imperialist might. This is probably upper intermediate level reading, but I\'m classifying it as advanced, as the sentence structure really isn\'t very straightforward, and there are quite a few new words. <!--more-->\n\nThere\'s a saying in the third paragraph that makes no sense in English, only in Chinese. The saying is: \'国家国家，有国才有家\'. This translates to \"Country, country, country first, then home.\" Doesn\'t mean much, does it? But we must examine the structure of the sentence to see that this is actually a play on words. The word for \"country\" is 国家.  国, by itself, means \"country\" or \"kingdom\". 家, by itself, means \"home\" or \"family\". Put them together, and you get the complete, proper word for \"country\". So the author is first saying the word \"country\" twice (国家国家), then the second part means \"the word country is made up first of the character for country, THEN then character for \'home\'\", in other words, \"you must have a country before you can have a home or family\". This seems to also insinuate that \"country should come before family\".\n\nThe title of this speech is: 爱我中华\n\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxuewunianjizuowen/2011-08-18/1313632636230846.html\">You can find the original here</a>\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n詹天佑 - [pinyin]zhan1 tian1 you4[/pinyin] - Railroad engineer who constructed the first Chinese railroad built without foreign assistance\n钱学森 - [pinyin]qian2 xue2 sen1[/pinyin] - Engineer, considered the father of Chinese rocketry\n带 - [pinyin]dai4[/pinyin] - To take (someone) to do (something)\n溜冰 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1[/pinyin] - Ice skating\n溜冰场 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 chang2[/pinyin] - Ice skating rink\n溜冰鞋 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 xie2[/pinyin] - Ice skates\n摔倒 - [pinyin]shuai1 dao3[/pinyin] - To fall down\n扶 - [pinyin]fu2[/pinyin] - Help someone up, to support with one\'s hand\n连声 - [pinyin]lian2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Say repeatedly, say over and over\n互相 - [pinyin]hu4 xiang1[/pinyin] - Each other, mutually\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n敬爱的老师，亲爱的同学们: 大家好！\n\n今天我演讲的题目是“爱我中华“\n\n有两句话“生我者父母，养我者祖国．“ “国家国家，有国才有家．“ 我爱我的祖国，胜过爱我的一切！\n\n每当阅读起爱国书籍，看到<strong>詹天佑</strong>，<strong>钱学森</strong>等这样爱祖国的人，放弃好的待遇，放弃好的前程，就是给那些瞧不起中国的帝国主义者一个有力的回击，他们用行动大声的说:“ 祖国，我爱您！“\n\n每当看起爱国电影，看着英雄战士上战场为祖国，抛头颅，撒热血保卫边疆．一次次硝烟过去，战场上尸横遍野，那些快要死了的战士好象在说: “ 祖国，你永远在我心中！“ \n\n每当在荧屏上中国的奥运健儿 在比赛中夺得冠军时他们总是露着灿烂的笑容，身为祖国儿女的他们感到无比的自豪．升国旗时，他们流出滚滚热泪，望着五星红旗，心中在呼唤: “ 祖国，我为您争光了！“  \n\n我们不能像勇士那样血撒战场，不能像伟人一样建设祖国．．．．．．我们现在应该好好学习，用智慧和知识武装自己长大以后报效祖国，大家要像周总理那样，为中华之崛起而读书！做一个有志向的人.\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nRespected teacher, dear classmates, hello! \n\nThe topic of my speech today is \"Love Our China\".\n\nThere are two sayings, \"My mother and father birthed me, my country raised me.\" And \"Country, country, you must have a country before you have a home.\" I love my motherland, it surpasses everything that I love! \n\nOn every patriotic work, we see Zhan TianYou, Qian XueSen, and similar patriots, who gave up good pay, gave up good career prospects, to forcefully fight back against the imperialist countries who looked down on China. They used their actions to say loudly, \"Motherland, I love you!\" \n\nIn every patriotic movie, we see heroic soldiers who lose their heads and sprinkled their blood on the battlefields for their motherlands to defend our borders, and when the gun smoke cleared, the battlefields were littered with corpses. It\'s as if those soldiers w  每当看起爱国电影，看着英雄战士上战场为祖国，抛头颅，撒热血保卫边疆．一次次硝烟过去，战场上尸横遍野，那些快要死了的战士好象在说: “ 祖国，你永远在我心中！“ \n\n每当在荧屏上中国的奥运健儿 在比赛中夺得冠军时他们总是露着灿烂的笑容，身为祖国儿女的他们感到无比的自豪．升国旗时，他们流出滚滚热泪，望着五星红旗，心中在呼唤: “ 祖国，我为您争光了！“  \n\n我们不能像勇士那样血撒战场，不能像伟人一样建设祖国．．．．．．我们现在应该好好学习，用智慧和知识武装自己长大以后报效祖国，大家要像周总理那样，为中华之崛起而读书！做一个有志向的人.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Love Our China: A Patriotic Speech', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '948-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 21:22:32', '2011-11-30 02:22:32', '', 948, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/948-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(951, 1, '2011-11-29 21:27:03', '2011-11-30 02:27:03', '[two_third]\nWelp, you can\'t get more forcefully patriotic than this. This transcript of a student\'s classroom speech reads like a political essay and includes rousing images of soldiers, strong Chinese athletes and Chinese workers throwing off the yoke of imperialist might. This is probably upper intermediate level reading, but I\'m classifying it as advanced, as the sentence structure really isn\'t very straightforward, and there are quite a few new words. <!--more-->\n\nThere\'s a saying in the third paragraph that makes no sense in English, only in Chinese. The saying is: \'国家国家，有国才有家\'. This translates to \"Country, country, country first, then home.\" Doesn\'t mean much, does it? But we must examine the structure of the sentence to see that this is actually a play on words. The word for \"country\" is 国家.  国, by itself, means \"country\" or \"kingdom\". 家, by itself, means \"home\" or \"family\". Put them together, and you get the complete, proper word for \"country\". So the author is first saying the word \"country\" twice (国家国家), then the second part means \"the word country is made up first of the character for country, THEN then character for \'home\'\", in other words, \"you must have a country before you can have a home or family\". This seems to also insinuate that \"country should come before family\".\n\nThe title of this speech is: 爱我中华\n\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxuewunianjizuowen/2011-08-18/1313632636230846.html\">You can find the original here</a>\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n詹天佑 - [pinyin]zhan1 tian1 you4[/pinyin] - Railroad engineer who constructed the first Chinese railroad built without foreign assistance\n钱学森 - [pinyin]qian2 xue2 sen1[/pinyin] - Engineer, considered the father of Chinese rocketry\n带 - [pinyin]dai4[/pinyin] - To take (someone) to do (something)\n溜冰 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1[/pinyin] - Ice skating\n溜冰场 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 chang2[/pinyin] - Ice skating rink\n溜冰鞋 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 xie2[/pinyin] - Ice skates\n摔倒 - [pinyin]shuai1 dao3[/pinyin] - To fall down\n扶 - [pinyin]fu2[/pinyin] - Help someone up, to support with one\'s hand\n连声 - [pinyin]lian2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Say repeatedly, say over and over\n互相 - [pinyin]hu4 xiang1[/pinyin] - Each other, mutually\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n敬爱的老师，亲爱的同学们: 大家好！\n\n今天我演讲的题目是“爱我中华“\n\n有两句话“生我者父母，养我者祖国．“ “国家国家，有国才有家．“ 我爱我的祖国，胜过爱我的一切！\n\n每当阅读起爱国书籍，看到<strong>詹天佑</strong>，<strong>钱学森</strong>等这样爱祖国的人，放弃好的待遇，放弃好的前程，就是给那些瞧不起中国的帝国主义者一个有力的回击，他们用行动大声的说:“ 祖国，我爱您！“\n\n每当看起爱国电影，看着英雄战士上战场为祖国，抛头颅，撒热血保卫边疆．一次次硝烟过去，战场上尸横遍野，那些快要死了的战士好象在说: “ 祖国，你永远在我心中！“ \n\n每当在荧屏上中国的奥运健儿 在比赛中夺得冠军时他们总是露着灿烂的笑容，身为祖国儿女的他们感到无比的自豪．升国旗时，他们流出滚滚热泪，望着五星红旗，心中在呼唤: “ 祖国，我为您争光了！“  \n\n我们不能像勇士那样血撒战场，不能像伟人一样建设祖国．．．．．．我们现在应该好好学习，用智慧和知识武装自己长大以后报效祖国，大家要像周总理那样，为中华之崛起而读书！做一个有志向的人.\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nRespected teacher, dear classmates, hello! \n\nThe topic of my speech today is \"Love Our China\".\n\nThere are two sayings, \"My mother and father birthed me, my country raised me.\" And \"Country, country, you must have a country before you have a home.\" I love my motherland, it surpasses everything that I love! \n\nOn every patriotic work, we see Zhan TianYou, Qian XueSen, and similar patriots, who gave up good pay, gave up good career prospects, to forcefully fight back against the imperialist countries who looked down on China. They used their actions to say loudly, \"Motherland, I love you!\" \n\nIn every patriotic movie, we see heroic soldiers who lost their heads and sprinkled their blood on the battlefields for their motherland to defend our borders, and when the gun smoke cleared, the battlefields were littered with corpses. It\'s as if those soldiers who were about to die said, \"Motherland, you are forever in my heart!\"  \n\nEvery Chinese Olympic athlete on the TV screen who seizes the championship in a competition is always smiling brilliantly, as sons and daughters of the motherland, they feel matchless pride. When our flag is raised, hot tears roll down their cheeks as they gaze at the five-starred red  ，身为祖国儿女的他们感到无比的自豪．升国旗时，他们流出滚滚热泪，望着五星红旗，心中在呼唤: “ 祖国，我为您争光了！“  \n\n我们不能像勇士那样血撒战场，不能像伟人一样建设祖国．．．．．．我们现在应该好好学习，用智慧和知识武装自己长大以后报效祖国，大家要像周总理那样，为中华之崛起而读书！做一个有志向的人.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Love Our China: A Patriotic Speech', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '948-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 21:27:03', '2011-11-30 02:27:03', '', 948, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/948-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(952, 1, '2011-11-29 21:43:52', '2011-11-30 02:43:52', '[two_third]\nWelp, you can\'t get more forcefully patriotic than this. This transcript of a student\'s classroom speech reads like a political call-to-action and includes rousing images of bloody soldiers, strong Chinese athletes and Chinese workers throwing off the yoke of imperialist might. This is probably upper intermediate level reading, but I\'m classifying it as advanced, as the sentence structure really isn\'t very straightforward, and there are quite a few new words. <!--more-->\n\nThere\'s a saying in the third paragraph that makes no sense in English, only in Chinese. The saying is: \'国家国家，有国才有家\'. This translates to \"Country, country, country first, then home.\" Doesn\'t mean much, does it? But we must examine the structure of the sentence to see that this is actually a play on words. The word for \"country\" is 国家.  国, by itself, means \"country\" or \"kingdom\". 家, by itself, means \"home\" or \"family\". Put them together, and you get the complete, proper word for \"country\". So the author is first saying the word \"country\" twice (国家国家), then the second part means \"the word country is made up first of the character for country, THEN then character for \'home\'\", in other words, \"you must have a country before you can have a home or family\". This seems to also insinuate that \"country should come before family\".\n\nIf you remember no other word in this whole essay, remember this one: 祖国 [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin]. Look at it: 祖国 祖国 祖国 祖国. It means \"motherland\", and once you know it, you will see it everywhere. \n\nThe title of this speech is: 爱我中华\n\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxuewunianjizuowen/2011-08-18/1313632636230846.html\">You can find the original here</a>\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n祖国 - [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Motherland\n詹天佑 - [pinyin]zhan1 tian1 you4[/pinyin] - Railroad engineer who constructed the first Chinese railroad built without foreign assistance\n钱学森 - [pinyin]qian2 xue2 sen1[/pinyin] - Engineer, considered the father of Chinese rocketry\n爱祖国 (also 爱国) - [pinyin]ai4 zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Love the motherland, a patriot\n待遇 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1[/pinyin] - Ice skating\n前程 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 chang2[/pinyin] - Ice skating rink\n帝国主义者 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 xie2[/pinyin] - Ice skates\n回击 - [pinyin]shuai1 dao3[/pinyin] - To fall down\n战场 - [pinyin]fu2[/pinyin] - Help someone up, to support with one\'s hand\n抛 - [pinyin]lian2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Say repeatedly, say over and over\n边疆 - [pinyin]hu4 xiang1[/pinyin] - Each other, mutually\n硝烟\n尸横遍野\n荧屏\n健儿\n夺得\n冠军\n争光\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n敬爱的老师，亲爱的同学们: 大家好！\n\n今天我演讲的题目是“爱我中华“\n\n有两句话“生我者父母，养我者<strong>祖国</strong>．“ “国家国家，有国才有家．“ 我爱我的祖国，胜过爱我的一切！\n\n每当阅读起爱国书籍，看到<strong>詹天佑</strong>，<strong>钱学森</strong>等这样<strong>爱祖国</strong>的人，放弃好的<strong>待遇</strong>，放弃好的<strong>前程</strong>，就是给那些瞧不起中国的<strong>帝国主义者</strong>一个有力的<strong>回击</strong>，他们用行动大声的说:“ 祖国，我爱您！“\n\n每当看起爱国电影，看着英雄战士上<strong>战场</strong>为祖国，<strong>抛</strong>头颅，撒热血保卫<strong>边疆</strong>．一次次<strong>硝烟</strong>过去，战场上<strong>尸横遍野</strong>，那些快要死了的战士好象在说: “ 祖国，你永远在我心中！“ \n\n每当在<strong>荧屏</strong>上中国的奥运<strong>健儿</strong> 在比赛中<strong>夺得冠军</strong>时他们总是露着灿烂的笑容，身为祖国儿女的他们感到无比的自豪．升国旗时，他们流出滚滚热泪，望着五星红旗，心中在呼唤: “ 祖国，我为您<strong>争光</strong>了！“  \n\n我们不能像勇士那样血撒战场，不能像伟人一样建设祖国．．．．．．我们现在应该好好学习，用智慧和知识武装自己长大以后报效祖国，大家要像周总理那样，为中华之崛起而读书！做一个有志向的人.\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nRespected teacher, dear classmates, hello! \n\nThe topic of my speech today is \"Love Our China\".\n\nThere are two sayings, \"My mother and father birthed me, my country raised me.\" And \"Country, country, you must have a country before you have a home.\" I love my motherland, it surpasses everything that I love! \n\nOn every patriotic work, we see Zhan TianYou, Qian XueSen, and similar patriots, who gave up good pay, gave up good career prospects, to forcefully fight back against the imperialists who looked down on China. They used their actions to say loudly, \"Motherland, I love you!\" \n\nIn every patriotic movie, we see heroic soldiers who lost their heads and sprinkled their blood on the battlefields for their motherland to defend our borders, and when the gun smoke cleared, the battlefields were littered with corpses. It\'s as if those soldiers who were about to die said, \"Motherland, you are forever in my heart!\"  \n\nEvery Chinese Olympic athlete on the TV screen who seizes the championship in a competition is always smiling brilliantly, as sons and daughters of the motherland, they feel matchless pride. When our flag is raised, hot tears roll down their cheeks as they gaze at the five-starred red flag, in their hearts they are shouting: \"Motherland, I won this honor for you!\" \n\nWe can\'t cast our blood on the battlefield like those warriors, we can\'t build the motherland as the great men did... right now we must study well, use our wisdom and knowledge to arm ourselves so that after we grow up we can return with our service the kindness our motherland has done us, we should be like Premier Zhou [Zhou EnLai], read books so that China may rise up! Be an ambitious person.  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Love Our China: A Patriotic Speech', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '948-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 21:43:52', '2011-11-30 02:43:52', '', 948, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/948-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(953, 1, '2011-11-29 21:44:48', '2011-11-30 02:44:48', '[two_third]\r\nWelp, you can\'t get more forcefully patriotic than this. This transcript of a student\'s classroom speech reads like a political call-to-action and includes rousing images of bloody soldiers, strong Chinese athletes and Chinese workers throwing off the yoke of imperialist might. This might be upper intermediate level reading, but I\'m classifying it as advanced, as the sentence structure really isn\'t very straightforward, and there are quite a few new words. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThere\'s a saying in the third paragraph that makes no sense in English, only in Chinese. The saying is: \'国家国家，有国才有家\'. This translates to \"Country, country, country first, then home.\" Doesn\'t mean much, does it? But we must examine the structure of the sentence to see that this is actually a play on words. The word for \"country\" is 国家.  国, by itself, means \"country\" or \"kingdom\". 家, by itself, means \"home\" or \"family\". Put them together, and you get the complete, proper word for \"country\". So the author is first saying the word \"country\" twice (国家国家), then the second part means \"the word country is made up first of the character for country, THEN then character for \'home\'\", in other words, \"you must have a country before you can have a home or family\". This seems to also insinuate that \"country should come before family\".\r\n\r\nIf you remember no other word in this whole essay, remember this one: 祖国 [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin]. Look at it: 祖国 祖国 祖国 祖国. It means \"motherland\", and once you know it, you will see it everywhere. \r\n\r\nThe title of this speech is: 爱我中华\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxuewunianjizuowen/2011-08-18/1313632636230846.html\">You can find the original here</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祖国 - [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Motherland\r\n詹天佑 - [pinyin]zhan1 tian1 you4[/pinyin] - Railroad engineer who constructed the first Chinese railroad built without foreign assistance\r\n钱学森 - [pinyin]qian2 xue2 sen1[/pinyin] - Engineer, considered the father of Chinese rocketry\r\n爱祖国 (also 爱国) - [pinyin]ai4 zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Love the motherland, a patriot\r\n待遇 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1[/pinyin] - Ice skating\r\n前程 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 chang2[/pinyin] - Ice skating rink\r\n帝国主义者 - [pinyin]liu1 bing1 xie2[/pinyin] - Ice skates\r\n回击 - [pinyin]shuai1 dao3[/pinyin] - To fall down\r\n战场 - [pinyin]fu2[/pinyin] - Help someone up, to support with one\'s hand\r\n抛 - [pinyin]lian2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Say repeatedly, say over and over\r\n边疆 - [pinyin]hu4 xiang1[/pinyin] - Each other, mutually\r\n硝烟\r\n尸横遍野\r\n荧屏\r\n健儿\r\n夺得\r\n冠军\r\n争光\r\n武装\r\n报效\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敬爱的老师，亲爱的同学们: 大家好！\r\n\r\n今天我演讲的题目是“爱我中华“\r\n\r\n有两句话“生我者父母，养我者<strong>祖国</strong>．“ “国家国家，有国才有家．“ 我爱我的祖国，胜过爱我的一切！\r\n\r\n每当阅读起爱国书籍，看到<strong>詹天佑</strong>，<strong>钱学森</strong>等这样<strong>爱祖国</strong>的人，放弃好的<strong>待遇</strong>，放弃好的<strong>前程</strong>，就是给那些瞧不起中国的<strong>帝国主义者</strong>一个有力的<strong>回击</strong>，他们用行动大声的说:“ 祖国，我爱您！“\r\n\r\n每当看起爱国电影，看着英雄战士上<strong>战场</strong>为祖国，<strong>抛</strong>头颅，撒热血保卫<strong>边疆</strong>．一次次<strong>硝烟</strong>过去，战场上<strong>尸横遍野</strong>，那些快要死了的战士好象在说: “ 祖国，你永远在我心中！“ \r\n\r\n每当在<strong>荧屏</strong>上中国的奥运<strong>健儿</strong> 在比赛中<strong>夺得冠军</strong>时他们总是露着灿烂的笑容，身为祖国儿女的他们感到无比的自豪．升国旗时，他们流出滚滚热泪，望着五星红旗，心中在呼唤: “ 祖国，我为您<strong>争光</strong>了！“  \r\n\r\n我们不能像勇士那样血撒战场，不能像伟人一样建设祖国．．．．．．我们现在应该好好学习，用智慧和知识<strong>武装</strong>自己长大以后<strong>报效</strong>祖国，大家要像周总理那样，为中华之崛起而读书！做一个有志向的人.\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nRespected teacher, dear classmates, hello! \r\n\r\nThe topic of my speech today is \"Love Our China\".\r\n\r\nThere are two sayings, \"My mother and father birthed me, my country raised me.\" And \"Country, country, you must have a country before you have a home.\" I love my motherland, it surpasses everything that I love! \r\n\r\nOn every patriotic work, we see Zhan TianYou, Qian XueSen, and similar patriots, who gave up good pay, gave up good career prospects, to forcefully fight back against the imperialists who looked down on China. They used their actions to say loudly, \"Motherland, I love you!\" \r\n\r\nIn every patriotic movie, we see heroic soldiers who lost their heads and sprinkled their blood on the battlefields for their motherland to defend our borders, and when the gun smoke cleared, the battlefields were littered with corpses. It\'s as if those soldiers who were about to die said, \"Motherland, you are forever in my heart!\"  \r\n\r\nEvery Chinese Olympic athlete on the TV screen who seizes the championship in a competition is always smiling brilliantly, as sons and daughters of the motherland, they feel matchless pride. When our flag is raised, hot tears roll down their cheeks as they gaze at the five-starred red flag, in their hearts they are shouting: \"Motherland, I won this honor for you!\" \r\n\r\nWe can\'t cast our blood on the battlefield like those warriors, we can\'t build the motherland as the great men did... right now we must study well, use our wisdom and knowledge to arm ourselves so that after we grow up we can return with our service the kindness our motherland has done us, we should be like Premier Zhou [Zhou EnLai], read books so that China may rise up! Be an ambitious person.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Love Our China: A Patriotic Speech', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '948-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 21:44:48', '2011-11-30 02:44:48', '', 948, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/948-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(954, 1, '2011-11-29 21:50:45', '2011-11-30 02:50:45', '[two_third]\r\nWelp, you can\'t get more forcefully patriotic than this. This transcript of a student\'s classroom speech reads like a political call-to-action and includes rousing images of bloody soldiers, strong Chinese athletes and Chinese workers throwing off the yoke of imperialist might. This might be upper intermediate level reading, but I\'m classifying it as advanced, as the sentence structure really isn\'t very straightforward, and there are quite a few new words. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThere\'s a saying in the third paragraph that makes no sense in English, only in Chinese. The saying is: \'国家国家，有国才有家\'. This translates to \"Country, country, country first, then home.\" Doesn\'t mean much, does it? But we must examine the structure of the sentence to see that this is actually a play on words. The word for \"country\" is 国家.  国, by itself, means \"country\" or \"kingdom\". 家, by itself, means \"home\" or \"family\". Put them together, and you get the complete, proper word for \"country\". So the author is first saying the word \"country\" twice (国家国家), then the second part means \"the word country is made up first of the character for country, THEN then character for \'home\'\", in other words, \"you must have a country before you can have a home or family\". This seems to also insinuate that \"country should come before family\".\r\n\r\nIf you remember no other word in this whole essay, remember this one: 祖国 [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin]. Look at it: 祖国 祖国 祖国 祖国. It means \"motherland\", and once you know it, you will see it everywhere. \r\n\r\nThe title of this speech is: 爱我中华\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxuewunianjizuowen/2011-08-18/1313632636230846.html\">You can find the original here</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祖国 - [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Motherland\r\n詹天佑 - [pinyin]zhan1 tian1 you4[/pinyin] - Railroad engineer who constructed the first Chinese railroad built without foreign assistance\r\n钱学森 - [pinyin]qian2 xue2 sen1[/pinyin] - Engineer, considered the father of Chinese rocketry\r\n爱祖国 (also 爱国) - [pinyin]ai4 zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Love the motherland, a patriot\r\n待遇 - [pinyin]dai4 yu4[/pinyin] - Treatment, pay, wages\r\n前程 - [pinyin]qian2 cheng2[/pinyin] - Future career prospects\r\n帝国主义者 - [pinyin]di4 guo2 zhu3 yi4 zhe3[/pinyin] - Imperialist\r\n回击 - [pinyin]hui2 ji1[/pinyin] - Counterattack\r\n战场 - [pinyin]zhan4 chang3[/pinyin] - Battlefield\r\n抛 - [pinyin]pao1[/pinyin] - Toss, throw away, abandon\r\n边疆 - [pinyin]bian1 jiang1[/pinyin] - Borders, borderlands\r\n硝烟 - [pinyin]xiao1 yan1[/pinyin] - Gun smoke\r\n尸横遍野 - [pinyin]shi1 heng2 bian4 ye3[/pinyin] - Corpses strewn over a plain\r\n荧屏 - [pinyin]ying2 ping2[/pinyin] - TV screen\r\n健儿 - [pinyin]jian4 er2[/pinyin] - Meaning both \'top athlete\' and \'heroic warrior\'\r\n夺得 - [pinyin]duo2 de2[/pinyin] - Seize by force\r\n冠军 - [pinyin]guan4 jun1[/pinyin] - Champion\r\n争光 - [pinyin]zheng1 guang1[/pinyin] - Win a prize, win an honor\r\n武装 - [pinyin]wu3 zhuang1[/pinyin] - To arm (someone)\r\n报效 - [pinyin]bao4 xiao4[/pinyin] - Return a kindness by doing a service\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敬爱的老师，亲爱的同学们: 大家好！\r\n\r\n今天我演讲的题目是“爱我中华“\r\n\r\n有两句话“生我者父母，养我者<strong>祖国</strong>．“ “国家国家，有国才有家．“ 我爱我的祖国，胜过爱我的一切！\r\n\r\n每当阅读起爱国书籍，看到<strong>詹天佑</strong>，<strong>钱学森</strong>等这样<strong>爱祖国</strong>的人，放弃好的<strong>待遇</strong>，放弃好的<strong>前程</strong>，就是给那些瞧不起中国的<strong>帝国主义者</strong>一个有力的<strong>回击</strong>，他们用行动大声的说:“ 祖国，我爱您！“\r\n\r\n每当看起爱国电影，看着英雄战士上<strong>战场</strong>为祖国，<strong>抛</strong>头颅，撒热血保卫<strong>边疆</strong>．一次次<strong>硝烟</strong>过去，战场上<strong>尸横遍野</strong>，那些快要死了的战士好象在说: “ 祖国，你永远在我心中！“ \r\n\r\n每当在<strong>荧屏</strong>上中国的奥运<strong>健儿</strong> 在比赛中<strong>夺得冠军</strong>时他们总是露着灿烂的笑容，身为祖国儿女的他们感到无比的自豪．升国旗时，他们流出滚滚热泪，望着五星红旗，心中在呼唤: “ 祖国，我为您<strong>争光</strong>了！“  \r\n\r\n我们不能像勇士那样血撒战场，不能像伟人一样建设祖国．．．．．．我们现在应该好好学习，用智慧和知识<strong>武装</strong>自己长大以后<strong>报效</strong>祖国，大家要像周总理那样，为中华之崛起而读书！做一个有志向的人.\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nRespected teacher, dear classmates, hello! \r\n\r\nThe topic of my speech today is \"Love Our China\".\r\n\r\nThere are two sayings, \"My mother and father birthed me, my country raised me.\" And \"Country, country, you must have a country before you have a home.\" I love my motherland, it surpasses everything that I love! \r\n\r\nOn every patriotic work, we see Zhan TianYou, Qian XueSen, and similar patriots, who gave up good pay, gave up good career prospects, to forcefully fight back against the imperialists who looked down on China. They used their actions to say loudly, \"Motherland, I love you!\" \r\n\r\nIn every patriotic movie, we see heroic soldiers who lost their heads and sprinkled their blood on the battlefields for their motherland to defend our borders, and when the gun smoke cleared, the battlefields were littered with corpses. It\'s as if those soldiers who were about to die said, \"Motherland, you are forever in my heart!\"  \r\n\r\nEvery Chinese Olympic athlete on the TV screen who seizes the championship in a competition is always smiling brilliantly, as sons and daughters of the motherland, they feel matchless pride. When our flag is raised, hot tears roll down their cheeks as they gaze at the five-starred red flag, in their hearts they are shouting: \"Motherland, I won this honor for you!\" \r\n\r\nWe can\'t cast our blood on the battlefield like those warriors, we can\'t build the motherland as the great men did... right now we must study well, use our wisdom and knowledge to arm ourselves so that after we grow up we can return with our service the kindness our motherland has done us, we should be like Premier Zhou [Zhou EnLai], read books so that China may rise up! Be an ambitious person.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Love Our China: A Patriotic Speech', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '948-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 21:50:45', '2011-11-30 02:50:45', '', 948, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/948-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(955, 1, '2011-11-29 22:00:24', '2011-11-30 03:00:24', '', 'Chinese Practice Texts - Advanced Chinese Patriotic Speech ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20111228', '', '', '2011-11-29 22:00:24', '2011-11-30 03:00:24', '', 948, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/20111228.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(956, 1, '2011-11-29 22:01:13', '2011-11-30 03:01:13', '', 'Simplified Chinese Practice Texts - Patriotic Chinese Communist Speech', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20111228-inline', '', '', '2011-11-29 22:01:13', '2011-11-30 03:01:13', '', 948, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/20111228-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(957, 1, '2011-11-29 21:55:03', '2011-11-30 02:55:03', '[two_third]\r\nWelp, you can\'t get more forcefully patriotic than this. This transcript of a student\'s classroom speech reads like a political call-to-action and includes rousing images of bloody soldiers, strong Chinese athletes and Chinese workers throwing off the yoke of imperialist might. This might be upper intermediate level reading, but I\'m classifying it as advanced, as the sentence structure really isn\'t very straightforward, and there are quite a few new words. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThere\'s a saying in the third paragraph that makes no sense in English, only in Chinese. The saying is: \'国家国家，有国才有家\'. This translates to \"Country, country, country first, then home.\" Doesn\'t mean much, does it? But we must examine the structure of the sentence to see that this is actually a play on words. The word for \"country\" is 国家.  国, by itself, means \"country\" or \"kingdom\". 家, by itself, means \"home\" or \"family\". Put them together, and you get the complete, proper word for \"country\". So the author is first saying the word \"country\" twice (国家国家), then the second part means \"the word country is made up first of the character for country, THEN then character for \'home\'\", in other words, \"you must have a country before you can have a home or family\". This seems to also insinuate that \"country should come before family\".\r\n\r\nIf you remember no other word in this whole essay, remember this one: 祖国 [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin]. Look at it: 祖国 祖国 祖国 祖国. It means \"motherland\", and once you know it, you will see it everywhere. \r\n\r\nAnother interesting word here is 帝国主义者, which means \"imperialist\". If you ever have plans to use your Chinese skills to read old Maoist textbooks, you\'d better remember that one as well. It also contains a useful grammar point: 主义者 is equivalent to the English suffix \"ist\", as in \"imperial-ist\". 主义, without 者, is equivalent to the \"ism\". So 帝国主义 is \"imperialism\". This can be applied to other words, such as 女权主义者 (feminist) and 女权主义 (feminism), and 理想主义者 (idealist) and 理想主义 (idealism). \r\n\r\nThe title of this speech is: 爱我中华\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxuewunianjizuowen/2011-08-18/1313632636230846.html\">You can find the original here</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祖国 - [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Motherland\r\n詹天佑 - [pinyin]zhan1 tian1 you4[/pinyin] - Railroad engineer who constructed the first Chinese railroad built without foreign assistance\r\n钱学森 - [pinyin]qian2 xue2 sen1[/pinyin] - Engineer, considered the father of Chinese rocketry\r\n爱祖国 (also 爱国) - [pinyin]ai4 zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Love the motherland, a patriot\r\n待遇 - [pinyin]dai4 yu4[/pinyin] - Treatment, pay, wages\r\n前程 - [pinyin]qian2 cheng2[/pinyin] - Future career prospects\r\n帝国主义者 - [pinyin]di4 guo2 zhu3 yi4 zhe3[/pinyin] - Imperialist\r\n回击 - [pinyin]hui2 ji1[/pinyin] - Counterattack\r\n战场 - [pinyin]zhan4 chang3[/pinyin] - Battlefield\r\n抛 - [pinyin]pao1[/pinyin] - Toss, throw away, abandon\r\n边疆 - [pinyin]bian1 jiang1[/pinyin] - Borders, borderlands\r\n硝烟 - [pinyin]xiao1 yan1[/pinyin] - Gun smoke\r\n尸横遍野 - [pinyin]shi1 heng2 bian4 ye3[/pinyin] - Corpses strewn over a plain\r\n荧屏 - [pinyin]ying2 ping2[/pinyin] - TV screen\r\n健儿 - [pinyin]jian4 er2[/pinyin] - Meaning both \'top athlete\' and \'heroic warrior\'\r\n夺得 - [pinyin]duo2 de2[/pinyin] - Seize by force\r\n冠军 - [pinyin]guan4 jun1[/pinyin] - Champion\r\n争光 - [pinyin]zheng1 guang1[/pinyin] - Win a prize, win an honor\r\n武装 - [pinyin]wu3 zhuang1[/pinyin] - To arm (someone)\r\n报效 - [pinyin]bao4 xiao4[/pinyin] - Return a kindness by doing a service\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敬爱的老师，亲爱的同学们: 大家好！\r\n\r\n今天我演讲的题目是“爱我中华“\r\n\r\n有两句话“生我者父母，养我者<strong>祖国</strong>．“ “国家国家，有国才有家．“ 我爱我的祖国，胜过爱我的一切！\r\n\r\n每当阅读起爱国书籍，看到<strong>詹天佑</strong>，<strong>钱学森</strong>等这样<strong>爱祖国</strong>的人，放弃好的<strong>待遇</strong>，放弃好的<strong>前程</strong>，就是给那些瞧不起中国的<strong>帝国主义者</strong>一个有力的<strong>回击</strong>，他们用行动大声的说:“ 祖国，我爱您！“\r\n\r\n每当看起爱国电影，看着英雄战士上<strong>战场</strong>为祖国，<strong>抛</strong>头颅，撒热血保卫<strong>边疆</strong>．一次次<strong>硝烟</strong>过去，战场上<strong>尸横遍野</strong>，那些快要死了的战士好象在说: “ 祖国，你永远在我心中！“ \r\n\r\n每当在<strong>荧屏</strong>上中国的奥运<strong>健儿</strong> 在比赛中<strong>夺得冠军</strong>时他们总是露着灿烂的笑容，身为祖国儿女的他们感到无比的自豪．升国旗时，他们流出滚滚热泪，望着五星红旗，心中在呼唤: “ 祖国，我为您<strong>争光</strong>了！“  \r\n\r\n我们不能像勇士那样血撒战场，不能像伟人一样建设祖国．．．．．．我们现在应该好好学习，用智慧和知识<strong>武装</strong>自己长大以后<strong>报效</strong>祖国，大家要像周总理那样，为中华之崛起而读书！做一个有志向的人.\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nRespected teacher, dear classmates, hello! \r\n\r\nThe topic of my speech today is \"Love Our China\".\r\n\r\nThere are two sayings, \"My mother and father birthed me, my country raised me.\" And \"Country, country, you must have a country before you have a home.\" I love my motherland, it surpasses everything that I love! \r\n\r\nOn every patriotic work, we see Zhan TianYou, Qian XueSen, and similar patriots, who gave up good pay, gave up good career prospects, to forcefully fight back against the imperialists who looked down on China. They used their actions to say loudly, \"Motherland, I love you!\" \r\n\r\nIn every patriotic movie, we see heroic soldiers who lost their heads and sprinkled their blood on the battlefields for their motherland to defend our borders, and when the gun smoke cleared, the battlefields were littered with corpses. It\'s as if those soldiers who were about to die said, \"Motherland, you are forever in my heart!\"  \r\n\r\nEvery Chinese Olympic athlete on the TV screen who seizes the championship in a competition is always smiling brilliantly, as sons and daughters of the motherland, they feel matchless pride. When our flag is raised, hot tears roll down their cheeks as they gaze at the five-starred red flag, in their hearts they are shouting: \"Motherland, I won this honor for you!\" \r\n\r\nWe can\'t cast our blood on the battlefield like those warriors, we can\'t build the motherland as the great men did... right now we must study well, use our wisdom and knowledge to arm ourselves so that after we grow up we can return with our service the kindness our motherland has done us, we should be like Premier Zhou [Zhou EnLai], read books so that China may rise up! Be an ambitious person.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Love Our China: A Patriotic Speech', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '948-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 21:55:03', '2011-11-30 02:55:03', '', 948, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/948-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2364, 1, '2020-05-21 19:55:28', '2020-05-21 23:55:28', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nOne picky little horse doesn\'t appreciate the food he is served, until he sees what everyone else is eating. Upper-beginner, bordering on intermediate, HSK 4.\n\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\nQuite a bit of the harder vocab in this piece revolves around eating. We\'ve got  津津有味 [pinyin]jin1 jin1 you3 wei4[/pinyin], to eat something with joyous relish, 啃 [pinyin]ken3[/pinyin], to gnaw on, 狼吞虎咽 [pinyin]lang2 tun1 hu3 yan4[/pinyin], to fiercely gobble something up, and 饥肠辘辘 [pinyin]ji1 chang2 lu4 lu4[/pinyin], to be so hungry one\'s stomach is rumbling. \n\n饥肠辘辘 is actually a pretty interesting phrase. 饥肠 means \"an empty stomach\", and 辘辘 is being used as an onomatopoeia, <em>lu lu</em> being the sound of one\'s stomach grumbling from hunger.  \n\n<strong>爱挑食</strong> [pinyin]ai4 tiao1 shi2[/pinyin] - Three different words here, 爱, to love, 挑, to be picky, and 食, food. The literal translation here is \"loves to be picky about food\". It bears pointing out that in this case, \"love\" does not really mean \"to have fondness for\", but rather, \"to do something often\". We use \"love\" this way in English as well, as in, \"You just love to start an argument, don\'t you?\"\n\n<strong>转一圈</strong> [pinyin]zhuan3 yi1 quan1[/pinyin] - 转 is \"to turn around\" and 一圈 is \"a circle\" or \"a loop\". That might sound like it means \"to spin around in a circle while standing in place\", but it doesn\'t. It means \"to make a circular pass through a place\" - imagine shopping at a farmer\'s market or something, you walk all around to the different stalls to see what everyone is selling. \n\n<strong>一幕</strong> [pinyin]yi1 mu4[/pinyin] - You\'ll notice my popup dictionary translates this as \"a curtain\", a \"screen\" or \"an act of a play\". A 幕 is indeed the measure word for \"an act of a play\", but this is being used figuratively, what it means here is \"scene\", as in, \"When my eyes came to rest upon that ugly scene...\" \n\n<strong>那儿</strong> [pinyin]na4 er[/pinyin] - Literally means \"there\", but when it comes after a noun, it means \"over where [noun] is\", or \"[noun\'s] place\". I just covered a similar usage of \"这儿\" in the <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/20/chinese-fable-the-learned-son/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">last beginner post</a>. \n\n<a href=\"http://www.rensheng5.com/xiaogushi/id-9965.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</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>最可口的食物</h4>\n\n在一个农场里养着很多动物。其中有一匹<span class=\"highlightText\">爱挑食</span>的小马，它总是不满意农场主给它的食物。于是它决定去转<span class=\"highlightText\">一圈</span>，看看别的动物们<span class=\"highlightText\">那儿</span>有什么好吃的。\n　　\n它很快就发现了几只鸡正在愉快地吃着什么，上前一看，是谷子，它尝了一口，却马上又吐了出来，“一点味没有，不好吃！”说着就走了。\n　　\n不久它又看到一只狗在<span class=\"highlightText\">津津有味</span>地<span class=\"highlightText\">啃</span>着骨头，还有一只猫一边唱着歌一边<span class=\"highlightText\">撕咬</span>着一条鱼。这些食物，它看了都害怕，那气味快使它呕吐。它赶紧走开了。\n　　\n走了好一会儿，小马有点渴了，它来到水塘边喝水。看到两只鸭子正在抢夺一条蚯蚓，蚯蚓被它们拉扯的又细又长，最后断成两截，两只鸭子<span class=\"highlightText\">狼吞虎咽</span>地吃下了各自的半截，又开始寻找起来。看到这残忍的<span class=\"highlightText\">一幕</span>，小马水也<span class=\"highlightText\">顾不上</span>喝就跑开了，“真恐怖！”它说。\n　　\n跑了<span class=\"highlightText\">一大圈</span>，它看到的动物吃的东西，都不合它的胃口，有的甚至还让它感得恶心。小马饥肠辘辘的回到马厩，才发现主人为它预备的草料，才是它最喜爱最可口的食物。\n</div>\n[/su_column]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\nThere was a farm where many animals were raised. Among them was one little horse that was very picky about his food, he was always unsatisfied with what the farmer gave him to eat. So he decided to go walk around, to see what yummy things the other animals had to eat. \n　　\nHe quickly discovered a few chickens happily eating something, so he went over to look, it was grain, so he tried a mouthful, but he spit out, \"[This] has no flavor, it\'s gross!\", he said and left.　\n　　\nNot long after he saw a dog gnawing on a bone with relish, and a cat singing a song while tearing into a fish. Just looking at these foods frightened him, and the smell made him retch, so he quickly took his leave. 　\n　　\nAfter walking for a while, the little horse was a bit thirsty, so he went to the pond to drink some water. He saw two ducks fighting over an earthworm, they stretched the earthworm out long and thin, and finally broke it into two pieces, and the two ducks each gobbled down their piece, and started looking about [for another]. Seeing this cruel scene, the little horse couldn\'t even stand to drink any water and quickly ran away, \"Truly horrifying!\" he said. \n　　\nHe ran all around, and everything he saw the other animals eating didn\'t suit his own tastes, and some even disgusted him. He returned to his pen with his stomach rumbling, and found that the grass master had prepared for him to eat was his favorite delicious food after all.  \n[/hide-this-part]\n[/su_column]\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Children\'s Story: 最可口的食物 - The most appetizing meal', 'One picky little horse doesn\'t appreciate the food he is served, until he sees what everyone else is eating. Upper-beginner, bordering on intermediate, HSK 4.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2331-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-05-21 19:55:28', '2020-05-21 23:55:28', '', 2331, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/21/2331-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` (`ID`, `post_author`, `post_date`, `post_date_gmt`, `post_content`, `post_title`, `post_excerpt`, `post_status`, `comment_status`, `ping_status`, `post_password`, `post_name`, `to_ping`, `pinged`, `post_modified`, `post_modified_gmt`, `post_content_filtered`, `post_parent`, `guid`, `menu_order`, `post_type`, `post_mime_type`, `comment_count`) VALUES
(1797, 1, '2020-04-20 05:43:53', '2020-04-20 09:43:53', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nWelp, you can\'t get more forcefully patriotic than this. This transcript of a student\'s classroom speech reads like a political call-to-action and includes rousing images of bloody soldiers, strong Chinese athletes and Chinese workers throwing off the yoke of imperialist might. This might be upper intermediate level reading, but I\'m classifying it as advanced, as the sentence structure really isn\'t very straightforward, and there are quite a few new words. <!--more-->\n\nThere\'s a saying in the third paragraph that makes no sense in English, only in Chinese. The saying is: \'国家国家，有国才有家\'. This translates to \"Country, country, have country, then home.\" Doesn\'t mean much, does it? But we must examine the structure of the sentence to see that this is actually a play on words. The word for \"country\" is 国家.  国, by itself, means \"country\" or \"kingdom\". 家, by itself, means \"home\" or \"family\". Put them together, and you get the complete, proper word for \"country\". So the author is first saying the word \"country\" twice (国家国家), then the second part means \"the word country is made up first of the character for country, THEN then character for \'home\'\", in other words, \"you must have a country before you can have a home or family\". This seems to also insinuate that \"country should come before family\".\n\nIf you remember no other word in this whole essay, remember this one: 祖国 [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin]. Look at it: 祖国 祖国 祖国 祖国. It means \"motherland\", and once you know it, you will see it everywhere. \n\nAnother interesting word here is 帝国主义者, which means \"imperialist\". If you ever have plans to use your Chinese skills to read old Maoist textbooks, you\'d better remember that one as well. It also contains a useful grammar point: 主义者 is equivalent to the English suffix \"ist\", as in \"imperial-ist\". 主义, without 者, is equivalent to the \"ism\". So 帝国主义 is \"imperialism\". This can be applied to other words, such as 女权主义者 (feminist) and 女权主义 (feminism), and 理想主义者 (idealist) and 理想主义 (idealism). \n\nThe title of this speech is: 爱我中华\n\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxuewunianjizuowen/2011-08-18/1313632636230846.html\">You can find the original here</a>\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n祖国 - [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Motherland\n詹天佑 - [pinyin]zhan1 tian1 you4[/pinyin] - Railroad engineer who constructed the first Chinese railroad built without foreign assistance\n钱学森 - [pinyin]qian2 xue2 sen1[/pinyin] - Engineer, considered the father of Chinese rocketry\n爱祖国 (also 爱国) - [pinyin]ai4 zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Love the motherland, a patriot\n待遇 - [pinyin]dai4 yu4[/pinyin] - Treatment, pay, wages\n前程 - [pinyin]qian2 cheng2[/pinyin] - Future career prospects\n帝国主义者 - [pinyin]di4 guo2 zhu3 yi4 zhe3[/pinyin] - Imperialist\n回击 - [pinyin]hui2 ji1[/pinyin] - Counterattack\n战场 - [pinyin]zhan4 chang3[/pinyin] - Battlefield\n抛 - [pinyin]pao1[/pinyin] - Toss, throw away, abandon\n边疆 - [pinyin]bian1 jiang1[/pinyin] - Borders, borderlands\n硝烟 - [pinyin]xiao1 yan1[/pinyin] - Gun smoke\n尸横遍野 - [pinyin]shi1 heng2 bian4 ye3[/pinyin] - Corpses strewn over a plain\n荧屏 - [pinyin]ying2 ping2[/pinyin] - TV screen\n健儿 - [pinyin]jian4 er2[/pinyin] - Meaning both \'top athlete\' and \'heroic warrior\'\n夺得 - [pinyin]duo2 de2[/pinyin] - Seize by force\n冠军 - [pinyin]guan4 jun1[/pinyin] - Champion\n争光 - [pinyin]zheng1 guang1[/pinyin] - Win a prize, win an honor\n武装 - [pinyin]wu3 zhuang1[/pinyin] - To arm (someone)\n报效 - [pinyin]bao4 xiao4[/pinyin] - Return a kindness by doing a service\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<h4>爱我中华</h4>\n敬爱的老师，亲爱的同学们: 大家好！\n\n今天我演讲的题目是“爱我中华“\n\n有两句话“生我者父母，养我者<strong>祖国</strong>．“ “国家国家，有国才有家．“ 我爱我的祖国，胜过爱我的一切！\n\n每当阅读起爱国书籍，看到<strong>詹天佑</strong>，<strong>钱学森</strong>等这样<strong>爱祖国</strong>的人，放弃好的<strong>待遇</strong>，放弃好的<strong>前程</strong>，就是给那些瞧不起中国的<strong>帝国主义者</strong>一个有力的<strong>回击</strong>，他们用行动大声的说:“ 祖国，我爱您！“\n\n每当看起爱国电影，看着英雄战士上<strong>战场</strong>为祖国，<strong>抛</strong>头颅，撒热血保卫<strong>边疆</strong>．一次次<strong>硝烟</strong>过去，战场上<strong>尸横遍野</strong>，那些快要死了的战士好象在说: “ 祖国，你永远在我心中！“ \n\n每当在<strong>荧屏</strong>上中国的奥运<strong>健儿</strong> 在比赛中<strong>夺得冠军</strong>时他们总是露着灿烂的笑容，身为祖国儿女的他们感到无比的自豪．升国旗时，他们流出滚滚热泪，望着五星红旗，心中在呼唤: “ 祖国，我为您<strong>争光</strong>了！“  \n\n我们不能像勇士那样血撒战场，不能像伟人一样建设祖国．．．．．．我们现在应该好好学习，用智慧和知识<strong>武装</strong>自己长大以后<strong>报效</strong>祖国，大家要像周总理那样，为中华之崛起而读书！做一个有志向的人.\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThere are two sayings, \"My mother and father birthed me, my country raised me.\" And \"Country, country, you must have a country before you have a home.\" I love my motherland, it surpasses everything that I love! \n\nOn every patriotic work, we see Zhan TianYou, Qian XueSen, and similar patriots, who gave up good pay, gave up good career prospects, to forcefully fight back against the imperialists who looked down on China. They used their actions to say loudly, \"Motherland, I love you!\" \n\nIn every patriotic movie, we see heroic soldiers who lost their heads and sprinkled their blood on the battlefields for their motherland to defend our borders, and when the gun smoke cleared, the battlefields were littered with corpses. It\'s as if those soldiers who were about to die said, \"Motherland, you are forever in my heart!\"  \n\nEvery Chinese Olympic athlete on the TV screen who seizes the championship in a competition is always smiling brilliantly, as sons and daughters of the motherland, they feel matchless pride. When our flag is raised, hot tears roll down their cheeks as they gaze at the five-starred red flag, in their hearts they are shouting: \"Motherland, I won this honor for you!\" \n\nWe can\'t cast our blood on the battlefield like those warriors, we can\'t build the motherland as the great men did... right now we must study well, use our wisdom and knowledge to arm ourselves so that after we grow up we can return with our service the kindness our motherland has done us, we should be like Premier Zhou [Zhou EnLai], read books so that China may rise up! Be an ambitious person.  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Love Our China: A Patriotic Speech', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '948-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:43:53', '2020-04-20 09:43:53', '', 948, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/948-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(959, 1, '2011-11-09 08:56:09', '2011-11-09 13:56:09', '[two_third]\r\nThis short tale addresses the background story behind the Chinese idiom 一暴十寒, which literally translates to \"One day of sun, ten days of frost\", and which means \"to bust butt for a little while and then get lazy\", or \"to only work for a short time and then fail\". The story below really applies to the latter meaning. Though this is categorized as advanced, upper-intermediate readers could surely tackle this. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/20111109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Easy and Difficult Chinese Idioms for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Students\" title=\"Easy and Difficult Chinese Idioms for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Students\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />This story is a little odd, because the idiom 一暴十寒 means \"ONE day of sun, TEN days of frost\", but the story references TEN days of sun and TEN days of frost - \"one day of sun\" is never mentioned. Which calls the whole \"story behind the idiom\" thing into question. Surely, some of the stories are truly historical, and have stayed with the Chinese people over several thousand years. Some are probably very very recent. \r\n\r\nNow, I spent a summer as an editor assistant in an educational publishing house in Beijing, and I can tell you a lot of these \"historical stories\" (when they\'re used as language exercises, anyway) are just kind of made up to fit the word count needed. \r\n\r\nI was recently reading \"<a href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Taoism-Holmes-H-Welch-Jr/dp/0807059730\">Taoism: The Parting of the Way</a>\" by Holmes Welch, and he mentions an interesting phenomenon in Chinese scholarly history: several thousand years ago, some Chinese scholars or philosophers who wanted to get their ideas widely disseminated would write a book, then put the name of a dead but well-respected philosopher on it, and claim they had found a lost work by the other philosopher. Very clever, but it does confuse the historical record a bit. \r\n\r\nThese types of stories should be treated similarly - in many cases it\'s impossible to tell where they came from. Sometimes there is a real historical tie-in to an old text, sometimes it\'s all apocryphal - basically an urban legend. So, who knows if this idiom what made up my Mencius, made up by a scholar pretending to be Mencius, or made up by a school teacher to help students remember the text - either way, it\'s a nice (and short) little blurb.\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战国 - [pinyin]zhan4 guo2[/pinyin] - Warring States Period (around 475 BC to 221 BC)\r\n孟轲 - [pinyin]meng4 ke1[/pinyin] - Mencius\' full name\r\n孟子 - [pinyin]meng4 zi5[/pinyin] - Mencius\' common name \r\n善于 - [pinyin]shan4 yu4[/pinyin] - To be good at \r\n指责 - [pinyin]zhi3 ze2[/pinyin] - Point the finger, criticize\r\n阴冷 - [pinyin]yin1 leng3[/pinyin] - Gloomy and cold\r\n生命力- [pinyin]shen1 ming4 li4[/pinyin] - Vitality\r\n少之甚少 - [pinyin]shao3 zhi1 shen2 shao3[/pinyin] - Less and less\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>战国</strong>时，有个叫<strong>孟轲</strong>的人，大家称他为<strong>孟子</strong>。孟子<strong>善于</strong>通过打比方来发表议论。\r\n\r\n当时，有人<strong>指责</strong>孟子不尽力帮助齐王。孟子便解释说:“比如说，天下有些易活的植物，假如把它放在太阳下晒十天，然后再把它放在<strong>阴冷</strong>的地方冻十天，即使是<strong>生命力</strong>再强的植物也会死。我见到齐王的机会<strong>少之甚少</strong>，即使给了他些良好的影响与帮助，我一离开，一些和我主张不同的人，又带给他许多不好影响。我怎么能使齐王的思想、品质好起来呢？”\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 Warring States Period, there was a man named Meng Ke [Mencius], who everyone called MengZi. Menzi was very good at using real-life situations to create analogies and foster discussion.　\r\n\r\nAt that time, there was a person who criticized Mencius for not trying harder to help the King of Qi. Mencius explained plainly, saying, \"Take this as an example: there are some plants that live well on this earth [lit: under heaven], but if you take them and put them in the sun to dry for ten days, then you take them and put them in the gloom and cold to freeze for ten days, even if their vitality is strong they\'re still going to die.  My opportunities to see the King of Qi have been less and less, so even if I gave him some good influence and help, as soon as I leave, some people that don\'t advocate the same things I do will influence him negatively. [That being the case,] how can I improve the quality of the King of Qi\'s thinking?\"\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Yi Pu Shi Han', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '901-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-09 08:56:09', '2011-11-09 13:56:09', '', 901, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/09/901-revision-9/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(960, 1, '2012-01-02 07:00:09', '2012-01-02 12:00:09', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nA short, sweet, very simple read about a boy, his dog, and a new pair of shoes. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn this story, the name of the young boy is 浩浩 [pinyin]hao4 hao4[/pinyin], and you\'ll see those two characters a lot. You\'ll also see in several places that characters are sometimes doubled up. When writing is intended for young children, you\'ll often see characters repeated twice. For example, while 小狗 means \'dog\', 狗狗 might be equivalent to \"doggie\" - it\'s essentially baby-talk. \r\n\r\nThere is one difficult little clause in this text, which is: 扯着衣角. Let\'s examine it piece-by-piece. 扯 [pinyin]che3[/pinyin] means to pull at something. 着 [pinyin]zhe5[/pinyin], in this instance, means \"ing\", or \"while doing\". So we\'ve now got \"Pulling at...\". Then there\'s 衣 [pinyin]yi1[/pinyin], meaning \"clothing\", so we now have \"Pulling at clothing...\". And finally 角 [pinyin]jiao3[/pinyin], corner. So the sentence reads \"Pulling at clothing corner\", or in better English, \"Pulling at the corner of his clothes\". \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>小狗穿鞋</h4>\r\n妈妈给三岁的浩浩买了一双新鞋，浩浩<strong>穿</strong>上后左看看，右瞧瞧。家里的小狗跑了过来，<strong>舔</strong>了舔浩浩的鞋。\r\n\r\n浩浩<strong>仰</strong>起头来，天真地问:“妈妈，狗狗冷吗？他怎么不穿鞋？”妈妈<strong>顺口</strong>说了一句:“你去问它吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>于是</strong>浩浩<strong>低下头</strong>，对着小狗的<strong>耳朵</strong>说:“小狗狗，你冷吗？我给你穿鞋好吗？”<strong>突然</strong>他大叫起来:“妈妈，狗狗说它冷，它向我点头呢！”\r\n\r\n不知什么时候，浩浩把自己的鞋子<strong>脱</strong>了下来，<strong>套</strong>在小狗的两只前脚上。\r\n\r\n“妈妈，还<strong>差</strong>两只脚呢！”\r\n\r\n“差什么两只脚？”\r\n\r\n“狗狗还差两只脚没有鞋呢......”\r\n\r\n话还没说完，小狗汪汪汪地叫着，逃跑了。浩浩低着头、<strong>红着脸</strong>、扯着衣角，不好意思地向妈妈走去，嘴里念叨着:“新鞋让小狗穿走了，小狗现在和我一样，都<strong>光</strong>着两只脚啦！” \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\nMama bought three-year-old Hao Hao a new pair of shoes, Hao Hao put them on and turned this way and that looking at them [lit: turned left and looked, turned right and looked]. The household dog ran over and licked Hao Hao\'s shoes. \r\n\r\nHao Hao looked up, and naively said: \"Mama, is doggie cold? Why doesn\'t it wear shoes?\" Mama smoothly said: \"Go and ask it.\" \r\n\r\nSo Hao Hao looked down, and in the dog\'s ear said: \"Little doggie, are you cold? Should I give you some shoes to wear?\" Suddenly he loudly shouted, \"Mama, doggie said he\'s cold, it nodded its head at me!\"\r\n\r\nNot long after, Hao Hao took off his own shoes, and put them on the dog\'s two front feet.\r\n\r\n\"Mama, there are still two feet missing!\" \r\n\r\n\"Which two feet are missing?\" \r\n\r\n\"Doggie is still missing shoes for two of his feet...\"\r\n\r\nBefore he\'d finished speaking, the dog barked woof woof woof, and ran away. Hao Hao hung his head, blushing, and he pulled at the corner of his clothes, too embarrassed to go to his mother, and he called out: \"The dog ran off wearing the new shoes, the dog and I are now the same, we both have two bare feet! \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'little-dog-wears-shoes', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:59:59', '2020-04-20 11:59:59', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=960', 0, 'post', '', 36),
(1794, 1, '2020-04-20 05:38:38', '2020-04-20 09:38:38', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nA short, sweet, very simple read about a boy, his dog, and a new pair of shoes. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn this story, the name of the young boy is 浩浩 [pinyin]hao4 hao4[/pinyin], and you\'ll see those two characters a lot. You\'ll also see in several places that characters are sometimes doubled up. When writing is intended for young children, you\'ll often see characters repeated twice. For example, while 小狗 means \'dog\', 狗狗 might be equivalent to \"doggie\" - it\'s essentially baby-talk. \r\n\r\nThere is one difficult little clause in this text, which is: 扯着衣角. Let\'s examine it piece-by-piece. 扯 [pinyin]che3[/pinyin] means to pull at something. 着 [pinyin]zhe5[/pinyin], in this instance, means \"ing\", or \"while doing\". So we\'ve now got \"Pulling at...\". Then there\'s 衣 [pinyin]yi1[/pinyin], meaning \"clothing\", so we now have \"Pulling at clothing...\". And finally 角 [pinyin]jiao3[/pinyin], corner. So the sentence reads \"Pulling at clothing corner\", or in better English, \"Pulling at the corner of his clothes\". \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>小狗穿鞋</h4>\r\n妈妈给三岁的浩浩买了一双新鞋，浩浩<strong>穿</strong>上后左看看，右瞧瞧。家里的小狗跑了过来，<strong>舔</strong>了舔浩浩的鞋。\r\n\r\n浩浩<strong>仰</strong>起头来，天真地问:“妈妈，狗狗冷吗？他怎么不穿鞋？”妈妈<strong>顺口</strong>说了一句:“你去问它吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>于是</strong>浩浩<strong>低下头</strong>，对着小狗的<strong>耳朵</strong>说:“小狗狗，你冷吗？我给你穿鞋好吗？”<strong>突然</strong>他大叫起来:“妈妈，狗狗说它冷，它向我点头呢！”\r\n\r\n不知什么时候，浩浩把自己的鞋子<strong>脱</strong>了下来，<strong>套</strong>在小狗的两只前脚上。\r\n\r\n“妈妈，还<strong>差</strong>两只脚呢！”\r\n\r\n“差什么两只脚？”\r\n\r\n“狗狗还差两只脚没有鞋呢......”\r\n\r\n话还没说完，小狗汪汪汪地叫着，逃跑了。浩浩低着头、<strong>红着脸</strong>、扯着衣角，不好意思地向妈妈走去，嘴里念叨着:“新鞋让小狗穿走了，小狗现在和我一样，都<strong>光</strong>着两只脚啦！” \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\nMama bought three-year-old Hao Hao a new pair of shoes, Hao Hao put them on and turned this way and that looking at them [lit: turned left and looked, turned right and looked]. The household dog ran over and licked Hao Hao\'s shoes. \r\n\r\nHao Hao looked up, and naively said: \"Mama, is doggie cold? Why doesn\'t it wear shoes?\" Mama smoothly said: \"Go and ask it.\" \r\n\r\nSo Hao Hao looked down, and in the dog\'s ear said: \"Little doggie, are you cold? Should I give you some shoes to wear?\" Suddenly he loudly shouted, \"Mama, doggie said he\'s cold, it nodded its head at me!\"\r\n\r\nNot long after, Hao Hao took off his own shoes, and put them on the dog\'s two front feet.\r\n\r\n\"Mama, there are still two feet missing!\" \r\n\r\n\"Which two feet are missing?\" \r\n\r\n\"Doggie is still missing shoes for two of his feet...\"\r\n\r\nBefore he\'d finished speaking, the dog barked woof woof woof, and ran away. Hao Hao hung his head, blushing, and he pulled at the corner of his clothes, too embarrassed to go to his mother, and he called out: \"The dog ran off wearing the new shoes, the dog and I are now the same, we both have two bare feet! \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '960-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:38:38', '2020-04-20 09:38:38', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/960-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1793, 1, '2020-04-20 05:38:25', '2020-04-20 09:38:25', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nA short, sweet, very simple read about a boy, his dog, and a new pair of shoes. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120102-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Simple and Easy Chinese Childrens Stories for Reading Exercise\" title=\"Simple and Easy Chinese Childrens Stories for Reading Exercise\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In this story, the name of the young boy is 浩浩 [pinyin]hao4 hao4[/pinyin], and you\'ll see those two characters a lot. You\'ll also see in several places that characters are sometimes doubled up. When writing is intended for young children, you\'ll often see characters repeated twice. For example, while 小狗 means \'dog\', 狗狗 might be equivalent to \"doggie\" - it\'s essentially baby-talk. \r\n\r\nThere is one difficult little clause in this text, which is: 扯着衣角. Let\'s examine it piece-by-piece. 扯 [pinyin]che3[/pinyin] means to pull at something. 着 [pinyin]zhe5[/pinyin], in this instance, means \"ing\", or \"while doing\". So we\'ve now got \"Pulling at...\". Then there\'s 衣 [pinyin]yi1[/pinyin], meaning \"clothing\", so we now have \"Pulling at clothing...\". And finally 角 [pinyin]jiao3[/pinyin], corner. So the sentence reads \"Pulling at clothing corner\", or in better English, \"Pulling at the corner of his clothes\". \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>小狗穿鞋</h4>\r\n妈妈给三岁的浩浩买了一双新鞋，浩浩<strong>穿</strong>上后左看看，右瞧瞧。家里的小狗跑了过来，<strong>舔</strong>了舔浩浩的鞋。\r\n\r\n浩浩<strong>仰</strong>起头来，天真地问:“妈妈，狗狗冷吗？他怎么不穿鞋？”妈妈<strong>顺口</strong>说了一句:“你去问它吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>于是</strong>浩浩<strong>低下头</strong>，对着小狗的<strong>耳朵</strong>说:“小狗狗，你冷吗？我给你穿鞋好吗？”<strong>突然</strong>他大叫起来:“妈妈，狗狗说它冷，它向我点头呢！”\r\n\r\n不知什么时候，浩浩把自己的鞋子<strong>脱</strong>了下来，<strong>套</strong>在小狗的两只前脚上。\r\n\r\n“妈妈，还<strong>差</strong>两只脚呢！”\r\n\r\n“差什么两只脚？”\r\n\r\n“狗狗还差两只脚没有鞋呢......”\r\n\r\n话还没说完，小狗汪汪汪地叫着，逃跑了。浩浩低着头、<strong>红着脸</strong>、扯着衣角，不好意思地向妈妈走去，嘴里念叨着:“新鞋让小狗穿走了，小狗现在和我一样，都<strong>光</strong>着两只脚啦！” \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\nMama bought three-year-old Hao Hao a new pair of shoes, Hao Hao put them on and turned this way and that looking at them [lit: turned left and looked, turned right and looked]. The household dog ran over and licked Hao Hao\'s shoes. \r\n\r\nHao Hao looked up, and naively said: \"Mama, is doggie cold? Why doesn\'t it wear shoes?\" Mama smoothly said: \"Go and ask it.\" \r\n\r\nSo Hao Hao looked down, and in the dog\'s ear said: \"Little doggie, are you cold? Should I give you some shoes to wear?\" Suddenly he loudly shouted, \"Mama, doggie said he\'s cold, it nodded its head at me!\"\r\n\r\nNot long after, Hao Hao took off his own shoes, and put them on the dog\'s two front feet.\r\n\r\n\"Mama, there are still two feet missing!\" \r\n\r\n\"Which two feet are missing?\" \r\n\r\n\"Doggie is still missing shoes for two of his feet...\"\r\n\r\nBefore he\'d finished speaking, the dog barked woof woof woof, and ran away. Hao Hao hung his head, blushing, and he pulled at the corner of his clothes, too embarrassed to go to his mother, and he called out: \"The dog ran off wearing the new shoes, the dog and I are now the same, we both have two bare feet! \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '960-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:38:25', '2020-04-20 09:38:25', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/960-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(961, 1, '2011-12-01 14:28:38', '2011-12-01 19:28:38', '', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '960-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-01 14:28:38', '2011-12-01 19:28:38', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/01/960-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(962, 1, '2011-12-01 14:29:09', '2011-12-01 19:29:09', '', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '960-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-01 14:29:09', '2011-12-01 19:29:09', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/01/960-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(963, 1, '2011-12-01 14:29:32', '2011-12-01 19:29:32', '', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '960-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-01 14:29:32', '2011-12-01 19:29:32', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/01/960-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(964, 1, '2011-12-01 14:32:15', '2011-12-01 19:32:15', '[two_third]\r\nThe Chinese title of this story is: 小狗穿鞋\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n祖国 - [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Motherland\r\n詹天佑 - [pinyin]zhan1 tian1 you4[/pinyin] - Railroad engineer who constructed the first Chinese railroad built without foreign assistance\r\n钱学森 - [pinyin]qian2 xue2 sen1[/pinyin] - Engineer, considered the father of Chinese rocketry\r\n爱祖国 (also 爱国) - [pinyin]ai4 zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Love the motherland, a patriot\r\n待遇 - [pinyin]dai4 yu4[/pinyin] - Treatment, pay, wages\r\n前程 - [pinyin]qian2 cheng2[/pinyin] - Future career prospects\r\n帝国主义者 - [pinyin]di4 guo2 zhu3 yi4 zhe3[/pinyin] - Imperialist\r\n回击 - [pinyin]hui2 ji1[/pinyin] - Counterattack\r\n战场 - [pinyin]zhan4 chang3[/pinyin] - Battlefield\r\n抛 - [pinyin]pao1[/pinyin] - Toss, throw away, abandon\r\n边疆 - [pinyin]bian1 jiang1[/pinyin] - Borders, borderlands\r\n硝烟 - [pinyin]xiao1 yan1[/pinyin] - Gun smoke\r\n尸横遍野 - [pinyin]shi1 heng2 bian4 ye3[/pinyin] - Corpses strewn over a plain\r\n荧屏 - [pinyin]ying2 ping2[/pinyin] - TV screen\r\n健儿 - [pinyin]jian4 er2[/pinyin] - Meaning both \'top athlete\' and \'heroic warrior\'\r\n夺得 - [pinyin]duo2 de2[/pinyin] - Seize by force\r\n冠军 - [pinyin]guan4 jun1[/pinyin] - Champion\r\n争光 - [pinyin]zheng1 guang1[/pinyin] - Win a prize, win an honor\r\n武装 - [pinyin]wu3 zhuang1[/pinyin] - To arm (someone)\r\n报效 - [pinyin]bao4 xiao4[/pinyin] - Return a kindness by doing a service\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妈妈给三岁的浩浩买了一双新鞋，浩浩穿上后左看看，右瞧瞧。家里的小狗跑了过来，舔了舔浩浩的鞋。\r\n\r\n浩浩仰起头来，天真地问:“妈妈，狗狗冷吗？他怎么不穿鞋？”妈妈顺口说了一句:“你去问它吧。”\r\n\r\n于是浩浩低下头，对着小狗的耳朵说:“小狗狗，你冷吗？我给你穿鞋好吗？”突然他大叫起来:“妈妈，狗狗说它冷，它向我点头呢！”\r\n\r\n不知什么时候，浩浩把自己的鞋子脱了下来，套在小狗的两只前脚上。\r\n\r\n“妈妈，还差两只脚呢！”\r\n\r\n“差什么两只脚？”\r\n\r\n“狗狗还差两只脚没有鞋呢......”\r\n\r\n话还没说完，小狗汪汪汪地叫着，逃跑了。浩浩低着头、红着脸、扯着衣角，不好意思地向妈妈走去，嘴里念叨着:“新鞋让小狗穿走了，小狗现在和我一样，都光着两只脚啦！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n妈妈给三岁的浩浩买了一双新鞋，浩浩穿上后左看看，右瞧瞧。家里的小狗跑了过来，舔了舔浩浩的鞋。\r\n\r\n浩浩仰起头来，天真地问:“妈妈，狗狗冷吗？他怎么不穿鞋？”妈妈顺口说了一句:“你去问它吧。”\r\n\r\n于是浩浩低下头，对着小狗的耳朵说:“小狗狗，你冷吗？我给你穿鞋好吗？”突然他大叫起来:“妈妈，狗狗说它冷，它向我点头呢！”\r\n\r\n不知什么时候，浩浩把自己的鞋子脱了下来，套在小狗的两只前脚上。\r\n\r\n“妈妈，还差两只脚呢！”\r\n\r\n“差什么两只脚？”\r\n\r\n“狗狗还差两只脚没有鞋呢......”\r\n\r\n话还没说完，小狗汪汪汪地叫着，逃跑了。浩浩低着头、红着脸、扯着衣角，不好意思地向妈妈走去，嘴里念叨着:“新鞋让小狗穿走了，小狗现在和我一样，都光着两只脚啦！” \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '960-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-01 14:32:15', '2011-12-01 19:32:15', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/01/960-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(965, 1, '2011-12-01 14:44:16', '2011-12-01 19:44:16', '[two_third]\r\nThe Chinese title of this story is: 小狗穿鞋\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n祖国 - [pinyin]zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Motherland\r\n詹天佑 - [pinyin]zhan1 tian1 you4[/pinyin] - Railroad engineer who constructed the first Chinese railroad built without foreign assistance\r\n钱学森 - [pinyin]qian2 xue2 sen1[/pinyin] - Engineer, considered the father of Chinese rocketry\r\n爱祖国 (also 爱国) - [pinyin]ai4 zu3 guo2[/pinyin] - Love the motherland, a patriot\r\n待遇 - [pinyin]dai4 yu4[/pinyin] - Treatment, pay, wages\r\n前程 - [pinyin]qian2 cheng2[/pinyin] - Future career prospects\r\n帝国主义者 - [pinyin]di4 guo2 zhu3 yi4 zhe3[/pinyin] - Imperialist\r\n回击 - [pinyin]hui2 ji1[/pinyin] - Counterattack\r\n战场 - [pinyin]zhan4 chang3[/pinyin] - Battlefield\r\n抛 - [pinyin]pao1[/pinyin] - Toss, throw away, abandon\r\n边疆 - [pinyin]bian1 jiang1[/pinyin] - Borders, borderlands\r\n硝烟 - [pinyin]xiao1 yan1[/pinyin] - Gun smoke\r\n尸横遍野 - [pinyin]shi1 heng2 bian4 ye3[/pinyin] - Corpses strewn over a plain\r\n荧屏 - [pinyin]ying2 ping2[/pinyin] - TV screen\r\n健儿 - [pinyin]jian4 er2[/pinyin] - Meaning both \'top athlete\' and \'heroic warrior\'\r\n夺得 - [pinyin]duo2 de2[/pinyin] - Seize by force\r\n冠军 - [pinyin]guan4 jun1[/pinyin] - Champion\r\n争光 - [pinyin]zheng1 guang1[/pinyin] - Win a prize, win an honor\r\n武装 - [pinyin]wu3 zhuang1[/pinyin] - To arm (someone)\r\n报效 - [pinyin]bao4 xiao4[/pinyin] - Return a kindness by doing a service\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\nMama bought three-year-old Hao Hao a new pair of shoes, Hao Hao put them on and turned this way and that looking at them [lit: turned left and looked, turned right and looked]. The household dog ran over and licked Hao Hao\'s shoes. \r\n\r\nHao Hao looked up, and naively said: \"Mama, is doggie cold? Why doesn\'t he wear shoes?\" Mama smoothly said: \"Go and ask it.\" \r\n\r\nSo Hao Hao looked down, and in the dog\'s ear said: \"Little doggie, are you cold? Should I give you some shoes to wear?\" Suddenly he loudly shouted, \"Mama, doggie said he\'s cold, it nodded its head at me!\"\r\n\r\nNot long after, Hao Hao took off his own shoes, and put them on the dog\'s two front feet.\r\n\r\n\"Mama, there are still two feet missing!\" \r\n\r\n\"Which two feet are missing?\" \r\n\r\n\"Doggie is still missing shoes for two of his feet...\"\r\n\r\nBefore he\'d finished speaking, the dog barked woof woof woof, and ran away. Hao Hao hung his head, his face was read, and he picked at the corner of his clothes, too embarrassed to go to his mother, and he called out: \"The dog ran off wearing the new shoes, the dog and I are now the same, we both have two bare feet! \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n妈妈给三岁的浩浩买了一双新鞋，浩浩穿上后左看看，右瞧瞧。家里的小狗跑了过来，舔了舔浩浩的鞋。\r\n\r\n浩浩仰起头来，天真地问:“妈妈，狗狗冷吗？他怎么不穿鞋？”妈妈顺口说了一句:“你去问它吧。”\r\n\r\n于是浩浩低下头，对着小狗的耳朵说:“小狗狗，你冷吗？我给你穿鞋好吗？”突然他大叫起来:“妈妈，狗狗说它冷，它向我点头呢！”\r\n\r\n不知什么时候，浩浩把自己的鞋子脱了下来，套在小狗的两只前脚上。\r\n\r\n“妈妈，还差两只脚呢！”\r\n\r\n“差什么两只脚？”\r\n\r\n“狗狗还差两只脚没有鞋呢......”\r\n\r\n话还没说完，小狗汪汪汪地叫着，逃跑了。浩浩低着头、红着脸、扯着衣角，不好意思地向妈妈走去，嘴里念叨着:“新鞋让小狗穿走了，小狗现在和我一样，都光着两只脚啦！” \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '960-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-01 14:44:16', '2011-12-01 19:44:16', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/01/960-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(966, 1, '2011-12-01 15:11:17', '2011-12-01 20:11:17', '', 'Simple and Easy Chinese Childrens Stories for Reading Exercise', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120102', '', '', '2011-12-01 15:11:17', '2011-12-01 20:11:17', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120102.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(967, 1, '2011-12-01 15:12:27', '2011-12-01 20:12:27', '', 'Simple and Easy Chinese Childrens Stories for Reading Exercise', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120102-inline', '', '', '2011-12-01 15:12:27', '2011-12-01 20:12:27', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120102-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(968, 1, '2011-12-01 15:03:28', '2011-12-01 20:03:28', '[two_third]\r\nA short, sweet, very simple read about a boy, his dog, and a new pair of shoes. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn this story, the name of the young boy is 浩浩 [pinyin]hao4 hao4[/pinyin], and you\'ll see those two characters a lot. You\'ll also see in several places that characters are sometimes doubled up. When writing is intended for young children, you\'ll often see characters repeated twice. For example, while 小狗 means \'dog\', 狗狗 might be equivalent to \"doggie\" - it\'s essentially baby-talk. \r\n\r\nThere is one difficult little clause in this text, which is: 扯着衣角. Let\'s examine it piece-by-piece. 扯 [pinyin]che3[/pinyin] means to pull at something. 着 [pinyin]zhe5[/pinyin], in this instance, means \"ing\", or \"while doing\". So we\'ve now got \"Pulling at...\". Then there\'s 衣 [pinyin]yi1[/pinyin], meaning \"clothing\", so we now have \"Pulling at clothing...\". And finally 角 [pinyin]jiao3[/pinyin], corner. So the sentence reads \"Pulling at clothing corner\", or in better English, \"Pulling at the corner of his clothes\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this story is: 小狗穿鞋\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穿 - [pinyin]chuan1[/pinyin] - To put on, wear\r\n舔 - [pinyin]tian3[/pinyin] - To lick\r\n仰 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To look up, face upwards\r\n顺口 - [pinyin]shun4 kou3[/pinyin] - To say smoothly, without thinking about it\r\n于是 - [pinyin]yun2 shi4[/pinyin] - And so..., thus\r\n低下头 - [pinyin]di1 xia4 tou2[/pinyin] - To lower one\'s head\r\n耳朵 - [pinyin]er3 duo5[/pinyin] - Ear\r\n突然 - [pinyin]tu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n脱 - [pinyin]tuo1[/pinyin] - To take off (clothes, shoes, etc.)\r\n套 - [pinyin]tao4[/pinyin] - To cover something, encase\r\n差 - [pinyin]cha1[/pinyin] - Be deficient, be missing, a discrepancy\r\n红脸 - [pinyin]hong2 lian3[/pinyin] - To blush, to turn red\r\n光 - [pinyin]guang1[/pinyin] - Bare, empty, none\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妈妈给三岁的浩浩买了一双新鞋，浩浩<strong>穿</strong>上后左看看，右瞧瞧。家里的小狗跑了过来，<strong>舔</strong>了舔浩浩的鞋。\r\n\r\n浩浩<strong>仰</strong>起头来，天真地问:“妈妈，狗狗冷吗？他怎么不穿鞋？”妈妈<strong>顺口</strong>说了一句:“你去问它吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>于是</strong>浩浩<strong>低下头</strong>，对着小狗的<strong>耳朵</strong>说:“小狗狗，你冷吗？我给你穿鞋好吗？”<strong>突然</strong>他大叫起来:“妈妈，狗狗说它冷，它向我点头呢！”\r\n\r\n不知什么时候，浩浩把自己的鞋子<strong>脱</strong>了下来，<strong>套</strong>在小狗的两只前脚上。\r\n\r\n“妈妈，还<strong>差</strong>两只脚呢！”\r\n\r\n“差什么两只脚？”\r\n\r\n“狗狗还差两只脚没有鞋呢......”\r\n\r\n话还没说完，小狗汪汪汪地叫着，逃跑了。浩浩低着头、<strong>红着脸</strong>、扯着衣角，不好意思地向妈妈走去，嘴里念叨着:“新鞋让小狗穿走了，小狗现在和我一样，都<strong>光</strong>着两只脚啦！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nMama bought three-year-old Hao Hao a new pair of shoes, Hao Hao put them on and turned this way and that looking at them [lit: turned left and looked, turned right and looked]. The household dog ran over and licked Hao Hao\'s shoes. \r\n\r\nHao Hao looked up, and naively said: \"Mama, is doggie cold? Why doesn\'t he wear shoes?\" Mama smoothly said: \"Go and ask it.\" \r\n\r\nSo Hao Hao looked down, and in the dog\'s ear said: \"Little doggie, are you cold? Should I give you some shoes to wear?\" Suddenly he loudly shouted, \"Mama, doggie said he\'s cold, it nodded its head at me!\"\r\n\r\nNot long after, Hao Hao took off his own shoes, and put them on the dog\'s two front feet.\r\n\r\n\"Mama, there are still two feet missing!\" \r\n\r\n\"Which two feet are missing?\" \r\n\r\n\"Doggie is still missing shoes for two of his feet...\"\r\n\r\nBefore he\'d finished speaking, the dog barked woof woof woof, and ran away. Hao Hao hung his head, blushing, and he pulled at the corner of his clothes, too embarrassed to go to his mother, and he called out: \"The dog ran off wearing the new shoes, the dog and I are now the same, we both have two bare feet! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '960-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-01 15:03:28', '2011-12-01 20:03:28', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/01/960-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(969, 1, '2020-04-20 05:38:25', '2020-04-20 09:38:25', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nA short, sweet, very simple read about a boy, his dog, and a new pair of shoes. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120102-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Simple and Easy Chinese Childrens Stories for Reading Exercise\" title=\"Simple and Easy Chinese Childrens Stories for Reading Exercise\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In this story, the name of the young boy is 浩浩 [pinyin]hao4 hao4[/pinyin], and you\'ll see those two characters a lot. You\'ll also see in several places that characters are sometimes doubled up. When writing is intended for young children, you\'ll often see characters repeated twice. For example, while 小狗 means \'dog\', 狗狗 might be equivalent to \"doggie\" - it\'s essentially baby-talk. \n\nThere is one difficult little clause in this text, which is: 扯着衣角. Let\'s examine it piece-by-piece. 扯 [pinyin]che3[/pinyin] means to pull at something. 着 [pinyin]zhe5[/pinyin], in this instance, means \"ing\", or \"while doing\". So we\'ve now got \"Pulling at...\". Then there\'s 衣 [pinyin]yi1[/pinyin], meaning \"clothing\", so we now have \"Pulling at clothing...\". And finally 角 [pinyin]jiao3[/pinyin], corner. So the sentence reads \"Pulling at clothing corner\", or in better English, \"Pulling at the corner of his clothes\". \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>小狗穿鞋</h4>\n妈妈给三岁的浩浩买了一双新鞋，浩浩<strong>穿</strong>上后左看看，右瞧瞧。家里的小狗跑了过来，<strong>舔</strong>了舔浩浩的鞋。\n\n浩浩<strong>仰</strong>起头来，天真地问:“妈妈，狗狗冷吗？他怎么不穿鞋？”妈妈<strong>顺口</strong>说了一句:“你去问它吧。”\n\n<strong>于是</strong>浩浩<strong>低下头</strong>，对着小狗的<strong>耳朵</strong>说:“小狗狗，你冷吗？我给你穿鞋好吗？”<strong>突然</strong>他大叫起来:“妈妈，狗狗说它冷，它向我点头呢！”\n\n不知什么时候，浩浩把自己的鞋子<strong>脱</strong>了下来，<strong>套</strong>在小狗的两只前脚上。\n\n“妈妈，还<strong>差</strong>两只脚呢！”\n\n“差什么两只脚？”\n\n“狗狗还差两只脚没有鞋呢......”\n\n话还没说完，小狗汪汪汪地叫着，逃跑了。浩浩低着头、<strong>红着脸</strong>、扯着衣角，不好意思地向妈妈走去，嘴里念叨着:“新鞋让小狗穿走了，小狗现在和我一样，都<strong>光</strong>着两只脚啦！” \n</div>\n[/su_column]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\nMama bought three-year-old Hao Hao a new pair of shoes, Hao Hao put them on and turned this way and that looking at them [lit: turned left and looked, turned right and looked]. The household dog ran over and licked Hao Hao\'s shoes. \n\nHao Hao looked up, and naively said: \"Mama, is doggie cold? Why doesn\'t it wear shoes?\" Mama smoothly said: \"Go and ask it.\" \n\nSo Hao Hao looked down, and in the dog\'s ear said: \"Little doggie, are you cold? Should I give you some shoes to wear?\" Suddenly he loudly shouted, \"Mama, doggie said he\'s cold, it nodded its head at me!\"\n\nNot long after, Hao Hao took off his own shoes, and put them on the dog\'s two front feet.\n\n\"Mama, there are still two feet missing!\" \n\n\"Which two feet are missing?\" \n\n\"Doggie is still missing shoes for two of his feet...\"\n\nBefore he\'d finished speaking, the dog barked woof woof woof, and ran away. Hao Hao hung his head, blushing, and he pulled at the corner of his clothes, too embarrassed to go to his mother, and he called out: \"The dog ran off wearing the new shoes, the dog and I are now the same, we both have two bare feet! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '960-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:38:25', '2020-04-20 09:38:25', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/01/960-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(970, 1, '2011-12-01 15:12:34', '2011-12-01 20:12:34', '[two_third]\r\nA short, sweet, very simple read about a boy, his dog, and a new pair of shoes. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120102-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Simple and Easy Chinese Childrens Stories for Reading Exercise\" title=\"Simple and Easy Chinese Childrens Stories for Reading Exercise\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder\" />In this story, the name of the young boy is 浩浩 [pinyin]hao4 hao4[/pinyin], and you\'ll see those two characters a lot. You\'ll also see in several places that characters are sometimes doubled up. When writing is intended for young children, you\'ll often see characters repeated twice. For example, while 小狗 means \'dog\', 狗狗 might be equivalent to \"doggie\" - it\'s essentially baby-talk. \r\n\r\nThere is one difficult little clause in this text, which is: 扯着衣角. Let\'s examine it piece-by-piece. 扯 [pinyin]che3[/pinyin] means to pull at something. 着 [pinyin]zhe5[/pinyin], in this instance, means \"ing\", or \"while doing\". So we\'ve now got \"Pulling at...\". Then there\'s 衣 [pinyin]yi1[/pinyin], meaning \"clothing\", so we now have \"Pulling at clothing...\". And finally 角 [pinyin]jiao3[/pinyin], corner. So the sentence reads \"Pulling at clothing corner\", or in better English, \"Pulling at the corner of his clothes\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this story is: 小狗穿鞋\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穿 - [pinyin]chuan1[/pinyin] - To put on, wear\r\n舔 - [pinyin]tian3[/pinyin] - To lick\r\n仰 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To look up, face upwards\r\n顺口 - [pinyin]shun4 kou3[/pinyin] - To say smoothly, without thinking about it\r\n于是 - [pinyin]yun2 shi4[/pinyin] - And so..., thus\r\n低下头 - [pinyin]di1 xia4 tou2[/pinyin] - To lower one\'s head\r\n耳朵 - [pinyin]er3 duo5[/pinyin] - Ear\r\n突然 - [pinyin]tu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n脱 - [pinyin]tuo1[/pinyin] - To take off (clothes, shoes, etc.)\r\n套 - [pinyin]tao4[/pinyin] - To cover something, encase\r\n差 - [pinyin]cha1[/pinyin] - Be deficient, be missing, a discrepancy\r\n红脸 - [pinyin]hong2 lian3[/pinyin] - To blush, to turn red\r\n光 - [pinyin]guang1[/pinyin] - Bare, empty, none\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妈妈给三岁的浩浩买了一双新鞋，浩浩<strong>穿</strong>上后左看看，右瞧瞧。家里的小狗跑了过来，<strong>舔</strong>了舔浩浩的鞋。\r\n\r\n浩浩<strong>仰</strong>起头来，天真地问:“妈妈，狗狗冷吗？他怎么不穿鞋？”妈妈<strong>顺口</strong>说了一句:“你去问它吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>于是</strong>浩浩<strong>低下头</strong>，对着小狗的<strong>耳朵</strong>说:“小狗狗，你冷吗？我给你穿鞋好吗？”<strong>突然</strong>他大叫起来:“妈妈，狗狗说它冷，它向我点头呢！”\r\n\r\n不知什么时候，浩浩把自己的鞋子<strong>脱</strong>了下来，<strong>套</strong>在小狗的两只前脚上。\r\n\r\n“妈妈，还<strong>差</strong>两只脚呢！”\r\n\r\n“差什么两只脚？”\r\n\r\n“狗狗还差两只脚没有鞋呢......”\r\n\r\n话还没说完，小狗汪汪汪地叫着，逃跑了。浩浩低着头、<strong>红着脸</strong>、扯着衣角，不好意思地向妈妈走去，嘴里念叨着:“新鞋让小狗穿走了，小狗现在和我一样，都<strong>光</strong>着两只脚啦！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nMama bought three-year-old Hao Hao a new pair of shoes, Hao Hao put them on and turned this way and that looking at them [lit: turned left and looked, turned right and looked]. The household dog ran over and licked Hao Hao\'s shoes. \r\n\r\nHao Hao looked up, and naively said: \"Mama, is doggie cold? Why doesn\'t he wear shoes?\" Mama smoothly said: \"Go and ask it.\" \r\n\r\nSo Hao Hao looked down, and in the dog\'s ear said: \"Little doggie, are you cold? Should I give you some shoes to wear?\" Suddenly he loudly shouted, \"Mama, doggie said he\'s cold, it nodded its head at me!\"\r\n\r\nNot long after, Hao Hao took off his own shoes, and put them on the dog\'s two front feet.\r\n\r\n\"Mama, there are still two feet missing!\" \r\n\r\n\"Which two feet are missing?\" \r\n\r\n\"Doggie is still missing shoes for two of his feet...\"\r\n\r\nBefore he\'d finished speaking, the dog barked woof woof woof, and ran away. Hao Hao hung his head, blushing, and he pulled at the corner of his clothes, too embarrassed to go to his mother, and he called out: \"The dog ran off wearing the new shoes, the dog and I are now the same, we both have two bare feet! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '960-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-01 15:12:34', '2011-12-01 20:12:34', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/01/960-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(971, 1, '2011-12-01 15:12:51', '2011-12-01 20:12:51', '[two_third]\r\nA short, sweet, very simple read about a boy, his dog, and a new pair of shoes. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120102-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Simple and Easy Chinese Childrens Stories for Reading Exercise\" title=\"Simple and Easy Chinese Childrens Stories for Reading Exercise\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In this story, the name of the young boy is 浩浩 [pinyin]hao4 hao4[/pinyin], and you\'ll see those two characters a lot. You\'ll also see in several places that characters are sometimes doubled up. When writing is intended for young children, you\'ll often see characters repeated twice. For example, while 小狗 means \'dog\', 狗狗 might be equivalent to \"doggie\" - it\'s essentially baby-talk. \r\n\r\nThere is one difficult little clause in this text, which is: 扯着衣角. Let\'s examine it piece-by-piece. 扯 [pinyin]che3[/pinyin] means to pull at something. 着 [pinyin]zhe5[/pinyin], in this instance, means \"ing\", or \"while doing\". So we\'ve now got \"Pulling at...\". Then there\'s 衣 [pinyin]yi1[/pinyin], meaning \"clothing\", so we now have \"Pulling at clothing...\". And finally 角 [pinyin]jiao3[/pinyin], corner. So the sentence reads \"Pulling at clothing corner\", or in better English, \"Pulling at the corner of his clothes\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this story is: 小狗穿鞋\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穿 - [pinyin]chuan1[/pinyin] - To put on, wear\r\n舔 - [pinyin]tian3[/pinyin] - To lick\r\n仰 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To look up, face upwards\r\n顺口 - [pinyin]shun4 kou3[/pinyin] - To say smoothly, without thinking about it\r\n于是 - [pinyin]yun2 shi4[/pinyin] - And so..., thus\r\n低下头 - [pinyin]di1 xia4 tou2[/pinyin] - To lower one\'s head\r\n耳朵 - [pinyin]er3 duo5[/pinyin] - Ear\r\n突然 - [pinyin]tu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n脱 - [pinyin]tuo1[/pinyin] - To take off (clothes, shoes, etc.)\r\n套 - [pinyin]tao4[/pinyin] - To cover something, encase\r\n差 - [pinyin]cha1[/pinyin] - Be deficient, be missing, a discrepancy\r\n红脸 - [pinyin]hong2 lian3[/pinyin] - To blush, to turn red\r\n光 - [pinyin]guang1[/pinyin] - Bare, empty, none\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妈妈给三岁的浩浩买了一双新鞋，浩浩<strong>穿</strong>上后左看看，右瞧瞧。家里的小狗跑了过来，<strong>舔</strong>了舔浩浩的鞋。\r\n\r\n浩浩<strong>仰</strong>起头来，天真地问:“妈妈，狗狗冷吗？他怎么不穿鞋？”妈妈<strong>顺口</strong>说了一句:“你去问它吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>于是</strong>浩浩<strong>低下头</strong>，对着小狗的<strong>耳朵</strong>说:“小狗狗，你冷吗？我给你穿鞋好吗？”<strong>突然</strong>他大叫起来:“妈妈，狗狗说它冷，它向我点头呢！”\r\n\r\n不知什么时候，浩浩把自己的鞋子<strong>脱</strong>了下来，<strong>套</strong>在小狗的两只前脚上。\r\n\r\n“妈妈，还<strong>差</strong>两只脚呢！”\r\n\r\n“差什么两只脚？”\r\n\r\n“狗狗还差两只脚没有鞋呢......”\r\n\r\n话还没说完，小狗汪汪汪地叫着，逃跑了。浩浩低着头、<strong>红着脸</strong>、扯着衣角，不好意思地向妈妈走去，嘴里念叨着:“新鞋让小狗穿走了，小狗现在和我一样，都<strong>光</strong>着两只脚啦！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nMama bought three-year-old Hao Hao a new pair of shoes, Hao Hao put them on and turned this way and that looking at them [lit: turned left and looked, turned right and looked]. The household dog ran over and licked Hao Hao\'s shoes. \r\n\r\nHao Hao looked up, and naively said: \"Mama, is doggie cold? Why doesn\'t he wear shoes?\" Mama smoothly said: \"Go and ask it.\" \r\n\r\nSo Hao Hao looked down, and in the dog\'s ear said: \"Little doggie, are you cold? Should I give you some shoes to wear?\" Suddenly he loudly shouted, \"Mama, doggie said he\'s cold, it nodded its head at me!\"\r\n\r\nNot long after, Hao Hao took off his own shoes, and put them on the dog\'s two front feet.\r\n\r\n\"Mama, there are still two feet missing!\" \r\n\r\n\"Which two feet are missing?\" \r\n\r\n\"Doggie is still missing shoes for two of his feet...\"\r\n\r\nBefore he\'d finished speaking, the dog barked woof woof woof, and ran away. Hao Hao hung his head, blushing, and he pulled at the corner of his clothes, too embarrassed to go to his mother, and he called out: \"The dog ran off wearing the new shoes, the dog and I are now the same, we both have two bare feet! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Dog Wears Shoes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '960-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-01 15:12:51', '2011-12-01 20:12:51', '', 960, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/01/960-revision-8/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(972, 1, '2011-12-03 16:20:08', '2011-12-03 21:20:08', '', 'Advanced Chinese News Articles Translated in English - Practice Reading Chinese Headlines', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20111203', '', '', '2011-12-03 16:20:08', '2011-12-03 21:20:08', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/20111203.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(973, 1, '2011-12-03 16:21:04', '2011-12-03 21:21:04', '', 'Advanced Chinese News Articles Translated in English - Practice Reading Chinese Headlines', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20111203-inline', '', '', '2011-12-03 16:21:04', '2011-12-03 21:21:04', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/20111203-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` (`ID`, `post_author`, `post_date`, `post_date_gmt`, `post_content`, `post_title`, `post_excerpt`, `post_status`, `comment_status`, `ping_status`, `post_password`, `post_name`, `to_ping`, `pinged`, `post_modified`, `post_modified_gmt`, `post_content_filtered`, `post_parent`, `guid`, `menu_order`, `post_type`, `post_mime_type`, `comment_count`) VALUES
(2372, 1, '2020-05-22 22:41:54', '2020-05-23 02:41:54', '[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 Communist 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\nThis song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution, published in YEAR when Mao Zedong\'s cult of personality was in full swing. This rousing anthem worships the glory of Chairman Mao, with over-the-top . To be clear: this is not the Chinese national anthem, but it was almost as popular back when it was released, and most folks on mainland usually remember at least some of the lyrics. If you want to listen to the song with music and lyrics, you can check it out here.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.rensheng5.com/xiaogushi/id-9965.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</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>东方红</h4>\r\n东方红太阳升 \r\n中国出了个毛泽东\r\n他为人民谋幸福\r\n呼儿嗨哟\r\n他是人民大救星 \r\n他为人民谋幸福\r\n呼儿嗨哟 \r\n他是人民大救星\r\n\r\n毛主席爱人民 \r\n他是我们的带路人\r\n为了建设新中国 \r\n呼儿嗨哟\r\n领导我们向前进 \r\n为了建设新中国\r\n呼儿嗨哟 \r\n领导我们向前进\r\n\r\n共产党像太阳 \r\n照到那里那里亮\r\n哪里有了共产党 \r\n呼儿嗨哟\r\n那里人民得解放 \r\n哪里有了共产党\r\n呼儿嗨哟 \r\n那里人民得解放\r\n\r\n东方红太阳升 \r\n中国出了个毛泽东\r\n他为人民谋幸福\r\n呼儿嗨哟\r\n他是人民大救星\r\n他为人民谋幸福\r\n呼儿嗨哟 \r\n他是人民大救星 \r\n大救星\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\nChina GAVE BIRTH to Mao Zedong\r\nHe is working for the people\'s prosperity\r\n<em>Hu er hei yo</em>\r\nHe is the People\'s great emancipator \r\nHe is working for the people\'s prosperity\r\n<em>Hu er hei yo</em>\r\nHe is the People\'s great emancipator \r\n\r\nChairman Mao loves the people\r\nHe is our guide\r\nIn order to build New China\r\n<em>Hu er hei yo</em>\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\nIn order to build New China\r\n<em>Hu er hei yo</em>\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\n<em>Hu er hei yo</em>\r\nThe people there receive liberation\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\n<em>Hu er hei yo</em>\r\nThe people there receive liberation\r\n\r\n东方红太阳升 \r\n中国出了个毛泽东\r\n他为人民谋幸福\r\n呼儿嗨哟\r\n他是人民大救星\r\n他为人民谋幸福\r\n呼儿嗨哟 \r\n他是人民大救星 \r\n大救星\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist songs: 《东方红》- The East is Red', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2343-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-22 22:41:54', '2020-05-23 02:41:54', '', 2343, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/22/2343-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(976, 1, '2012-01-07 07:00:23', '2012-01-07 12:00:23', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis is the full translation of an article that was in the headlines of the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/03/interesting-headlines-series-2/\">Interesting Headlines: Series 2</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120107-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Advanced Chinese News Reading Practice - Advanced Chinese Newspaper Vocabulary\" title=\"Advanced Chinese News Reading Practice - Advanced Chinese Newspaper Vocabulary\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />This news story covers a new government initiative to help protect women from sexual harassment by providing special women-only taxis in the capital city Kuala Lumpur. \r\n\r\nHere, as usual, we see the two news words that you see in just about every article, 据 [pinyin]ju4[/pinyin], meaning \"according to\", as in \"According to reports...\", and also 称 [pinyin]cheng1[/pinyin], meaning \"to state\", as in \"Our sources state...\" or \"The Prime Minister stated today that...\". I know I keep harping on 称 every time the word comes up in a news post, but I can\'t stress strongly enough how often you\'ll see this word in the newspaper - it\'s in just about every article, and once you know what it means, news reading becomes that much clearer. This is news-specific language, so you\'ll also hear radio and TV news anchors say it a lot, but you won\'t often see or hear it elsewhere. \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>马来西亚推出50辆女性专用出租车 大受欢迎</h4>\r\n在<strong>马来西亚</strong>，女性常常成为抢劫、<strong>性骚扰</strong>和其他暴力行为的受害者。<strong>据</strong>法国媒体11月30日报道，为了更好地保护女性免受暴力侵害，马来西亚首都吉隆坡上周末推出了50辆只搭载女性的“女性出租车”。\r\n\r\n这些车的<strong>挡风玻璃</strong>顶端标有“女性出租车”字样，司机也是女性。与<strong>吉隆坡</strong>几家出租公司合作发起该项目的马来西亚<strong>妇女、家庭和社会发展部</strong>称，希望将“女性出租车”数量增加到400辆左右。\r\n\r\n此举受到了当地女性的热烈欢迎。“这<strong>项</strong><strong>举措</strong>当然很好，我们乘车时会感到更加安全。”26岁的办公室文员纳西尔说。不过，有的女司机担心男性乘客会因此流失；也有人<strong>担忧</strong>“女性出租车”的标志可能会使驾驶这种出租车的女司机成为<strong>袭击</strong>目标。\r\n\r\n马来西亚此前还曾推出粉红色女性专用火车车厢、只载女乘客的女性专用公交车，以免女性受到性骚扰等伤害。除了马来西亚，墨西哥、<strong>埃及</strong>、<strong>伊朗</strong>等国都曾推出女性专用出租车。\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 Malaysia, women often become the victims of robberies, sexual harassment and other violent acts. According to a November 30 French media report, in order to better protect women from violence, last weekend the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur released 50 \"women\'s taxis\" which will only transport women.  \r\n\r\nThe top of the windshields of these taxis show a sign reading \"women\'s taxi\", and the drivers are also women. the project is a cooperation between several of Kuala Lumpur\'s taxi companies and the project initiator, Malaysia\'s Department of Women, Family and Community Development, who said that they hope to increase the number of \"women\'s taxi\'s\" to 400.   \r\n\r\nThis has received a warm welcome from the local women. \"This act is of course very good, we can feel safer getting into a taxi,\" said 26-year-old office worker Na Xi Er (proper name). However, some female taxi drivers worry about the loss of male customers, and some people are concerned that because of what the \"women\'s only taxis\" symbolize, the female drivers will become the target of attacks.\r\n\r\nBefore this, Malaysia has already released pink women-only train carriages, as well as buses that only carry women, in order to [help women] avoid suffering harm from sexual harassment. Besides Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt, Iran and other countries have already unveiled women-only taxis. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'News: Malaysia Unveils Special Taxis for Women Only to Warm Welcome', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'news-malaysia-unveils-special-taxis-for-women-only-to-warm-welcome', '', '', '2020-04-20 12:03:41', '2020-04-20 16:03:41', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=976', 0, 'post', '', 3),
(1868, 1, '2020-04-20 07:33:09', '2020-04-20 11:33:09', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis is the full translation of an article that was in the headlines of the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/03/interesting-headlines-series-2/\">Interesting Headlines: Series 2</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120107-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Advanced Chinese News Reading Practice - Advanced Chinese Newspaper Vocabulary\" title=\"Advanced Chinese News Reading Practice - Advanced Chinese Newspaper Vocabulary\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />This news story covers a new government initiative to help protect women from sexual harassment by providing special women-only taxis in the capital city Kuala Lumpur. \r\n\r\nHere, as usual, we see the two news words that you see in just about every article, 据 [pinyin]ju4[/pinyin], meaning \"according to\", as in \"According to reports...\", and also 称 [pinyin]cheng1[/pinyin], meaning \"to state\", as in \"Our sources state...\" or \"The Prime Minister stated today that...\". I know I keep harping on 称 every time the word comes up in a news post, but I can\'t stress strongly enough how often you\'ll see this word in the newspaper - it\'s in just about every article, and once you know what it means, news reading becomes that much clearer. This is news-specific language, so you\'ll also hear radio and TV news anchors say it a lot, but you won\'t often see or hear it elsewhere. \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>马来西亚推出50辆女性专用出租车 大受欢迎</h4>\r\n在<strong>马来西亚</strong>，女性常常成为抢劫、<strong>性骚扰</strong>和其他暴力行为的受害者。<strong>据</strong>法国媒体11月30日报道，为了更好地保护女性免受暴力侵害，马来西亚首都吉隆坡上周末推出了50辆只搭载女性的“女性出租车”。\r\n\r\n这些车的<strong>挡风玻璃</strong>顶端标有“女性出租车”字样，司机也是女性。与<strong>吉隆坡</strong>几家出租公司合作发起该项目的马来西亚<strong>妇女、家庭和社会发展部</strong>称，希望将“女性出租车”数量增加到400辆左右。\r\n\r\n此举受到了当地女性的热烈欢迎。“这<strong>项</strong><strong>举措</strong>当然很好，我们乘车时会感到更加安全。”26岁的办公室文员纳西尔说。不过，有的女司机担心男性乘客会因此流失；也有人<strong>担忧</strong>“女性出租车”的标志可能会使驾驶这种出租车的女司机成为<strong>袭击</strong>目标。\r\n\r\n马来西亚此前还曾推出粉红色女性专用火车车厢、只载女乘客的女性专用公交车，以免女性受到性骚扰等伤害。除了马来西亚，墨西哥、<strong>埃及</strong>、<strong>伊朗</strong>等国都曾推出女性专用出租车。\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 Malaysia, women often become the victims of robberies, sexual harassment and other violent acts. According to a November 30 French media report, in order to better protect women from violence, last weekend the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur released 50 \"women\'s taxis\" which will only transport women.  \r\n\r\nThe top of the windshields of these taxis show a sign reading \"women\'s taxi\", and the drivers are also women. the project is a cooperation between several of Kuala Lumpur\'s taxi companies and the project initiator, Malaysia\'s Department of Women, Family and Community Development, who said that they hope to increase the number of \"women\'s taxi\'s\" to 400.   \r\n\r\nThis has received a warm welcome from the local women. \"This act is of course very good, we can feel safer getting into a taxi,\" said 26-year-old office worker Na Xi Er (proper name). However, some female taxi drivers worry about the loss of male customers, and some people are concerned that because of what the \"women\'s only taxis\" symbolize, the female drivers will become the target of attacks.\r\n\r\nBefore this, Malaysia has already released pink women-only train carriages, as well as buses that only carry women, in order to [help women] avoid suffering harm from sexual harassment. Besides Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt, Iran and other countries have already unveiled women-only taxis. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'News: Malaysia Unveils Special Taxis for Women Only to Warm Welcome', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '976-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:33:09', '2020-04-20 11:33:09', '', 976, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/976-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(977, 1, '2011-12-03 16:47:07', '2011-12-03 21:47:07', '[two_third]\nThis is the full translation of an article I <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/03/interesting-headlines-series-2/\">Interesting Headlines: Series 2</a>, . <!--more-->\n\nThe Chinese title of this article is: 马来西亚推出50辆女性专用出租车 大受欢迎\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n派 - [pinyin]pai4[/pinyin] - To dispatch, to send\n支援 - [pinyin]zhi1 yuan2[/pinyin] - To provide assistance\n挡不住 - [pinyin]dan3 bu4 zhu4[/pinyin] - Cannot prevent, cannot detain\n变性者 - [pinyin]bian4 xing4 zhe3[/pinyin] - Transvestite\n白马王子 - [pinyin]bai2 ma3 wang2 zi3[/pinyin] - Prince Charming\n外交部 - [pinyin]wai4 jiao1 bu4[/pinyin] - Ministry of Foreign Affairs\n他信 - [pinyin]ta1 xin4[/pinyin] - Thaksin Shinawatra, former Thai prime minister, currently in exile\n英拉 - [pinyin]ying1 la1[/pinyin] - Yingluck Shinawatra, current Thai prime minister, and Thaksin\'s sister\n亮相 - [pinyin]liang4 xiang4[/pinyin] - To be revealed, to see the light of day\n专用 - [pinyin]zhuan1 yong4[/pinyin] - Specially for..., set aside for special use\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n1) 担心伦敦奥运会安保人手不够 美国欲<strong>派</strong>千人<strong>支援</strong>\nInternational: <a href=\"http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqgj/2011-11/15/content_14093601.htm\">Read it on China Daily</a>\n\n2) 年龄<strong>挡不住</strong>一颗要当女人的心！英最老<strong>变性者</strong>期待“<strong>白马王子</strong>”\nHuman Interest: <a href=\"http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqgj/2011-11/15/content_14093661.htm\">Read it on China Daily</a>\n\n3) 泰国<strong>外交部</strong>拟给<strong>他信</strong>发放护照 总理<strong>英拉</strong>强调没有干预\nPolitics: <a href=\"http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqgj/2011-12/03/content_14206203.htm\">Read it on China Daily</a>\n\n4) 世界最大3D绘画<strong>亮相</strong>伦敦街头\nArt: <a href=\"http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqgj/2011-11/21/content_14129786.htm\">Read it on China Daily</a>\n\n5) 马来西亚推出50辆女性<strong>专用</strong>出租车 大受欢迎\nInternational: <a href=\"http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqgj/2011-12/02/content_14198283.htm\">Read it on China Daily</a>\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n1) London Olympics \nWorried About Lack of Security, America to send 1000 People to Help \n\n2) Age can\'t get in the way of the heart that wants to become a woman! England\'s oldest transvestite is awaiting her \"Prince Charming\" \n\n3) Thailand\'s Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to issue Thaksin a passport, Prime Minister Yingluck stated she did not intervene \n\n4) The world\'s largest 3D picture is revealed on the streets of London \n\n5) Malaysia releases 50 special women\'s taxis to popular welcome \n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Malaysia Unveils Special Taxis for Women Only to Warm Welcome', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '976-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-03 16:47:07', '2011-12-03 21:47:07', '', 976, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/03/976-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2383, 1, '2020-05-23 23:35:24', '2020-05-24 03:35:24', '[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\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哪里有了共产党 \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哪里有了共产党\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', '', '', '2020-05-23 23:35:24', '2020-05-24 03:35:24', '', 2343, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/23/2343-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(978, 1, '2011-12-03 17:07:53', '2011-12-03 22:07:53', '[two_third]\nThis is the full translation of an article that was in the headlines of the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/03/interesting-headlines-series-2/\">Interesting Headlines: Series 2</a>. <!--more-->\n\nThe Chinese title of this article is: 马来西亚推出50辆女性专用出租车 大受欢迎\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n派 - [pinyin]pai4[/pinyin] - To dispatch, to send\n支援 - [pinyin]zhi1 yuan2[/pinyin] - To provide assistance\n挡不住 - [pinyin]dan3 bu4 zhu4[/pinyin] - Cannot prevent, cannot detain\n变性者 - [pinyin]bian4 xing4 zhe3[/pinyin] - Transvestite\n白马王子 - [pinyin]bai2 ma3 wang2 zi3[/pinyin] - Prince Charming\n外交部 - [pinyin]wai4 jiao1 bu4[/pinyin] - Ministry of Foreign Affairs\n他信 - [pinyin]ta1 xin4[/pinyin] - Thaksin Shinawatra, former Thai prime minister, currently in exile\n英拉 - [pinyin]ying1 la1[/pinyin] - Yingluck Shinawatra, current Thai prime minister, and Thaksin\'s sister\n亮相 - [pinyin]liang4 xiang4[/pinyin] - To be revealed, to see the light of day\n专用 - [pinyin]zhuan1 yong4[/pinyin] - Specially for..., set aside for special use\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n在马来西亚，女性常常成为抢劫、性骚扰和其他暴力行为的受害者。据法国媒体11月30日报道，为了更好地保护女性免受暴力侵害，马来西亚首都吉隆坡上周末推出了50辆只搭载女性的“女性出租车”。\n\n这些车的挡风玻璃顶端标有“女性出租车”字样，司机也是女性。与吉隆坡几家出租公司合作发起该项目的马来西亚妇女、家庭和社会发展部称，希望将“女性出租车”数量增加到400辆左右。\n\n此举受到了当地女性的热烈欢迎。“这项举措当然很好，我们乘车时会感到更加安全。”26岁的办公室文员纳西尔说。不过，有的女司机担心男性乘客会因此流失；也有人担忧“女性出租车”的标志可能会使驾驶这种出租车的女司机成为袭击目标。\n\n马来西亚此前还曾推出粉红色女性专用火车车厢、只载女乘客的女性专用公交车，以免女性受到性骚扰等伤害。除了马来西亚，墨西哥、埃及、伊朗等国都曾推出女性专用出租车。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn Malaysia, women often become the victims of robberies, sexual harassment and other violent acts. According to a November 30 French media report, in order to better protect women from violence, last weekend the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur released 50 \"women\'s taxis\" which will only transport women.  \n\nThe top of the windshields of these taxis show a sign reading \"women\'s taxi\", and the drivers are also women. the project is a cooperation between several of Kuala Lumpur\'s taxi companies and the project initiator, Malaysia\'s Department of Women, Family and Community Development, who said that they   与吉隆坡几家出租公司合作发起该项目的马来西亚妇女、家庭和社会发展部称，希望将“女性出租车”数量增加到400辆左右。\n\n此举受到了当地女性的热烈欢迎。“这项举措当然很好，我们乘车时会感到更加安全。”26岁的办公室文员纳西尔说。不过，有的女司机担心男性乘客会因此流失；也有人担忧“女性出租车”的标志可能会使驾驶这种出租车的女司机成为袭击目标。\n\n马来西亚此前还曾推出粉红色女性专用火车车厢、只载女乘客的女性专用公交车，以免女性受到性骚扰等伤害。除了马来西亚，墨西哥、埃及、伊朗等国都曾推出女性专用出租车。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Malaysia Unveils Special Taxis for Women Only to Warm Welcome', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '976-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-03 17:07:53', '2011-12-03 22:07:53', '', 976, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/03/976-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(981, 1, '2011-12-05 15:38:29', '2011-12-05 20:38:29', '[two_third]\r\nThis is the full translation of an article that was in the headlines of the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/03/interesting-headlines-series-2/\">Interesting Headlines: Series 2</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this article is: 马来西亚推出50辆女性专用出租车 大受欢迎\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派 - [pinyin]pai4[/pinyin] - To dispatch, to send\r\n支援 - [pinyin]zhi1 yuan2[/pinyin] - To provide assistance\r\n挡不住 - [pinyin]dan3 bu4 zhu4[/pinyin] - Cannot prevent, cannot detain\r\n变性者 - [pinyin]bian4 xing4 zhe3[/pinyin] - Transvestite\r\n白马王子 - [pinyin]bai2 ma3 wang2 zi3[/pinyin] - Prince Charming\r\n外交部 - [pinyin]wai4 jiao1 bu4[/pinyin] - Ministry of Foreign Affairs\r\n他信 - [pinyin]ta1 xin4[/pinyin] - Thaksin Shinawatra, former Thai prime minister, currently in exile\r\n英拉 - [pinyin]ying1 la1[/pinyin] - Yingluck Shinawatra, current Thai prime minister, and Thaksin\'s sister\r\n亮相 - [pinyin]liang4 xiang4[/pinyin] - To be revealed, to see the light of day\r\n专用 - [pinyin]zhuan1 yong4[/pinyin] - Specially for..., set aside for special use\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在马来西亚，女性常常成为抢劫、性骚扰和其他暴力行为的受害者。据法国媒体11月30日报道，为了更好地保护女性免受暴力侵害，马来西亚首都吉隆坡上周末推出了50辆只搭载女性的“女性出租车”。\r\n\r\n这些车的挡风玻璃顶端标有“女性出租车”字样，司机也是女性。与吉隆坡几家出租公司合作发起该项目的马来西亚妇女、家庭和社会发展部称，希望将“女性出租车”数量增加到400辆左右。\r\n\r\n此举受到了当地女性的热烈欢迎。“这项举措当然很好，我们乘车时会感到更加安全。”26岁的办公室文员纳西尔说。不过，有的女司机担心男性乘客会因此流失；也有人担忧“女性出租车”的标志可能会使驾驶这种出租车的女司机成为袭击目标。\r\n\r\n马来西亚此前还曾推出粉红色女性专用火车车厢、只载女乘客的女性专用公交车，以免女性受到性骚扰等伤害。除了马来西亚，墨西哥、埃及、伊朗等国都曾推出女性专用出租车。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn Malaysia, women often become the victims of robberies, sexual harassment and other violent acts. According to a November 30 French media report, in order to better protect women from violence, last weekend the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur released 50 \"women\'s taxis\" which will only transport women.  \r\n\r\nThe top of the windshields of these taxis show a sign reading \"women\'s taxi\", and the drivers are also women. the project is a cooperation between several of Kuala Lumpur\'s taxi companies and the project initiator, Malaysia\'s Department of Women, Family and Community Development, who said that they hope to increase the number of \"women\'s taxi\'s\" to 400.   \r\n\r\nThis has received a warm welcome from the local women. \"This act is of course very good, we can feel safer getting into a taxi,\" said 26-year-old office worker Na Xi Er (proper name). However, some female taxi drivers worry about the loss of male customers, and some people are concerned that because of what the \"women\'s only taxis\" symbolize, the female drivers will become the target of attacks.\r\n\r\nBefore this, Malaysia has already released pink women-only train carriages, as well as buses that only carry women, in order to [help women] avoid suffering harm from sexual harassment. Besides Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt, Iran and other countries have already unveiled women-only taxis. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Malaysia Unveils Special Taxis for Women Only to Warm Welcome', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '976-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-05 15:38:29', '2011-12-05 20:38:29', '', 976, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/05/976-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(980, 1, '2011-12-05 15:37:55', '2011-12-05 20:37:55', '[two_third]\nThis is the full translation of an article that was in the headlines of the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/03/interesting-headlines-series-2/\">Interesting Headlines: Series 2</a>. <!--more-->\n\nThe Chinese title of this article is: 马来西亚推出50辆女性专用出租车 大受欢迎\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n派 - [pinyin]pai4[/pinyin] - To dispatch, to send\n支援 - [pinyin]zhi1 yuan2[/pinyin] - To provide assistance\n挡不住 - [pinyin]dan3 bu4 zhu4[/pinyin] - Cannot prevent, cannot detain\n变性者 - [pinyin]bian4 xing4 zhe3[/pinyin] - Transvestite\n白马王子 - [pinyin]bai2 ma3 wang2 zi3[/pinyin] - Prince Charming\n外交部 - [pinyin]wai4 jiao1 bu4[/pinyin] - Ministry of Foreign Affairs\n他信 - [pinyin]ta1 xin4[/pinyin] - Thaksin Shinawatra, former Thai prime minister, currently in exile\n英拉 - [pinyin]ying1 la1[/pinyin] - Yingluck Shinawatra, current Thai prime minister, and Thaksin\'s sister\n亮相 - [pinyin]liang4 xiang4[/pinyin] - To be revealed, to see the light of day\n专用 - [pinyin]zhuan1 yong4[/pinyin] - Specially for..., set aside for special use\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n在马来西亚，女性常常成为抢劫、性骚扰和其他暴力行为的受害者。据法国媒体11月30日报道，为了更好地保护女性免受暴力侵害，马来西亚首都吉隆坡上周末推出了50辆只搭载女性的“女性出租车”。\n\n这些车的挡风玻璃顶端标有“女性出租车”字样，司机也是女性。与吉隆坡几家出租公司合作发起该项目的马来西亚妇女、家庭和社会发展部称，希望将“女性出租车”数量增加到400辆左右。\n\n此举受到了当地女性的热烈欢迎。“这项举措当然很好，我们乘车时会感到更加安全。”26岁的办公室文员纳西尔说。不过，有的女司机担心男性乘客会因此流失；也有人担忧“女性出租车”的标志可能会使驾驶这种出租车的女司机成为袭击目标。\n\n马来西亚此前还曾推出粉红色女性专用火车车厢、只载女乘客的女性专用公交车，以免女性受到性骚扰等伤害。除了马来西亚，墨西哥、埃及、伊朗等国都曾推出女性专用出租车。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn Malaysia, women often become the victims of robberies, sexual harassment and other violent acts. According to a November 30 French media report, in order to better protect women from violence, last weekend the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur released 50 \"women\'s taxis\" which will only transport women.  \n\nThe top of the windshields of these taxis show a sign reading \"women\'s taxi\", and the drivers are also women. the project is a cooperation between several of Kuala Lumpur\'s taxi companies and the project initiator, Malaysia\'s Department of Women, Family and Community Development, who said that they hope to increase the number of \"women\'s taxi\'s\" to 400.   \n\nThis has received a warm welcome from the local women. \"This act is of course very good, we can feel safer getting into a taxi,\" said 26-year-old office worker Na Xi Er (proper name). However, some female taxi drivers worry about the loss of male customers, and some people are concerned that because of what the \"women\'s only taxis\" symbolize, the female drivers will become the target of attacks.\n\nBefore this, Malaysia has already released pink women-only train carriages, as well as buses that only carry women, in order to [help women] avoid suffering harm from sexual harassment. Besides Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt, Iran and other countries 马来西亚此前还曾推出粉红色女性专用火车车厢、只载女乘客的女性专用公交车，以免女性受到性骚扰等伤害。除了马来西亚，墨西哥、埃及、伊朗等国都曾推出女性专用出租车。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Malaysia Unveils Special Taxis for Women Only to Warm Welcome', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '976-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-05 15:37:55', '2011-12-05 20:37:55', '', 976, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/05/976-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(982, 1, '2011-12-05 15:44:53', '2011-12-05 20:44:53', '[two_third]\r\nThis is the full translation of an article that was in the headlines of the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/03/interesting-headlines-series-2/\">Interesting Headlines: Series 2</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this article is: 马来西亚推出50辆女性专用出租车 大受欢迎\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马来西亚 - [pinyin]ma3 lai2 xi1 ya4[/pinyin] - Malaysia\r\n性骚扰 - [pinyin]xing4 sao1 rao3[/pinyin] - Sexual Harassment\r\n据 - [pinyin]ju4[/pinyin] - According to (reports, etc.)\r\n挡风玻璃 - [pinyin]dang3 feng1 bo1 li5[/pinyin] - Windshield\r\n吉隆坡 - [pinyin]ji2 long2 po1[/pinyin] - Kuala Lumpur\r\n妇女、家庭和社会发展部 - [pinyin]fu4 nv3 jiao1 [/pinyin] - Prince Charming\r\n项 - [pinyin]wai4 jiao1 bu4[/pinyin] - Ministry of Foreign Affairs\r\n举措 - [pinyin]ta1 xin4[/pinyin] - Thaksin Shinawatra, former Thai prime minister, currently in exile\r\n担忧 - [pinyin]ying1 la1[/pinyin] - Yingluck Shinawatra, current Thai prime minister, and Thaksin\'s sister\r\n袭击 - [pinyin]liang4 xiang4[/pinyin] - To be revealed, to see the light of day\r\n埃及 - [pinyin]zhuan1 yong4[/pinyin] - Specially for..., set aside for special use\r\n伊朗\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在<strong>马来西亚</strong>，女性常常成为抢劫、<strong>性骚扰</strong>和其他暴力行为的受害者。<strong>据</strong>法国媒体11月30日报道，为了更好地保护女性免受暴力侵害，马来西亚首都吉隆坡上周末推出了50辆只搭载女性的“女性出租车”。\r\n\r\n这些车的<strong>挡风玻璃</strong>顶端标有“女性出租车”字样，司机也是女性。与<strong>吉隆坡</strong>几家出租公司合作发起该项目的马来西亚<strong>妇女、家庭和社会发展部</strong>称，希望将“女性出租车”数量增加到400辆左右。\r\n\r\n此举受到了当地女性的热烈欢迎。“这<strong>项</strong><strong>举措</strong>当然很好，我们乘车时会感到更加安全。”26岁的办公室文员纳西尔说。不过，有的女司机担心男性乘客会因此流失；也有人<strong>担忧</strong>“女性出租车”的标志可能会使驾驶这种出租车的女司机成为<strong>袭击</strong>目标。\r\n\r\n马来西亚此前还曾推出粉红色女性专用火车车厢、只载女乘客的女性专用公交车，以免女性受到性骚扰等伤害。除了马来西亚，墨西哥、<strong>埃及</strong>、<strong>伊朗</strong>等国都曾推出女性专用出租车。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn Malaysia, women often become the victims of robberies, sexual harassment and other violent acts. According to a November 30 French media report, in order to better protect women from violence, last weekend the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur released 50 \"women\'s taxis\" which will only transport women.  \r\n\r\nThe top of the windshields of these taxis show a sign reading \"women\'s taxi\", and the drivers are also women. the project is a cooperation between several of Kuala Lumpur\'s taxi companies and the project initiator, Malaysia\'s Department of Women, Family and Community Development, who said that they hope to increase the number of \"women\'s taxi\'s\" to 400.   \r\n\r\nThis has received a warm welcome from the local women. \"This act is of course very good, we can feel safer getting into a taxi,\" said 26-year-old office worker Na Xi Er (proper name). However, some female taxi drivers worry about the loss of male customers, and some people are concerned that because of what the \"women\'s only taxis\" symbolize, the female drivers will become the target of attacks.\r\n\r\nBefore this, Malaysia has already released pink women-only train carriages, as well as buses that only carry women, in order to [help women] avoid suffering harm from sexual harassment. Besides Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt, Iran and other countries have already unveiled women-only taxis. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Malaysia Unveils Special Taxis for Women Only to Warm Welcome', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '976-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-05 15:44:53', '2011-12-05 20:44:53', '', 976, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/05/976-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(983, 1, '2011-12-05 15:50:13', '2011-12-05 20:50:13', '', 'Advanced Chinese News Reading Practice - Advanced Chinese Newspaper Vocabulary', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120107', '', '', '2011-12-05 15:50:13', '2011-12-05 20:50:13', '', 976, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120107.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(984, 1, '2011-12-05 15:51:42', '2011-12-05 20:51:42', '', 'Advanced Chinese News Reading Practice - Advanced Chinese Newspaper Vocabulary', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120107-inline', '', '', '2011-12-05 15:51:42', '2011-12-05 20:51:42', '', 976, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120107-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(985, 1, '2011-12-05 15:48:07', '2011-12-05 20:48:07', '[two_third]\r\nThis is the full translation of an article that was in the headlines of the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/03/interesting-headlines-series-2/\">Interesting Headlines: Series 2</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this article is: 马来西亚推出50辆女性专用出租车 大受欢迎\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马来西亚 - [pinyin]ma3 lai2 xi1 ya4[/pinyin] - Malaysia\r\n性骚扰 - [pinyin]xing4 sao1 rao3[/pinyin] - Sexual Harassment\r\n据 - [pinyin]ju4[/pinyin] - According to (reports, etc.)\r\n挡风玻璃 - [pinyin]dang3 feng1 bo1 li5[/pinyin] - Windshield\r\n吉隆坡 - [pinyin]ji2 long2 po1[/pinyin] - Kuala Lumpur\r\n妇女、家庭和社会发展部 - [pinyin]fu4 nv3 jia1 ting2 he2 she4 hui4 fa1 zhan3 bu4 [/pinyin] - Department of Women, Family and Community Development\r\n项 - [pinyin]xiang4[/pinyin] - Classifier for projects, actions, decisions and tasks\r\n举措 - [pinyin]ju3 cuo4[/pinyin] - Action, decision\r\n担忧 - [pinyin]dan1 you1[/pinyin] - To be concerned \r\n袭击 - [pinyin]xi2 ji1[/pinyin] - An attack, esp. by surprise\r\n埃及 - [pinyin]ai1 ji2[/pinyin] - Egypt\r\n伊朗 - [pinyin]yi1 lang3[/pinyin] - Iran\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在<strong>马来西亚</strong>，女性常常成为抢劫、<strong>性骚扰</strong>和其他暴力行为的受害者。<strong>据</strong>法国媒体11月30日报道，为了更好地保护女性免受暴力侵害，马来西亚首都吉隆坡上周末推出了50辆只搭载女性的“女性出租车”。\r\n\r\n这些车的<strong>挡风玻璃</strong>顶端标有“女性出租车”字样，司机也是女性。与<strong>吉隆坡</strong>几家出租公司合作发起该项目的马来西亚<strong>妇女、家庭和社会发展部</strong>称，希望将“女性出租车”数量增加到400辆左右。\r\n\r\n此举受到了当地女性的热烈欢迎。“这<strong>项</strong><strong>举措</strong>当然很好，我们乘车时会感到更加安全。”26岁的办公室文员纳西尔说。不过，有的女司机担心男性乘客会因此流失；也有人<strong>担忧</strong>“女性出租车”的标志可能会使驾驶这种出租车的女司机成为<strong>袭击</strong>目标。\r\n\r\n马来西亚此前还曾推出粉红色女性专用火车车厢、只载女乘客的女性专用公交车，以免女性受到性骚扰等伤害。除了马来西亚，墨西哥、<strong>埃及</strong>、<strong>伊朗</strong>等国都曾推出女性专用出租车。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn Malaysia, women often become the victims of robberies, sexual harassment and other violent acts. According to a November 30 French media report, in order to better protect women from violence, last weekend the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur released 50 \"women\'s taxis\" which will only transport women.  \r\n\r\nThe top of the windshields of these taxis show a sign reading \"women\'s taxi\", and the drivers are also women. the project is a cooperation between several of Kuala Lumpur\'s taxi companies and the project initiator, Malaysia\'s Department of Women, Family and Community Development, who said that they hope to increase the number of \"women\'s taxi\'s\" to 400.   \r\n\r\nThis has received a warm welcome from the local women. \"This act is of course very good, we can feel safer getting into a taxi,\" said 26-year-old office worker Na Xi Er (proper name). However, some female taxi drivers worry about the loss of male customers, and some people are concerned that because of what the \"women\'s only taxis\" symbolize, the female drivers will become the target of attacks.\r\n\r\nBefore this, Malaysia has already released pink women-only train carriages, as well as buses that only carry women, in order to [help women] avoid suffering harm from sexual harassment. Besides Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt, Iran and other countries have already unveiled women-only taxis. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Malaysia Unveils Special Taxis for Women Only to Warm Welcome', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '976-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-05 15:48:07', '2011-12-05 20:48:07', '', 976, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/05/976-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1787, 1, '2020-04-20 05:30:21', '2020-04-20 09:30:21', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis is the backstory behind the Chinese idiom 鹬蚌相争 [pinyin]yu4 bang4 xiang1 zheng1[/pinyin], which translates to \"The Sandpiper and the Clam Fight Each Other\", and means \"Two parties fight and a third party benefits.\" <!--more-->\r\n\r\nCool upper-intermediate piece - in case it hasn\'t been obvious throughout these posts, I love classical stories about wily government counselors and should probably post about something else on occasion, but so many classical tales involve this trope that it\'s hard to avoid. \r\n\r\nThis piece is cool because - excepting the first sentence - the sentence structure is simple but there are quite a few classical words, so you\'ll learn some historical terms. In case you think this kind of thing isn\'t really useful, think again. Historical figures in the Chinese dynasties are mentioned frequently in the oddest places, and their stories bleed out into every medium. If you\'re at a museum, if you\'re reading Chinese magazines, if you\'re reading Chinese historical essays, if you\'re watching a TV show or book or listening to the radio, you\'ll see mentions of historical dynasties all the time. But most importantly, if you want to watch Chinese war movies or period pieces (and there are some great ones), this vocab is crucial. You might as well know at least when to recognize that the conversation has gone that way.\r\n\r\nThis short story takes place during the Warring States period (475 BC to 221 BC), and mentions three of the seven warring kingdoms of that time, so you\'ll learn some dynasty names: 赵国 [pinyin]zhao4 guo2[/pinyin] (The Zhao State), 燕国 [pinyin]yan1 guo2[/pinyin] (The Yan State), and 秦国 [pinyin]qin2 guo2[/pinyin] (the Qin State). Speaking of dynasties, when you\'re reading this, look out for the word 王[pinyin]wang2[/pinyin] - as you probably know at this point in your studies, 王means \"king\", and when you see that, you can sometimes guess that the two or three characters before this word are the name of the king. Unlike in English, where we say \"King Charles\" or \"King John\", in this case the Chinese put \"king\" after the name. For example, in this story, we have 赵惠文王 - King Huiwen of Zhao (in other words, king of the Zhao state).\r\n\r\nWhat\'s amusing about this story is that in reality, the Qin Dynasty came out on top of the Warring States period and ruled China (well, for a decade or so, anyway) after the Warring States were over - so bear that in mind as you read the last sentence. \r\n\r\nYou\'ll also meet our protagonist 苏代 [pinyin]su1 dai4[/pinyin] - who he is is explained in the first sentence, but suffice to say that 苏代 is a person\'s name. He\'s mentioned in conjunction with 纵横家 [pinyin]zong4 heng2 jia1[/pinyin], the School of Diplomacy, which was a sort of league of scholar-statesmen from the Warring States period. If you\'re interested, you can <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Diplomacy\">read more about it on Wikipedia</a>. \r\n\r\nAnyway, I\'m making this story sound really complicated, but other than the historical terminology, the storyline is not at all convoluted. \r\n\r\nOriginal story is here: <a href=\"http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html\">http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html</a>\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>鹬蚌相争</h4>\r\n赵国将要讨伐燕国，苏代(战国时<strong>策士</strong>，纵横家苏秦的弟弟)替燕国游说赵惠文王，讲了<strong>如下</strong>的<strong>寓言</strong>故事: \r\n\r\n“我来的时候经过<strong>易水</strong>，<strong>恰好</strong>看到<strong>蚌</strong>出来晒太阳。<strong>鹬</strong>趁机啄蚌的肉，蚌把两扇<strong>介壳</strong>一闭就夹住了鹬的喙。鹬说:‘今天不下雨，明天不下雨，就有死蚌。’蚌也<strong>针锋相对</strong>地说: ‘今天不出，明天不出(夹住不放)，就有死鹬。’<strong>两者</strong>谁也不肯罢休，这时过来一个<strong>渔父</strong>把两者一起拎走了。”燕赵相对抗，都搞得很<strong>疲劳</strong>，我恐怕强大的秦国正在<strong>扮演</strong>渔父的角色，所以希望大王<strong>深思熟虑</strong>。\r\n\r\n惠文王赞同苏代的意见，停止对燕国用兵。\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 Zhao State was taking up arms against the Yan State, and Su Dai (a military strategist during the Warring States period, and little brother to Su Qin of the School of Diplomacy) traveled to speak with King HuiWen of Zhao on behalf of the Yan State, and he told the following fable: \r\n\r\n\"When I was coming here I passed over some gentle water, and by chance I happened to see a clam sunning itself. A sandpiper seized the opportunity to peck at the clam\'s meat, but the clam slammed the two wings of its hard shell shut on the sandpiper\'s beak. The sandpiper said, \'Today it won\'t rain, tomorrow it won\'t rain, and there will be one dead clam!\' The clam gave as good as he got, saying: \'I won\'t come out today, I won\'t come out tomorrow (so your beak won\'t be free), and there will be one dead sandpiper!\' Neither party was willing to give up, and at this time, a fisherman scooped them both up and carried them off. If Yan and Zhao oppose each other, we\'ll both fight ourselves weary. I\'m afraid the strong Qin State is playing the role of the fisherman, so I hope that your majesty will carefully deliberate on this matter.\" \r\n\r\nKing HuiWen approved of SuDai\'s message, and stopped using armed forces against the Yan State.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_row]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: 鹬蚌相争', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1036-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:30:21', '2020-04-20 09:30:21', '', 1036, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1036-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` (`ID`, `post_author`, `post_date`, `post_date_gmt`, `post_content`, `post_title`, `post_excerpt`, `post_status`, `comment_status`, `ping_status`, `post_password`, `post_name`, `to_ping`, `pinged`, `post_modified`, `post_modified_gmt`, `post_content_filtered`, `post_parent`, `guid`, `menu_order`, `post_type`, `post_mime_type`, `comment_count`) VALUES
(987, 1, '2011-12-05 15:51:54', '2011-12-05 20:51:54', '[two_third]\r\nThis is the full translation of an article that was in the headlines of the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/03/interesting-headlines-series-2/\">Interesting Headlines: Series 2</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20120107-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Advanced Chinese News Reading Practice - Advanced Chinese Newspaper Vocabulary\" title=\"Advanced Chinese News Reading Practice - Advanced Chinese Newspaper Vocabulary\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />\r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this article is: 马来西亚推出50辆女性专用出租车 大受欢迎\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马来西亚 - [pinyin]ma3 lai2 xi1 ya4[/pinyin] - Malaysia\r\n性骚扰 - [pinyin]xing4 sao1 rao3[/pinyin] - Sexual Harassment\r\n据 - [pinyin]ju4[/pinyin] - According to (reports, etc.)\r\n挡风玻璃 - [pinyin]dang3 feng1 bo1 li5[/pinyin] - Windshield\r\n吉隆坡 - [pinyin]ji2 long2 po1[/pinyin] - Kuala Lumpur\r\n妇女、家庭和社会发展部 - [pinyin]fu4 nv3 jia1 ting2 he2 she4 hui4 fa1 zhan3 bu4 [/pinyin] - Department of Women, Family and Community Development\r\n项 - [pinyin]xiang4[/pinyin] - Classifier for projects, actions, decisions and tasks\r\n举措 - [pinyin]ju3 cuo4[/pinyin] - Action, decision\r\n担忧 - [pinyin]dan1 you1[/pinyin] - To be concerned \r\n袭击 - [pinyin]xi2 ji1[/pinyin] - An attack, esp. by surprise\r\n埃及 - [pinyin]ai1 ji2[/pinyin] - Egypt\r\n伊朗 - [pinyin]yi1 lang3[/pinyin] - Iran\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在<strong>马来西亚</strong>，女性常常成为抢劫、<strong>性骚扰</strong>和其他暴力行为的受害者。<strong>据</strong>法国媒体11月30日报道，为了更好地保护女性免受暴力侵害，马来西亚首都吉隆坡上周末推出了50辆只搭载女性的“女性出租车”。\r\n\r\n这些车的<strong>挡风玻璃</strong>顶端标有“女性出租车”字样，司机也是女性。与<strong>吉隆坡</strong>几家出租公司合作发起该项目的马来西亚<strong>妇女、家庭和社会发展部</strong>称，希望将“女性出租车”数量增加到400辆左右。\r\n\r\n此举受到了当地女性的热烈欢迎。“这<strong>项</strong><strong>举措</strong>当然很好，我们乘车时会感到更加安全。”26岁的办公室文员纳西尔说。不过，有的女司机担心男性乘客会因此流失；也有人<strong>担忧</strong>“女性出租车”的标志可能会使驾驶这种出租车的女司机成为<strong>袭击</strong>目标。\r\n\r\n马来西亚此前还曾推出粉红色女性专用火车车厢、只载女乘客的女性专用公交车，以免女性受到性骚扰等伤害。除了马来西亚，墨西哥、<strong>埃及</strong>、<strong>伊朗</strong>等国都曾推出女性专用出租车。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn Malaysia, women often become the victims of robberies, sexual harassment and other violent acts. According to a November 30 French media report, in order to better protect women from violence, last weekend the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur released 50 \"women\'s taxis\" which will only transport women.  \r\n\r\nThe top of the windshields of these taxis show a sign reading \"women\'s taxi\", and the drivers are also women. the project is a cooperation between several of Kuala Lumpur\'s taxi companies and the project initiator, Malaysia\'s Department of Women, Family and Community Development, who said that they hope to increase the number of \"women\'s taxi\'s\" to 400.   \r\n\r\nThis has received a warm welcome from the local women. \"This act is of course very good, we can feel safer getting into a taxi,\" said 26-year-old office worker Na Xi Er (proper name). However, some female taxi drivers worry about the loss of male customers, and some people are concerned that because of what the \"women\'s only taxis\" symbolize, the female drivers will become the target of attacks.\r\n\r\nBefore this, Malaysia has already released pink women-only train carriages, as well as buses that only carry women, in order to [help women] avoid suffering harm from sexual harassment. Besides Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt, Iran and other countries have already unveiled women-only taxis. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Malaysia Unveils Special Taxis for Women Only to Warm Welcome', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '976-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-05 15:51:54', '2011-12-05 20:51:54', '', 976, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/05/976-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(989, 1, '2012-04-18 23:52:24', '2012-04-19 03:52:24', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\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\nThis 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[/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>把自己放在劣势</h4>\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[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[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]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Martial Arts Mastery: Put Yourself at a Disadvantage', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'martial-arts-mastery-put-yourself-at-a-disadvantage', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:45:01', '2020-04-20 11:45:01', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=989', 0, 'post', '', 3),
(1775, 1, '2020-04-20 05:17:19', '2020-04-20 09:17:19', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\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\nThis 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[/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>把自己放在劣势</h4>\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[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[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]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Martial Arts Mastery: Put Yourself at a Disadvantage', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '989-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:17:19', '2020-04-20 09:17:19', '', 989, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/989-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1280, 1, '2012-10-02 00:41:03', '2012-10-02 04:41:03', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20121002-inline', '', '', '2012-10-02 00:41:03', '2012-10-02 04:41:03', '', 1277, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121002-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1281, 1, '2012-10-02 00:41:20', '2012-10-02 04:41:20', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20121002', '', '', '2012-10-02 00:41:20', '2012-10-02 04:41:20', '', 1277, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121002.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1278, 1, '2012-10-01 07:43:43', '2012-10-01 11:43:43', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 我们家的跳绳比赛</strong>\n\nA single-paragraph essay about the results of . \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今天早上我和爸爸比赛跳绳，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，我这次没有失误，一分钟跳了145个，我的心砰砰乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈弃权了，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 score 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 今天早上我和爸爸比赛跳绳，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，我这次没有失误，一分钟跳了145个，我的心砰砰乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈弃权了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-01 07:43:43', '2012-10-01 11:43:43', '', 1277, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/01/1277-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(991, 1, '2011-12-05 16:34:41', '2011-12-05 21:34:41', '[two_third]\r\nhttp://gushi365.com/info/6017.html\r\nIn this story you\'ll find a few specialized martial-arts words, 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 made by the master to the student, as the master talks about how putting oneself in a position of inferiority allows you to attain superiority. \r\n\r\nThis kind of \"making logic out of illogical-sounding contradictions\" is very typical of martial arts, and most of this type of stuff comes strain out of Taoist philosophy. \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马来西亚 - [pinyin]ma3 lai2 xi1 ya4[/pinyin] - Malaysia\r\n性骚扰 - [pinyin]xing4 sao1 rao3[/pinyin] - Sexual Harassment\r\n据 - [pinyin]ju4[/pinyin] - According to (reports, etc.)\r\n挡风玻璃 - [pinyin]dang3 feng1 bo1 li5[/pinyin] - Windshield\r\n吉隆坡 - [pinyin]ji2 long2 po1[/pinyin] - Kuala Lumpur\r\n妇女、家庭和社会发展部 - [pinyin]fu4 nv3 jia1 ting2 he2 she4 hui4 fa1 zhan3 bu4 [/pinyin] - Department of Women, Family and Community Development\r\n项 - [pinyin]xiang4[/pinyin] - Classifier for projects, actions, decisions and tasks\r\n举措 - [pinyin]ju3 cuo4[/pinyin] - Action, decision\r\n担忧 - [pinyin]dan1 you1[/pinyin] - To be concerned \r\n袭击 - [pinyin]xi2 ji1[/pinyin] - An attack, esp. by surprise\r\n埃及 - [pinyin]ai1 ji2[/pinyin] - Egypt\r\n伊朗 - [pinyin]yi1 lang3[/pinyin] - Iran\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一名剑客去拜访一位武林泰斗，请教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:“多亏了它，才让我有了今天的成就。”\r\n\r\n    剑客大为不解，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?兵器谱上说:剑短一分，险增三分。拿着这么短的剑无疑是处于一种劣势，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，如果与别人对阵，我会是多么的危险，所以我只有勤练剑招，以剑招之长补兵器之短，这样一来，我的剑招不断进步，劣势就转化为优势了。”\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，为自己注入进取的动力，敢于把自己放在劣势的人，最终就有可能把劣势转化成为优势，从而取得胜利。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nTRANSLATION HERE\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Martial Arts Mastery: Put Yourself in an Inferior Position', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '989-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-05 16:34:41', '2011-12-05 21:34:41', '', 989, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/05/989-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(990, 1, '2011-12-05 16:33:55', '2011-12-05 21:33:55', '[two_third]\nhttp://gushi365.com/info/6017.html\nIn this story you\'ll find a few specialized martial-arts words, 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 made by the master to the student, as the master talks about how putting oneself in a position of inferiority allows you to attain superiority. \n\nThis kind of \"making logic out of illogical-sounding contradictions\" is very typical of martial arts, and most of this type of stuff comes strain out of Taoist philosophy. \n\nYou\'ll enjoy this if you\'re an upper-intermediate or advanced reader, and are interested in some specialized vocabulary. \n\n<a href=\"http://gushi365.com/info/6017.html\">See the original</a>\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n马来西亚 - [pinyin]ma3 lai2 xi1 ya4[/pinyin] - Malaysia\n性骚扰 - [pinyin]xing4 sao1 rao3[/pinyin] - Sexual Harassment\n据 - [pinyin]ju4[/pinyin] - According to (reports, etc.)\n挡风玻璃 - [pinyin]dang3 feng1 bo1 li5[/pinyin] - Windshield\n吉隆坡 - [pinyin]ji2 long2 po1[/pinyin] - Kuala Lumpur\n妇女、家庭和社会发展部 - [pinyin]fu4 nv3 jia1 ting2 he2 she4 hui4 fa1 zhan3 bu4 [/pinyin] - Department of Women, Family and Community Development\n项 - [pinyin]xiang4[/pinyin] - Classifier for projects, actions, decisions and tasks\n举措 - [pinyin]ju3 cuo4[/pinyin] - Action, decision\n担忧 - [pinyin]dan1 you1[/pinyin] - To be concerned \n袭击 - [pinyin]xi2 ji1[/pinyin] - An attack, esp. by surprise\n埃及 - [pinyin]ai1 ji2[/pinyin] - Egypt\n伊朗 - [pinyin]yi1 lang3[/pinyin] - Iran\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n在<strong>马来西亚</strong>，女性常常成为抢劫、<strong>性骚扰</strong>和其他暴力行为的受害者。<strong>据</strong>法国媒体11月30日报道，为了更好地保护女性免受暴力侵害，马来西亚首都吉隆坡上周末推出了50辆只搭载女性的“女性出租车”。\n\n这些车的<strong>挡风玻璃</strong>顶端标有“女性出租车”字样，司机也是女性。与<strong>吉隆坡</strong>几家出租公司合作发起该项目的马来西亚<strong>妇女、家庭和社会发展部</strong>称，希望将“女性出租车”数量增加到400辆左右。\n\n此举受到了当地女性的热烈欢迎。“这<strong>项</strong><strong>举措</strong>当然很好，我们乘车时会感到更加安全。”26岁的办公室文员纳西尔说。不过，有的女司机担心男性乘客会因此流失；也有人<strong>担忧</strong>“女性出租车”的标志可能会使驾驶这种出租车的女司机成为<strong>袭击</strong>目标。\n\n马来西亚此前还曾推出粉红色女性专用火车车厢、只载女乘客的女性专用公交车，以免女性受到性骚扰等伤害。除了马来西亚，墨西哥、<strong>埃及</strong>、<strong>伊朗</strong>等国都曾推出女性专用出租车。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn Malaysia, women often become the victims of robberies, sexual harassment and other violent acts. According to a November 30 French media report, in order to better protect women from violence, last weekend the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur released 50 \"women\'s taxis\" which will only transport women.  \n\nThe top of the windshields of these taxis show a sign reading \"women\'s taxi\", and the drivers are also women. the project is a cooperation between several of Kuala Lumpur\'s taxi companies and the project initiator, Malaysia\'s Department of Women, Family and Community Development, who said that they hope to increase the number of \"women\'s taxi\'s\" to 400.   \n\nThis has received a warm welcome from the local women. \"This act is of course very good, we can feel safer getting into a taxi,\" said 26-year-old office worker Na Xi Er (proper name). However, some female taxi drivers worry about the loss of male customers, and some people are concerned that because of what the \"women\'s only taxis\" symbolize, the female drivers will become the target of attacks.\n\nBefore this, Malaysia has already released pink women-only train carriages, as well as buses that only carry women, in order to [help women] avoid suffering harm from sexual harassment. Besides Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt, Iran and other countries have already unveiled women-only taxis. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Martial Arts Mastery: Put Yourself in an Inferior Position', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '989-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-12-05 16:33:55', '2011-12-05 21:33:55', '', 989, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/05/989-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1283, 1, '2020-04-20 04:44:31', '2020-04-20 08:44:31', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\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 still catching up from that. \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>我们家的跳绳比赛</h4>\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[/su_column]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\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. \n[/hide-this-part]\n[/su_column]\n[/su_row]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1277-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:44:31', '2020-04-20 08:44:31', '', 1277, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/02/1277-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1004, 1, '2020-04-20 06:07:01', '2020-04-20 10:07:01', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nWhile we\'re busy prepping for our holiday season, I figured I\'d post something about a Chinese holiday. This is a culturally-rich and comfortably intermediate essay describing how one family celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节 [pinyin]duan1 wu3 jie2[/pinyin]. If you\'re curious what the typical Chinese household does on this late-spring holiday (held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar), you\'ll love this read. The customs described are quite unlike any holidays in the West. <!--more-->\n\nThe <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duanwu_Festival\">dragon boat festival</a> is held in remembrance of poet Qu Yuan\'s death. Qu Yuan was a faithful servant of his emperor, but was falsely accused of being a traitor. He drowned himself in a river after several decades in exile, but the local people loved him and remember him fondly. Sounds morbid, but actually the festival is a joyous one, where dragon boats are raced on the river (to commemorate the search for Qu Yuan\'s body) and 粽子 [pinyin]zong4 zi5[/pinyin] (boiled triangular rice balls wrapped in leaves) are eaten (when he died, it\'s said that 粽子 were thrown into the river to feed him in the afterlife - other stories have it that people threw 粽子 into the river to keep the fish from eating his body before they could find it).\n\nA couple of words in this essay are not in the dictionary, and need explaining: namely 艾香. I this case, 艾香 [pinyin]ai4 xiang1[/pinyin] means \"the smell of wormwood\", and it refers to the smell produced by bouquets of wormwood (艾草) that people hang on their door during the Dragon Boat Festival to drive away bad luck.\n\nAnother word here is 雄黄酒, something that I\'ve seen but never tried, and while there is an English word for this, I\'ve never heard this spoken in English. 雄黄酒 is \"realgar wine\", whatever the heck realgar is. If you\'re curious, <a href=\"http://english.sina.com/life/p/2009/0527/244239.html\">this article</a> has more information on realgar wine and it\'s association with the Dragon Boat Festival. \n\nAnd finally, there\'s 趟露水, literally \"to wade in the dew\", and it refers to (what I think is a) regional custom of going out on an early morning walk and anointing one\'s face with dew drops. \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>我家的端午节</h4>\n今天是端午节，我们一家人五点就起床，按照<strong>习俗</strong>上山去趟露水。一路上我用双手<strong>捧</strong>起<strong>晶莹</strong>的<strong>露珠</strong>往眼睛上抹，一时间我觉得眼睛好像亮了好多。直到坐在教室读书时还觉得眼睛特别亮，什么字都能看清楚。\n\n放学后，我<strong>撒</strong>开腿就往家里跑。刚到门口就闻到粽子香，一进门就看见爸爸做了一桌子好菜专门等我回家吃。我洗过手来到饭桌前，先给爸爸妈妈一人<strong>解</strong>了一个粽子，<strong>撒</strong>上白糖，然后给我自己解了一个漂亮的三角粽子，撒上白糖就<strong>津津有味</strong>地吃起来。饭桌上，我们一家边吃边聊，屋子里充满了端午节的快乐气氛，<strong>弥漫</strong>着<strong>香喷喷</strong>的粽子味和浓浓的艾香。\n\n吃完饭，妈妈给我耳朵上抹了雄黄酒，给我嘴上摸了<strong>唇膏</strong>，给我手腕上戴了红线<strong>绳</strong>，把我打扮得和粽子一样香，就让我到学校去学习。\n\n我爱吃粽子，爱过端午节，爱享受节日的欢乐气氛。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nToday is the Dragon Boat Festival, my family got out of bed at 5:00, and in accordance with local customs, when up the mountain to wade in the dew. On the road, I used both hands to cup sparkling dewdrops and smear them on my eyes, for a moment I felt as if they [my eyes] were considerably brightened. I felt they remained extremely bright as I sat in the classroom and read books; I could see every word clearly. \n\nWhen school let out, I let my legs loose and ran towards home. As soon as I reached the door I could smell the scent of zongzi, and as I entered I saw my father had made a whole table of delicious food that was just waiting for me to come home and eat it. I washed my hands and went to the dining table, first I broke open one <em>zongzi</em> each for father and mother and sprinkled them with white sugar, then I broke open a beautiful triangular zongzi for myself, sprinkled it with white sugar and heartily began eating.  At the dining table, our family ate and chatted, the woom was full of Dragon Boat Festival good cheer, suffused with the savory smell of zongzi and thick with the smell of wormwood.\n\nAfter we\'d had eaten, mother spread realgar wine on my ears, put lipstick on my lips, placed [bracelets of] red rope around my wrists, and made sure I smelled as sweetly as a <em>zongzi</em>, then sent me off back to school to study. \n\nI love eating zongzi, I loved the Dragon Boat Festival, and I love enjoying the holiday cheer. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Family\'s Dragon Boat Festival', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '940-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 06:07:01', '2020-04-20 10:07:01', '', 940, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/12/12/940-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1005, 1, '2011-11-29 20:38:09', '2011-11-30 01:38:09', '[two_third]\r\nWhile we\'re busy prepping for our holiday season, I figured I\'d post something about a Chinese holiday. This is a culturally-rich and comfortably intermediate essay describing how one family celebrates the Dragon Boat Festival (端午节 [pinyin]duan1 wu3 jie2[/pinyin]. If you\'re curious what the typical Chinese household does on this late-spring holiday (held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar), you\'ll love this read. The customs described are quite unlike any holidays in the West. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/20111220-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Practice Reading Chinese - Easy Intermediate Chinese Reader\" title=\"Practice Reading Chinese - Easy Intermediate Chinese Reader\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignnone\" />The <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duanwu_Festival\">dragon boat festival</a> is held in remembrance of poet Qu Yuan\'s death. Qu Yuan was a faithful servant of his emperor, but was falsely accused of being a traitor. He drowned himself in a river after several decades in exile, but the local people loved him and remember him fondly. Sounds morbid, but actually the festival is a joyous one, where dragon boats are raced on the river (to commemorate the search for Qu Yuan\'s body) and 粽子 [pinyin]zong4 zi5[/pinyin] (boiled triangular rice balls wrapped in leaves) are eaten (when he died, it\'s said that 粽子 were thrown into the river to feed him in the afterlife - other stories have it that people threw 粽子 into the river to keep the fish from eating his body before they could find it).\r\n\r\nA couple of words in this essay are not in the dictionary, and need explaining: namely 艾香. I this case, 艾香 [pinyin]ai4 xiang1[/pinyin] means \"the smell of wormwood\", and it refers to the smell produced by bouquets of wormwood (艾草) that people hang on their door during the Dragon Boat Festival to drive away bad luck.\r\n\r\nAnother word here is 雄黄酒, something that I\'ve seen but never tried, and while there is an English word for this, I\'ve never heard this spoken in English. 雄黄酒 is \"realgar wine\", whatever the heck realgar is. If you\'re curious, <a href=\"http://english.sina.com/life/p/2009/0527/244239.html\">this article</a> has more information on realgar wine and it\'s association with the Dragon Boat Festival. \r\n\r\nAnd finally, there\'s 趟露水, literally \"to wade in the dew\", and it refers to (what I think is a) regional custom of going out on an early morning walk and anointing one\'s face with dew drops. And without further adew (har!), the Chinese title of this essay is 我家的端午节.\r\n\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习俗 - [pinyin]xi2 su2[/pinyin] - Custom, local tradition\r\n捧 - [pinyin]peng3[/pinyin] - To cup in the hands\r\n晶莹 - [pinyin]jing1 ying2[/pinyin] - Sparkling and translucent\r\n露珠 - [pinyin]lu4 zhu1[/pinyin] - Dewdrop\r\n撒 - [pinyin]sa1[/pinyin] - (definition 1): To let loose, to let fly\r\n解 - [pinyin]jie3[/pinyin] - To break up, divide\r\n撒 - [pinyin]sa3[/pinyin] - (definition 2): To sprinkle\r\n津津有味 - [pinyin]jin1 jin1 you3 wei4[/pinyin] - With relish, with gusto\r\n弥漫 - [pinyin]mi2 man4[/pinyin] - to pervade, be diffused with\r\n香喷喷 - [pinyin]xiang1 pen1 pen1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n唇膏 - [pinyin]chun2 gao1[/pinyin] - Lipstick\r\n绳 - [pinyin]sheng2[/pinyin] - Rope\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今天是端午节，我们一家人五点就起床，按照<strong>习俗</strong>上山去趟露水。一路上我用双手<strong>捧</strong>起<strong>晶莹</strong>的<strong>露珠</strong>往眼睛上抹，一时间我觉得眼睛好像亮了好多。直到坐在教室读书时还觉得眼睛特别亮，什么字都能看清楚。\r\n\r\n放学后，我<strong>撒</strong>开腿就往家里跑。刚到门口就闻到粽子香，一进门就看见爸爸做了一桌子好菜专门等我回家吃。我洗过手来到饭桌前，先给爸爸妈妈一人<strong>解</strong>了一个粽子，<strong>撒</strong>上白糖，然后给我自己解了一个漂亮的三角粽子，撒上白糖就<strong>津津有味</strong>地吃起来。饭桌上，我们一家边吃边聊，屋子里充满了端午节的快乐气氛，<strong>弥漫</strong>着<strong>香喷喷</strong>的粽子味和浓浓的艾香。\r\n\r\n吃完饭，妈妈给我耳朵上抹了雄黄酒，给我嘴上摸了<strong>唇膏</strong>，给我手腕上戴了红线<strong>绳</strong>，把我打扮得和粽子一样香，就让我到学校去学习。\r\n\r\n我爱吃粽子，爱过端午节，爱享受节日的欢乐气氛。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nToday is the Dragon Boat Festival, my family got out of bed at 5:00, and in accordance with local customs, when up the mountain to wade in the dew. On the road, I used both hands to cup sparkling dewdrops and smear them on my eyes, for a moment I felt as if they [my eyes] were considerably brightened. I felt they remained extremely bright as I sat in the classroom and read books; I could see every word clearly. \r\n\r\nWhen school let out, I let my legs loose and ran towards home. As soon as I reached the door I could smell the scent of zongzi, and as I entered I saw my father had made a whole table of delicious food that was just waiting for me to come home and eat it. I washed my hands and went to the dining table, first I broke open one zongzi each for father and mother and sprinkled them with white sugar, then I broke open a beautiful triangular zongzi for myself, sprinkled it with white sugar and heartily began eating.  At the dining table, our family ate and chatted, the woom was full of Dragon Boat Festival good cheer, suffused with the savory smell of zongzi and thick with the smell of wormwood.\r\n\r\nAfter we\'d had eaten, mother spread realgar wine on my ears, put lipstick on my lips, placed [bracelets of] red rope around my wrists, and made sure I smelled as sweetly as a zongzi, then sent me off back to school to study. \r\n\r\nI love eating zongzi, I loved the Dragon Boat Festival, and I love enjoying the holiday cheer. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Family\'s Dragon Boat Festival', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '940-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-11-29 20:38:09', '2011-11-30 01:38:09', '', 940, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/11/29/940-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1006, 1, '2011-01-22 11:05:38', '2011-01-22 16:05:38', '[two_third]\r\n\r\nA passage from a BLCU textbook in which a university student laments about catching a cold. <!--more--> This essay focuses on mostly illness-centric beginner language, such as 感冒 [pinyin]gan3 mao4[/pinyin], meaning \"to have a cold\"， and 打针 [pinyin]da3 zhen1[/pinyin], meaning \"to get an IV drip or shot\".\r\n\r\nLest it seems a little dramatic to you that the writer would go to the hospital over a 24-hour cold, the Chinese typically don\'t use private clinics (except in the case of accupuncture and massage), and commonly go to the hospital for almost every health-related issue, including colds and small fevers.\r\n\r\nOf special interest is the phrase \"还开了一些药\", or \"and also prescribed me some medicine\". Literally, it says, \"Also opened a bit of medicine\". But the word 开 [pinyin]kai1[/pinyin], which usually means \"open\", is also the verb used to describe a doctor writing a perscription. This tells us that the doctor didn\'t give (给[pinyin]gei3[/pinyin]) the student any medicine himself, but perscribed it instead.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Interesting Vocabulary</h4>\r\n发烧 - [pinyin]fa1 shao1[/pinyin] - Have a fever\r\n咳嗽 - [pinyin]ke2 sou5[/pinyin] - Cough\r\n同学 - [pinyin]tong2 xue2[/pinyin] - Classmates\r\n寂寞 - [pinyin]ji4 mo4[/pinyin] - Lonely\r\n不舒服 - [pinyin]bu4 shu1 fu5[/pinyin] - Feel unwell, uncomfortable\r\n检查 - [pinyin]jian3 cha2[/pinyin] - Check, examine\r\n果然 - [pinyin]guo3 ran2[/pinyin] - Sure enough\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n\r\n我病了。　头疼，<strong>发烧</strong>，嗓子也疼，不想吃东西，晚上<strong>咳嗽</strong>的很厉害。　上午<strong>同学</strong>们都去上课了，我一个人在宿舍里，感到很寂寞。　寂寞了就容易想家。　我家里人很多，有哥哥，姐姐，还有一个弟弟。　在家的时候，我们常一起玩儿。　现在，我在北京学习汉语，寂寞的时候就常常想他们。\r\n\r\n因为不<strong>舒服</strong>，所以我今天起得很晚。　起了床就去医院了。　大夫给我<strong>检查</strong>了一下儿，说我感冒了。　给我打了一针，<strong>还开了一些药</strong>。　他说，吃了药病就好了。\r\n\r\n老师和同学们知道我病了，都来看我。　林老师听说我不想吃东西，还做了一碗面条给我吃。　吃了面条，身上出了很多汗，老师说，出了汗可能不发烧了。\r\n\r\n下午，<strong>果然</strong>不发烧了，喜庆也好了。　我用　Ｅｍａｉｌ　个哦姐姐发了一封信。　我说，我在这儿生活得很好，我有很好的老师，还有很多好同学，好朋友，和他们在一起，我感到很愉快。\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\r\nI\'m sick. My head hurts, I have a fever, my throat also hurts, I don\'t want to eat anything, and at night I have a serious cough. In the morning my classmates all went to class, and I was the only one left in the dormitory. I feel very lonely. When you\'re lonely, it\'s easy to miss home. I have a lot of family members - an older brother, older sister, and also a younger brother. When I\'m at home, we often play together. Right now, I\'m in Beijing studying Chinese, and when I\'m lonely I miss them.\r\n\r\nBecause I don\'t feel well, I got up late today. When I got up, I went to the hospital. The doctor gave me a quick checkup and said I have a cold. He gave me one shot [also: IV drip], and also prescribed some medicine. He said, take the medicine and you\'ll get better.\r\n\r\nMy teacher and classmates know I\'m sick, so they all came to see me. Teacher Lin heard that I didn\'t want to eat anything, so she made me a bowl of noodles. After I ate the noodles, I began to pour sweat. Teacher said, if you sweat, maybe your fever will go away.\r\n\r\nIn the afternoon, sure enough my fever was gone, and I was in a good mood. I emailed my older sister. I said, I have a very good life here, I have a good teacher and good classmates and good friends, and all together they make me very happy.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Feeling Sick', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '139-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-01-22 11:05:38', '2011-01-22 16:05:38', '', 139, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/01/22/139-revision-11/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1008, 1, '2012-02-11 00:24:24', '2012-02-11 05:24:24', '[two_third]\nA rather insipid story for very, very young children about a bird, a <!--more-->\n\nI apologize for not posting a while, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. \n\nAnyway, not sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used as a good word. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n穿 - [pinyin]chuan1[/pinyin] - To put on, wear\n舔 - [pinyin]tian3[/pinyin] - To lick\n仰 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To look up, face upwards\n顺口 - [pinyin]shun4 kou3[/pinyin] - To say smoothly, without thinking about it\n于是 - [pinyin]yun2 shi4[/pinyin] - And so..., thus\n低下头 - [pinyin]di1 xia4 tou2[/pinyin] - To lower one\'s head\n耳朵 - [pinyin]er3 duo5[/pinyin] - Ear\n突然 - [pinyin]tu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n脱 - [pinyin]tuo1[/pinyin] - To take off (clothes, shoes, etc.)\n套 - [pinyin]tao4[/pinyin] - To cover something, encase\n差 - [pinyin]cha1[/pinyin] - Be deficient, be missing, a discrepancy\n红脸 - [pinyin]hong2 lian3[/pinyin] - To blush, to turn red\n光 - [pinyin]guang1[/pinyin] - Bare, empty, none\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n一只白鹭在浅浅的池水中站着。\n\n　　一只小刺猬走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有脑袋！”\n\n　　“真的！”一只小鼹鼠也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\n\n　　“假如我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\n\n　　“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\n\n　　这时，白鹭从她那翅膀底下，伸出了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。\n\n　　白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，梳理梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\n\n　　小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\n\n　　“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAn egret stood in the middle of a flowing pond. \n\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! 一只小刺猬走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有脑袋！”\n\n　　“真的！”一只小鼹鼠也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\n\n　　“假如我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\n\n　　“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\n\n　　这时，白鹭从她那翅膀底下，伸出了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。\n\n　　白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，梳理梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\n\n　　小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\n\n　　“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Bird with no Head', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1007-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-11 00:24:24', '2012-02-11 05:24:24', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/11/1007-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1009, 1, '2012-02-11 00:29:01', '2012-02-11 05:29:01', '[two_third]\nI apologize for not posting a month or so, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. But today, in place of something interesting, we\'ve got a rather insipid story for young children about a bird who appears to have no head. <!--more-->\n\nNot sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used in a super positive context. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n穿 - [pinyin]chuan1[/pinyin] - To put on, wear\n舔 - [pinyin]tian3[/pinyin] - To lick\n仰 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To look up, face upwards\n顺口 - [pinyin]shun4 kou3[/pinyin] - To say smoothly, without thinking about it\n于是 - [pinyin]yun2 shi4[/pinyin] - And so..., thus\n低下头 - [pinyin]di1 xia4 tou2[/pinyin] - To lower one\'s head\n耳朵 - [pinyin]er3 duo5[/pinyin] - Ear\n突然 - [pinyin]tu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n脱 - [pinyin]tuo1[/pinyin] - To take off (clothes, shoes, etc.)\n套 - [pinyin]tao4[/pinyin] - To cover something, encase\n差 - [pinyin]cha1[/pinyin] - Be deficient, be missing, a discrepancy\n红脸 - [pinyin]hong2 lian3[/pinyin] - To blush, to turn red\n光 - [pinyin]guang1[/pinyin] - Bare, empty, none\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n一只白鹭在浅浅的池水中站着。\n\n　　一只小刺猬走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有脑袋！”\n\n　　“真的！”一只小鼹鼠也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\n\n　　“假如我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\n\n　　“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\n\n　　这时，白鹭从她那翅膀底下，伸出了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。\n\n　　白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，梳理梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\n\n　　小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\n\n　　“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAn egret stood in the middle of a flowing pond. \n\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! 一只小刺猬走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有脑袋！”\n\n　　“真的！”一只小鼹鼠也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\n\n　　“假如我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\n\n　　“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\n\n　　这时，白鹭从她那翅膀底下，伸出了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。\n\n　　白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，梳理梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\n\n　　小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\n\n　　“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Bird with no Head', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1007-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-11 00:29:01', '2012-02-11 05:29:01', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/11/1007-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` (`ID`, `post_author`, `post_date`, `post_date_gmt`, `post_content`, `post_title`, `post_excerpt`, `post_status`, `comment_status`, `ping_status`, `post_password`, `post_name`, `to_ping`, `pinged`, `post_modified`, `post_modified_gmt`, `post_content_filtered`, `post_parent`, `guid`, `menu_order`, `post_type`, `post_mime_type`, `comment_count`) VALUES
(1010, 1, '2012-02-12 01:33:06', '2012-02-12 06:33:06', '[two_third]\nI apologize for not posting a month or so, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. But today, in place of something interesting, we\'ve got a slightly insipid story for young children about a bird who appears to have no head. <!--more-->\n\nNot sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used in a super positive context. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\n\nAnother notable word here is 假如 [pinyin]jia1 ru2[/pinyin], which means \"if\". Thing is, in Chinese, there are quite a few ways to say \"if\". There\'s the most common, which is 如果，there\'s 要是，there\'s 假使，若是，and so on. At a loss for a good explanation myself, I <a href=\"http://www.italki.com/answers/question/116228.htm\">found a site</a> that does a great job of summing this up. In short:\n\n\n\n\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n白鹭 - [pinyin]chuan1[/pinyin] - To put on, wear\n浅浅 - [pinyin]tian3[/pinyin] - To lick\n池 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To look up, face upwards\n刺猬 - [pinyin]shun4 kou3[/pinyin] - To say smoothly, without thinking about it\n脑袋 - [pinyin]yun2 shi4[/pinyin] - And so..., thus\n鼹鼠 - [pinyin]di1 xia4 tou2[/pinyin] - To lower one\'s head\n假如 - [pinyin]er3 duo5[/pinyin] - Ear\n突然 - [pinyin]tu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n脱 - [pinyin]tuo1[/pinyin] - To take off (clothes, shoes, etc.)\n套 - [pinyin]tao4[/pinyin] - To cover something, encase\n差 - [pinyin]cha1[/pinyin] - Be deficient, be missing, a discrepancy\n红脸 - [pinyin]hong2 lian3[/pinyin] - To blush, to turn red\n光 - [pinyin]guang1[/pinyin] - Bare, empty, none\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n一只<strong>白鹭</strong>在<strong>浅浅</strong>的<strong>池</strong>水中站着。\n\n一只小<strong>刺猬</strong>走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有<strong>脑袋</strong>！”\n\n“真的！”一只小<strong>鼹鼠</strong>也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\n\n“<strong>假如</strong>我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\n\n“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\n\n这时，白鹭从她那翅膀底下，伸出了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。\n\n白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，梳理梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\n\n小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\n\n“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAn egret stood in the middle of a flowing pond. \n\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! Somehow, that egret has no head!\" \n\n\"Really!\" a little mole also cried out, \"This is the first time I\'ve seen a bird without a head!\"　　\n\n\"If I didn\'t have a head, I wouldn\'t be able to live!\" the little hedgehog said.　　\n\n\"Yes, but this bird can still stand there not moving, how very impressive!\"　　\n\nAt this time, from beneath her wing the egret stretched out a long neck, and on top of that long neck grew a very short head.　　\n\nSmiling, the egret said, \"I had my head tucked beneath my wing to comb out my feathers, how could I be a bird with no head?\"　　\n\nThe little hedgehog and the little mole smiled, and they said:　　\n\n\"It was us that weren\'t using our heads to think, sorry Sister Egret!\"　　\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Bird with no Head', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1007-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-12 01:33:06', '2012-02-12 06:33:06', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/12/1007-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1013, 1, '2012-02-12 01:41:36', '2012-02-12 06:41:36', '', 'Easy Beginner Chinese Reading Passage: The Little Bird with No Head', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120212', '', '', '2012-02-12 01:41:36', '2012-02-12 06:41:36', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/20120212.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1011, 1, '2012-02-12 01:33:37', '2012-02-12 06:33:37', '[two_third]\r\nI apologize for not posting a month or so, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. But today, in place of something interesting, we\'ve got a slightly insipid story for young children about a bird who appears to have no head. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nNot sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used in a super positive context. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\r\n\r\nAnother notable word here is 假如 [pinyin]jia1 ru2[/pinyin], which means \"if\". Thing is, in Chinese, there are quite a few ways to say \"if\". There\'s the most common, which is 如果，there\'s 要是，there\'s 假使，若是，and so on. At a loss for a good explanation myself, I <a href=\"http://www.italki.com/answers/question/116228.htm\">found a site</a> that does a great job of summing this up. In short:\r\n\r\n<blockquote>1) expressing a fact: 要是你水烧到摄氏一百度就会沸腾, if you heat the water to 100 degrees celcius [then] it will boil.\r\n2) talking about a future result: 假如你认真学外语就会进步- if you study foreign language hard, it will improve.\r\n3)an imagined situation: 假使我很有钱，我就带她去很多地方- If I were rich,I would take her to so many places.\r\n4)if something didn\'t happen: 如果你没迟到，我就不会那么生气 (if you weren\'t late, I wouldn\'t of been so mad.\r\n\r\n\"ruguo\" is more common than all of them. In a learning Chinese book you might only see \"ruguo\" and you would hear \"ruguo\" in daily speech. They are all correct to say, and you can use them interchangeably. However, i\'d like to note that 要是 can also be used negatively if you place 不 in the middle, i.e. 要是 means \"if\" 要不是 means \"If not..\" such as 要不是你，我就不会来- If it wasn\'t for you, I wouldn\'t come. Whereas \"ruguo\" and the others cannot be used in that way.</blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\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白鹭 - [pinyin]chuan1[/pinyin] - To put on, wear\r\n浅浅 - [pinyin]tian3[/pinyin] - To lick\r\n池 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To look up, face upwards\r\n刺猬 - [pinyin]shun4 kou3[/pinyin] - To say smoothly, without thinking about it\r\n脑袋 - [pinyin]yun2 shi4[/pinyin] - And so..., thus\r\n鼹鼠 - [pinyin]di1 xia4 tou2[/pinyin] - To lower one\'s head\r\n假如 - [pinyin]er3 duo5[/pinyin] - Ear\r\n突然 - [pinyin]tu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n脱 - [pinyin]tuo1[/pinyin] - To take off (clothes, shoes, etc.)\r\n套 - [pinyin]tao4[/pinyin] - To cover something, encase\r\n差 - [pinyin]cha1[/pinyin] - Be deficient, be missing, a discrepancy\r\n红脸 - [pinyin]hong2 lian3[/pinyin] - To blush, to turn red\r\n光 - [pinyin]guang1[/pinyin] - Bare, empty, none\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一只<strong>白鹭</strong>在<strong>浅浅</strong>的<strong>池</strong>水中站着。\r\n\r\n一只小<strong>刺猬</strong>走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有<strong>脑袋</strong>！”\r\n\r\n“真的！”一只小<strong>鼹鼠</strong>也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\r\n\r\n“<strong>假如</strong>我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\r\n\r\n“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\r\n\r\n这时，白鹭从她那翅膀底下，伸出了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。\r\n\r\n白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，梳理梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\r\n\r\n小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\r\n\r\n“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAn egret stood in the middle of a flowing pond. \r\n\r\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! Somehow, that egret has no head!\" \r\n\r\n\"Really!\" a little mole also cried out, \"This is the first time I\'ve seen a bird without a head!\"　　\r\n\r\n\"If I didn\'t have a head, I wouldn\'t be able to live!\" the little hedgehog said.　　\r\n\r\n\"Yes, but this bird can still stand there not moving, how very impressive!\"　　\r\n\r\nAt this time, from beneath her wing the egret stretched out a long neck, and on top of that long neck grew a very short head.　　\r\n\r\nSmiling, the egret said, \"I had my head tucked beneath my wing to comb out my feathers, how could I be a bird with no head?\"　　\r\n\r\nThe little hedgehog and the little mole smiled, and they said:　　\r\n\r\n\"It was us that weren\'t using our heads to think, sorry Sister Egret!\"　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Bird with no Head', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1007-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-12 01:33:37', '2012-02-12 06:33:37', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/12/1007-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1012, 1, '2012-02-12 01:33:46', '2012-02-12 06:33:46', '[two_third]\r\nI apologize for not posting a month or so, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. But today, in place of something interesting, we\'ve got a slightly insipid story for young children about a bird who appears to have no head. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nNot sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used in a super positive context. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\r\n\r\nAnother notable word here is 假如 [pinyin]jia1 ru2[/pinyin], which means \"if\". Thing is, in Chinese, there are quite a few ways to say \"if\". There\'s the most common, which is 如果，there\'s 要是，there\'s 假使，若是，and so on. At a loss for a good explanation myself, I <a href=\"http://www.italki.com/answers/question/116228.htm\">found a site</a> that does a great job of summing this up. In short:\r\n\r\n<blockquote>1) expressing a fact: 要是你水烧到摄氏一百度就会沸腾, if you heat the water to 100 degrees celcius [then] it will boil.\r\n2) talking about a future result: 假如你认真学外语就会进步- if you study foreign language hard, it will improve.\r\n3)an imagined situation: 假使我很有钱，我就带她去很多地方- If I were rich,I would take her to so many places.\r\n4)if something didn\'t happen: 如果你没迟到，我就不会那么生气 (if you weren\'t late, I wouldn\'t of been so mad.\r\n\r\n\"ruguo\" is more common than all of them. In a learning Chinese book you might only see \"ruguo\" and you would hear \"ruguo\" in daily speech. They are all correct to say, and you can use them interchangeably. However, i\'d like to note that 要是 can also be used negatively if you place 不 in the middle, i.e. 要是 means \"if\" 要不是 means \"If not..\" such as 要不是你，我就不会来- If it wasn\'t for you, I wouldn\'t come. Whereas \"ruguo\" and the others cannot be used in that way.</blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\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白鹭 - [pinyin]chuan1[/pinyin] - To put on, wear\r\n浅浅 - [pinyin]tian3[/pinyin] - To lick\r\n池 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To look up, face upwards\r\n刺猬 - [pinyin]shun4 kou3[/pinyin] - To say smoothly, without thinking about it\r\n脑袋 - [pinyin]yun2 shi4[/pinyin] - And so..., thus\r\n鼹鼠 - [pinyin]di1 xia4 tou2[/pinyin] - To lower one\'s head\r\n假如 - [pinyin]er3 duo5[/pinyin] - Ear\r\n突然 - [pinyin]tu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n脱 - [pinyin]tuo1[/pinyin] - To take off (clothes, shoes, etc.)\r\n套 - [pinyin]tao4[/pinyin] - To cover something, encase\r\n差 - [pinyin]cha1[/pinyin] - Be deficient, be missing, a discrepancy\r\n红脸 - [pinyin]hong2 lian3[/pinyin] - To blush, to turn red\r\n光 - [pinyin]guang1[/pinyin] - Bare, empty, none\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一只<strong>白鹭</strong>在<strong>浅浅</strong>的<strong>池</strong>水中站着。\r\n\r\n一只小<strong>刺猬</strong>走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有<strong>脑袋</strong>！”\r\n\r\n“真的！”一只小<strong>鼹鼠</strong>也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\r\n\r\n“<strong>假如</strong>我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\r\n\r\n“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\r\n\r\n这时，白鹭从她那翅膀底下，伸出了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。\r\n\r\n白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，梳理梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\r\n\r\n小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\r\n\r\n“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAn egret stood in the middle of a flowing pond. \r\n\r\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! Somehow, that egret has no head!\" \r\n\r\n\"Really!\" a little mole also cried out, \"This is the first time I\'ve seen a bird without a head!\"　　\r\n\r\n\"If I didn\'t have a head, I wouldn\'t be able to live!\" the little hedgehog said.　　\r\n\r\n\"Yes, but this bird can still stand there not moving, how very impressive!\"　　\r\n\r\nAt this time, from beneath her wing the egret stretched out a long neck, and on top of that long neck grew a very short head.　　\r\n\r\nSmiling, the egret said, \"I had my head tucked beneath my wing to comb out my feathers, how could I be a bird with no head?\"　　\r\n\r\nThe little hedgehog and the little mole smiled, and they said:　　\r\n\r\n\"It was us that weren\'t using our heads to think, sorry Sister Egret!\"　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Bird with no Head', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1007-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-12 01:33:46', '2012-02-12 06:33:46', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/12/1007-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1014, 1, '2012-02-12 01:42:43', '2012-02-12 06:42:43', '', 'Easy Beginner Chinese Reading Passage: The Little Bird with No Head', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120212-inline', '', '', '2012-02-12 01:42:43', '2012-02-12 06:42:43', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/20120212-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1015, 1, '2012-02-12 01:37:16', '2012-02-12 06:37:16', '[two_third]\r\nI apologize for not posting a month or so, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. But today, in place of something interesting, we\'ve got a slightly insipid story for young children about a bird who appears to have no head. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nNot sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used in a super positive context. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\r\n\r\nAnother notable word here is 假如 [pinyin]jia1 ru2[/pinyin], which means \"if\". Thing is, in Chinese, there are quite a few ways to say \"if\". There\'s the most common, which is 如果，there\'s 要是，there\'s 假使，若是，and so on. At a loss for a good explanation myself, I <a href=\"http://www.italki.com/answers/question/116228.htm\">found a site</a> that does a great job of summing this up. In short:\r\n\r\n<blockquote>1) expressing a fact: 要是你水烧到摄氏一百度就会沸腾, if you heat the water to 100 degrees celcius [then] it will boil.\r\n2) talking about a future result: 假如你认真学外语就会进步- if you study foreign language hard, it will improve.\r\n3)an imagined situation: 假使我很有钱，我就带她去很多地方- If I were rich,I would take her to so many places.\r\n4)if something didn\'t happen: 如果你没迟到，我就不会那么生气 (if you weren\'t late, I wouldn\'t of been so mad.\r\n\r\n\"ruguo\" is more common than all of them. In a learning Chinese book you might only see \"ruguo\" and you would hear \"ruguo\" in daily speech. They are all correct to say, and you can use them interchangeably. However, i\'d like to note that 要是 can also be used negatively if you place 不 in the middle, i.e. 要是 means \"if\" 要不是 means \"If not..\" such as 要不是你，我就不会来- If it wasn\'t for you, I wouldn\'t come. Whereas \"ruguo\" and the others cannot be used in that way.</blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\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白鹭 - [pinyin]bai2 lu4[/pinyin] - Egret\r\n浅浅 - [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Sound of running water\r\n池 - [pinyin]chi2[/pinyin] - Pond\r\n刺猬 - [pinyin]ci4 wei4[/pinyin] - Hedgehog\r\n脑袋 - [pinyin]nao3 dai4[/pinyin] - Head, skull, brains\r\n鼹鼠 - [pinyin]yan3 shu3[/pinyin] - Mole (animal)\r\n假如 - [pinyin]jia3 ru2[/pinyin] - If\r\n翅膀 - [pinyin]chi4 bang3[/pinyin] - Wing\r\n伸出 - [pinyin]shen1 chu1[/pinyin] - To stretch out\r\n梳理 - [pinyin]shu1 li3[/pinyin] - To comb out, untangle\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一只<strong>白鹭</strong>在<strong>浅浅</strong>的<strong>池</strong>水中站着。\r\n\r\n一只小<strong>刺猬</strong>走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有<strong>脑袋</strong>！”\r\n\r\n“真的！”一只小<strong>鼹鼠</strong>也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\r\n\r\n“<strong>假如</strong>我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\r\n\r\n“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\r\n\r\n这时，白鹭从她那<strong>翅膀</strong>底下，<strong>伸出</strong>了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。\r\n\r\n白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，<strong>梳理</strong>梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\r\n\r\n小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\r\n\r\n“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAn egret stood in the middle of a flowing pond. \r\n\r\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! Somehow, that egret has no head!\" \r\n\r\n\"Really!\" a little mole also cried out, \"This is the first time I\'ve seen a bird without a head!\"　　\r\n\r\n\"If I didn\'t have a head, I wouldn\'t be able to live!\" the little hedgehog said.　　\r\n\r\n\"Yes, but this bird can still stand there not moving, how very impressive!\"　　\r\n\r\nAt this time, from beneath her wing the egret stretched out a long neck, and on top of that long neck grew a very short head.　　\r\n\r\nSmiling, the egret said, \"I had my head tucked beneath my wing to comb out my feathers, how could I be a bird with no head?\"　　\r\n\r\nThe little hedgehog and the little mole smiled, and they said:　　\r\n\r\n\"It was us that weren\'t using our heads to think, sorry Sister Egret!\"　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Bird with no Head', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1007-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-12 01:37:16', '2012-02-12 06:37:16', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/12/1007-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1017, 1, '2012-02-18 07:00:46', '2012-02-18 12:00:46', '[two_third]\r\nThis short paragraph is taken from a China Daily article about a new kind of rollercoaster that may or may not be built. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI\'m only translating the first paragraph here, if you want to read the rest, <a href=\"http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqzx/2012-02/11/content_14581576.htm\">the complete article</a> can be found on the China Daily site.\r\n\r\nOne of the fun words in this paragraph is 模拟舱 [pinyin]mo2 ni3 cang1[/pinyin], which means \"simulator\", like a flight simulator. In English, \"simulator\" can refer to anything that simulates, so this could be a combat simulator that\'s really just a video game on a flat panel, but the Chinese word here is more specific. 模拟 means \"simulate\", but 舱 [pinyin]cang1[/pinyin] means a kind of cabin, like an airplane cabin, that you can step into and ride in. \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失重 - [pinyin]shi1 zhong4[/pinyin] - Weightlessness\r\n模拟舱 - [pinyin]mo2 ni3 cang1[/pinyin] - Simulator / simulation cabin\r\n遥不可及 - [pinyin]yao2 bu4 ke3 ji2[/pinyin] - Unattainable\r\n研发 - [pinyin]yan2 fa1[/pinyin] - Research and development\r\n过山车 - [pinyin]guo4 shan1 che1[/pinyin] - Rollercoaster\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目前若想体验完全<strong>失重</strong>的感觉，除非成为一名航天员，或是搭乘失重<strong>模拟舱</strong>，否则这将是一个<strong>遥不可及</strong>的梦想。近日美国一家设计公司提出了一个新想法，他们计划<strong>研发</strong>一款能让乘客体验8秒钟完全失重感觉的<strong>过山车</strong>。如果资金充足，这款新型过山车会在2013年底前与世人见面。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAt present, if you want to experience what it feels like to be weightless, you can only become an astronaut or ride in an zero-gravity simulator, otherwise this dream is out of reach. But today, an American design company proposed a new idea, they have a plan to research and develop a rollercoaster that would allow passengers to experience weightlessness for 8 seconds.  If there is sufficient capital, this new type of roller coaster would be introduced to the people of the world in late 2013. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A New Kind of Rollercoaster', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', 'a-new-kind-of-rollercoaster', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:25:54', '2020-04-20 09:25:54', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1017', 0, 'post', '', 3),
(1782, 1, '2020-04-20 05:25:54', '2020-04-20 09:25:54', '[two_third]\r\nThis short paragraph is taken from a China Daily article about a new kind of rollercoaster that may or may not be built. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI\'m only translating the first paragraph here, if you want to read the rest, <a href=\"http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqzx/2012-02/11/content_14581576.htm\">the complete article</a> can be found on the China Daily site.\r\n\r\nOne of the fun words in this paragraph is 模拟舱 [pinyin]mo2 ni3 cang1[/pinyin], which means \"simulator\", like a flight simulator. In English, \"simulator\" can refer to anything that simulates, so this could be a combat simulator that\'s really just a video game on a flat panel, but the Chinese word here is more specific. 模拟 means \"simulate\", but 舱 [pinyin]cang1[/pinyin] means a kind of cabin, like an airplane cabin, that you can step into and ride in. \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失重 - [pinyin]shi1 zhong4[/pinyin] - Weightlessness\r\n模拟舱 - [pinyin]mo2 ni3 cang1[/pinyin] - Simulator / simulation cabin\r\n遥不可及 - [pinyin]yao2 bu4 ke3 ji2[/pinyin] - Unattainable\r\n研发 - [pinyin]yan2 fa1[/pinyin] - Research and development\r\n过山车 - [pinyin]guo4 shan1 che1[/pinyin] - Rollercoaster\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目前若想体验完全<strong>失重</strong>的感觉，除非成为一名航天员，或是搭乘失重<strong>模拟舱</strong>，否则这将是一个<strong>遥不可及</strong>的梦想。近日美国一家设计公司提出了一个新想法，他们计划<strong>研发</strong>一款能让乘客体验8秒钟完全失重感觉的<strong>过山车</strong>。如果资金充足，这款新型过山车会在2013年底前与世人见面。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAt present, if you want to experience what it feels like to be weightless, you can only become an astronaut or ride in an zero-gravity simulator, otherwise this dream is out of reach. But today, an American design company proposed a new idea, they have a plan to research and develop a rollercoaster that would allow passengers to experience weightlessness for 8 seconds.  If there is sufficient capital, this new type of roller coaster would be introduced to the people of the world in late 2013. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A New Kind of Rollercoaster', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1017-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:25:54', '2020-04-20 09:25:54', '', 1017, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1017-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1018, 1, '2012-02-12 19:58:24', '2012-02-13 00:58:24', '[two_third]\nThis short paragraph is taken from a China Daily article about a new kind of rollercoaster that may or may not be built. \n\nI\'m only translating the first paragraph here, if you want to read the rest, <a href=\"http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqzx/2012-02/11/content_14581576.htm\">the complete article</a> can be found on the China Daily site.\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n白鹭 - [pinyin]bai2 lu4[/pinyin] - Egret\n浅浅 - [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Sound of running water\n池 - [pinyin]chi2[/pinyin] - Pond\n刺猬 - [pinyin]ci4 wei4[/pinyin] - Hedgehog\n脑袋 - [pinyin]nao3 dai4[/pinyin] - Head, skull, brains\n鼹鼠 - [pinyin]yan3 shu3[/pinyin] - Mole (animal)\n假如 - [pinyin]jia3 ru2[/pinyin] - If\n翅膀 - [pinyin]chi4 bang3[/pinyin] - Wing\n伸出 - [pinyin]shen1 chu1[/pinyin] - To stretch out\n梳理 - [pinyin]shu1 li3[/pinyin] - To comb out, untangle\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n目前若想体验完全失重的感觉，除非成为一名航天员，或是搭乘失重模拟舱，否则这将是一个遥不可及的梦想。近日美国一家设计公司提出了一个新想法，他们计划研发一款能让乘客体验8秒钟完全失重感觉的过山车。如果资金充足，这款新型过山车会在2013年底前与世人见面。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAt present, if you want to experience what it feels like to be weightless, you can only become an astronaut or ride in a zero-gravity cabin, otherwise this dream is out of reach. But today, an American design company proposed a new idea, they have a plan to research and develop a rollercoaster that would allow passengers to experience weightlessness for 8 seconds.  If there is sufficient capital, this new type of roller coaster would be introduced to the people of the world in l 目前若想体验完全失重的感觉，除非成为一名航天员，或是搭乘失重模拟舱，否则这将是一个遥不可及的梦想。近日美国一家设计公司提出了一个新想法，他们计划研发一款能让乘客体验8秒钟完全失重感觉的过山车。如果资金充足，这款新型过山车会在2013年底前与世人见面。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A new kind of rollercoaster', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1017-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-12 19:58:24', '2012-02-13 00:58:24', '', 1017, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/12/1017-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1019, 1, '2012-02-12 20:09:59', '2012-02-13 01:09:59', '', '20120218', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120218', '', '', '2012-02-12 20:09:59', '2012-02-13 01:09:59', '', 1017, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/20120218.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1020, 1, '2012-02-12 20:10:53', '2012-02-13 01:10:53', '', 'Advanced Chinese News Stories and Reading Exercises', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120218-inline', '', '', '2012-02-12 20:10:53', '2012-02-13 01:10:53', '', 1017, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/20120218-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1021, 1, '2012-02-12 20:07:51', '2012-02-13 01:07:51', '[two_third]\nThis short paragraph is taken from a China Daily article about a new kind of rollercoaster that may or may not be built. <!--more-->\n\nI\'m only translating the first paragraph here, if you want to read the rest, <a href=\"http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqzx/2012-02/11/content_14581576.htm\">the complete article</a> can be found on the China Daily site.\n\nOne of the fun words in this paragraph is 模拟舱 [pinyin]mo2 ni3 cang1[/pinyin], which means \"simulator\", like a flight simulator. In English, \"simulator\" can refer to anything that simulates, so this could be a combat simulator that\'s really just a video game on a flat panel, but the Chinese word here is more specific. 模拟 means \"simulate\", but 舱 [pinyin]cang1[/pinyin] means a kind of cabin, like an airplane cabin, that you can step into and ride in. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n失重 - [pinyin]shi1 zhong4[/pinyin] - Weightlessness\n模拟舱 - [pinyin]mo2 ni3 cang1[/pinyin] - Simulator / simulation cabin\n遥不可及 - [pinyin]yao2 bu4 ke3 ji2[/pinyin] - Unattainable\n研发 - [pinyin]yan2 fa1[/pinyin] - Research and development\n过山车 - [pinyin]guo4 shan1 che1[/pinyin] - Rollercoaster\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n目前若想体验完全<strong>失重</strong>的感觉，除非成为一名航天员，或是搭乘失重<strong>模拟舱</strong>，否则这将是一个<strong>遥不可及</strong>的梦想。近日美国一家设计公司提出了一个新想法，他们计划<strong>研发</strong>一款能让乘客体验8秒钟完全失重感觉的<strong>过山车</strong>。如果资金充足，这款新型过山车会在2013年底前与世人见面。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAt present, if you want to experience what it feels like to be weightless, you can only become an astronaut or ride in an zero-gravity simulator, otherwise this dream is out of reach. But today, an American design company proposed a new idea, they have a plan to research and develop a rollercoaster that would allow passengers to experience weightlessness for 8 seconds.  If there is sufficient capital, this new type of roller coaster would be introduced to the people of the world in late 2013. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A new kind of rollercoaster', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1017-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-12 20:07:51', '2012-02-13 01:07:51', '', 1017, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/12/1017-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1022, 1, '2012-02-12 01:42:59', '2012-02-12 06:42:59', '[two_third]\r\nI apologize for not posting a month or so, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. But today, in place of something interesting, we\'ve got a slightly insipid story for young children about a bird who appears to have no head. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/20120212-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Childrens Beginner Chinese Reading Passage: The Little Bird with No Head\" title=\"Easy Beginner Chinese Reading Passage: The Little Bird with No Head\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder\" />Not sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used in a super positive context. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\r\n\r\nAnother notable word here is 假如 [pinyin]jia1 ru2[/pinyin], which means \"if\". Thing is, in Chinese, there are quite a few ways to say \"if\". There\'s the most common, which is 如果，there\'s 要是，there\'s 假使，若是，and so on. At a loss for a good explanation myself, I <a href=\"http://www.italki.com/answers/question/116228.htm\">found a site</a> that does a great job of summing this up. In short:\r\n\r\n<blockquote>1) expressing a fact: 要是你水烧到摄氏一百度就会沸腾, if you heat the water to 100 degrees celcius [then] it will boil.\r\n2) talking about a future result: 假如你认真学外语就会进步- if you study foreign language hard, it will improve.\r\n3)an imagined situation: 假使我很有钱，我就带她去很多地方- If I were rich,I would take her to so many places.\r\n4)if something didn\'t happen: 如果你没迟到，我就不会那么生气 (if you weren\'t late, I wouldn\'t of been so mad.\r\n\r\n\"ruguo\" is more common than all of them. In a learning Chinese book you might only see \"ruguo\" and you would hear \"ruguo\" in daily speech. They are all correct to say, and you can use them interchangeably. However, i\'d like to note that 要是 can also be used negatively if you place 不 in the middle, i.e. 要是 means \"if\" 要不是 means \"If not..\" such as 要不是你，我就不会来- If it wasn\'t for you, I wouldn\'t come. Whereas \"ruguo\" and the others cannot be used in that way.</blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\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白鹭 - [pinyin]bai2 lu4[/pinyin] - Egret\r\n浅浅 - [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Sound of running water\r\n池 - [pinyin]chi2[/pinyin] - Pond\r\n刺猬 - [pinyin]ci4 wei4[/pinyin] - Hedgehog\r\n脑袋 - [pinyin]nao3 dai4[/pinyin] - Head, skull, brains\r\n鼹鼠 - [pinyin]yan3 shu3[/pinyin] - Mole (animal)\r\n假如 - [pinyin]jia3 ru2[/pinyin] - If\r\n翅膀 - [pinyin]chi4 bang3[/pinyin] - Wing\r\n伸出 - [pinyin]shen1 chu1[/pinyin] - To stretch out\r\n梳理 - [pinyin]shu1 li3[/pinyin] - To comb out, untangle\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一只<strong>白鹭</strong>在<strong>浅浅</strong>的<strong>池</strong>水中站着。\r\n\r\n一只小<strong>刺猬</strong>走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有<strong>脑袋</strong>！”\r\n\r\n“真的！”一只小<strong>鼹鼠</strong>也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\r\n\r\n“<strong>假如</strong>我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\r\n\r\n“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\r\n\r\n这时，白鹭从她那<strong>翅膀</strong>底下，<strong>伸出</strong>了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。\r\n\r\n白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，<strong>梳理</strong>梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\r\n\r\n小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\r\n\r\n“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAn egret stood in the middle of a flowing pond. \r\n\r\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! Somehow, that egret has no head!\" \r\n\r\n\"Really!\" a little mole also cried out, \"This is the first time I\'ve seen a bird without a head!\"　　\r\n\r\n\"If I didn\'t have a head, I wouldn\'t be able to live!\" the little hedgehog said.　　\r\n\r\n\"Yes, but this bird can still stand there not moving, how very impressive!\"　　\r\n\r\nAt this time, from beneath her wing the egret stretched out a long neck, and on top of that long neck grew a very short head.　　\r\n\r\nSmiling, the egret said, \"I had my head tucked beneath my wing to comb out my feathers, how could I be a bird with no head?\"　　\r\n\r\nThe little hedgehog and the little mole smiled, and they said:　　\r\n\r\n\"It was us that weren\'t using our heads to think, sorry Sister Egret!\"　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Bird with no Head', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1007-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-12 01:42:59', '2012-02-12 06:42:59', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/12/1007-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1023, 1, '2012-02-12 20:11:50', '2012-02-13 01:11:50', '[two_third]\r\nI apologize for not posting a month or so, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. But today, in place of something interesting, we\'ve got a slightly insipid story for young children about a bird who appears to have no head. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/20120212-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Childrens Beginner Chinese Reading Passage: The Little Bird with No Head\" title=\"Easy Beginner Chinese Reading Passage: The Little Bird with No Head\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Not sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used in a super positive context. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\r\n\r\nAnother notable word here is 假如 [pinyin]jia1 ru2[/pinyin], which means \"if\". Thing is, in Chinese, there are quite a few ways to say \"if\". There\'s the most common, which is 如果，there\'s 要是，there\'s 假使，若是，and so on. At a loss for a good explanation myself, I <a href=\"http://www.italki.com/answers/question/116228.htm\">found a site</a> that does a great job of summing this up. In short:\r\n\r\n<blockquote>1) expressing a fact: 要是你水烧到摄氏一百度就会沸腾, if you heat the water to 100 degrees celcius [then] it will boil.\r\n2) talking about a future result: 假如你认真学外语就会进步- if you study foreign language hard, it will improve.\r\n3)an imagined situation: 假使我很有钱，我就带她去很多地方- If I were rich,I would take her to so many places.\r\n4)if something didn\'t happen: 如果你没迟到，我就不会那么生气 (if you weren\'t late, I wouldn\'t of been so mad.\r\n\r\n\"ruguo\" is more common than all of them. In a learning Chinese book you might only see \"ruguo\" and you would hear \"ruguo\" in daily speech. They are all correct to say, and you can use them interchangeably. However, i\'d like to note that 要是 can also be used negatively if you place 不 in the middle, i.e. 要是 means \"if\" 要不是 means \"If not..\" such as 要不是你，我就不会来- If it wasn\'t for you, I wouldn\'t come. Whereas \"ruguo\" and the others cannot be used in that way.</blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\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白鹭 - [pinyin]bai2 lu4[/pinyin] - Egret\r\n浅浅 - [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Sound of running water\r\n池 - [pinyin]chi2[/pinyin] - Pond\r\n刺猬 - [pinyin]ci4 wei4[/pinyin] - Hedgehog\r\n脑袋 - [pinyin]nao3 dai4[/pinyin] - Head, skull, brains\r\n鼹鼠 - [pinyin]yan3 shu3[/pinyin] - Mole (animal)\r\n假如 - [pinyin]jia3 ru2[/pinyin] - If\r\n翅膀 - [pinyin]chi4 bang3[/pinyin] - Wing\r\n伸出 - [pinyin]shen1 chu1[/pinyin] - To stretch out\r\n梳理 - [pinyin]shu1 li3[/pinyin] - To comb out, untangle\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一只<strong>白鹭</strong>在<strong>浅浅</strong>的<strong>池</strong>水中站着。\r\n\r\n一只小<strong>刺猬</strong>走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有<strong>脑袋</strong>！”\r\n\r\n“真的！”一只小<strong>鼹鼠</strong>也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\r\n\r\n“<strong>假如</strong>我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\r\n\r\n“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\r\n\r\n这时，白鹭从她那<strong>翅膀</strong>底下，<strong>伸出</strong>了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。\r\n\r\n白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，<strong>梳理</strong>梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\r\n\r\n小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\r\n\r\n“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAn egret stood in the middle of a flowing pond. \r\n\r\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! Somehow, that egret has no head!\" \r\n\r\n\"Really!\" a little mole also cried out, \"This is the first time I\'ve seen a bird without a head!\"　　\r\n\r\n\"If I didn\'t have a head, I wouldn\'t be able to live!\" the little hedgehog said.　　\r\n\r\n\"Yes, but this bird can still stand there not moving, how very impressive!\"　　\r\n\r\nAt this time, from beneath her wing the egret stretched out a long neck, and on top of that long neck grew a very short head.　　\r\n\r\nSmiling, the egret said, \"I had my head tucked beneath my wing to comb out my feathers, how could I be a bird with no head?\"　　\r\n\r\nThe little hedgehog and the little mole smiled, and they said:　　\r\n\r\n\"It was us that weren\'t using our heads to think, sorry Sister Egret!\"　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Bird with no Head', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1007-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-12 20:11:50', '2012-02-13 01:11:50', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/12/1007-revision-8/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1024, 1, '2012-02-12 20:11:20', '2012-02-13 01:11:20', '[two_third]\r\nThis short paragraph is taken from a China Daily article about a new kind of rollercoaster that may or may not be built. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/20120218-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Advanced Chinese News Stories and Reading Practice Passages\" title=\"Advanced Chinese News Stories and Reading Exercises\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'m only translating the first paragraph here, if you want to read the rest, <a href=\"http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqzx/2012-02/11/content_14581576.htm\">the complete article</a> can be found on the China Daily site.\r\n\r\nOne of the fun words in this paragraph is 模拟舱 [pinyin]mo2 ni3 cang1[/pinyin], which means \"simulator\", like a flight simulator. In English, \"simulator\" can refer to anything that simulates, so this could be a combat simulator that\'s really just a video game on a flat panel, but the Chinese word here is more specific. 模拟 means \"simulate\", but 舱 [pinyin]cang1[/pinyin] means a kind of cabin, like an airplane cabin, that you can step into and ride in. \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失重 - [pinyin]shi1 zhong4[/pinyin] - Weightlessness\r\n模拟舱 - [pinyin]mo2 ni3 cang1[/pinyin] - Simulator / simulation cabin\r\n遥不可及 - [pinyin]yao2 bu4 ke3 ji2[/pinyin] - Unattainable\r\n研发 - [pinyin]yan2 fa1[/pinyin] - Research and development\r\n过山车 - [pinyin]guo4 shan1 che1[/pinyin] - Rollercoaster\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目前若想体验完全<strong>失重</strong>的感觉，除非成为一名航天员，或是搭乘失重<strong>模拟舱</strong>，否则这将是一个<strong>遥不可及</strong>的梦想。近日美国一家设计公司提出了一个新想法，他们计划<strong>研发</strong>一款能让乘客体验8秒钟完全失重感觉的<strong>过山车</strong>。如果资金充足，这款新型过山车会在2013年底前与世人见面。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAt present, if you want to experience what it feels like to be weightless, you can only become an astronaut or ride in an zero-gravity simulator, otherwise this dream is out of reach. But today, an American design company proposed a new idea, they have a plan to research and develop a rollercoaster that would allow passengers to experience weightlessness for 8 seconds.  If there is sufficient capital, this new type of roller coaster would be introduced to the people of the world in late 2013. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A new kind of rollercoaster', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1017-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-12 20:11:20', '2012-02-13 01:11:20', '', 1017, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/12/1017-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1027, 1, '2012-03-17 00:17:22', '2012-03-17 04:17:22', '', 'Practice Reading Chinese: Simplified Chinese Punk Magazine Intro ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120317-inline', '', '', '2012-03-17 00:17:22', '2012-03-17 04:17:22', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120317-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1028, 1, '2012-03-17 00:24:01', '2012-03-17 04:24:01', '', 'Complex Chinese Reading Passages: Punk Rock in China Translation in English', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120317', '', '', '2012-03-17 00:24:01', '2012-03-17 04:24:01', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120317.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1030, 1, '2020-04-29 09:29:47', '0000-00-00 00:00:00', '[two_third]\r\nUpper intermediate - HSK 6.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\nOriginal is here: http://cy.5156edu.com/html1/13535.html\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摇滚 - [pinyin]yao2 gun3[/pinyin] - Rock (rock\'n\'roll)\r\n铭记 - [pinyin]ming2 ji4[/pinyin] - Engrave in one\'s mind\r\n掀起 - [pinyin]xian1 qi3[/pinyin] - To set off (to set off a reaction or commotion, for example)\r\n风暴 - [pinyin]feng1 bao4[/pinyin] - Violent commotion\r\n颠覆性 - [pinyin]dian1 fu4 xing4[/pinyin] - Subversive\r\n反抗 - [pinyin]fan3 kang4[/pinyin] - To rebel\r\n义无返顾 - [pinyin]yi4 wu2 fan3 gu4[/pinyin] - No looking back\r\n燃烧 - [pinyin]ran2 shao1[/pinyin] - Ignite, combust\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        秦二世时，丞相赵高野心勃勃，日夜盘算着要篡夺皇位。可朝中大臣有多少人能听他摆布，有多少人反对他，他心中没底。于是，他想了一个办法，准备试一试自己的威信，同时也可以摸清敢于反对他的人。\r\n\r\n　　一天上朝时，赵高让人牵来一只鹿，满脸堆笑地对秦二世说: “陛下，我献给您一匹好马。”秦二世一看，心想: 这哪里是马，这分明是一只鹿嘛！便笑着对赵高说: “丞相搞错了，这里一只鹿，你怎么说是马呢？”赵高面不改色心不跳地说: “请陛下看清楚，这的确是一匹千里马。”秦二世又看了看那只鹿，将信将疑地说:“马的头上怎么会长角呢？”赵高一转身，用手指着众大臣，大声说: “陛下如果不信我的话，可以问问众位大臣。”\r\n\r\n　　大臣们都被赵高的一派胡言搞得不知所措，私下里嘀咕:这个赵高搞什么名堂？是鹿是马这不是明摆着吗！当看到赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着每个人的时候，大臣们忽然明白了他的用意。\r\n\r\n　　一些胆小又有正义感的人都低下头，不敢说话，因为说假话，对不起自己的良心，说真话又怕日后被赵高所害。有些正直的人，坚持认为是说明书而不是马。还有一些平时就紧跟赵高的奸佞之人立刻表示拥护赵高的说法，对皇上说，“这确是一匹千里马！”\r\n\r\n　　事后，赵高通过各种手段把那些不顺从自己的正直大臣纷纷治罪，甚至满门抄斩。\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        秦二世时，丞相赵高野心勃勃，日夜盘算着要篡夺皇位。可朝中大臣有多少人能听他摆布，有多少人反对他，他心中没底。于是，他想了一个办法，准备试一试自己的威信，同时也可以摸清敢于反对他的人。\r\n\r\n　　一天上朝时，赵高让人牵来一只鹿，满脸堆笑地对秦二世说: “陛下，我献给您一匹好马。”秦二世一看，心想: 这哪里是马，这分明是一只鹿嘛！便笑着对赵高说: “丞相搞错了，这里一只鹿，你怎么说是马呢？”赵高面不改色心不跳地说: “请陛下看清楚，这的确是一匹千里马。”秦二世又看了看那只鹿，将信将疑地说:“马的头上怎么会长角呢？”赵高一转身，用手指着众大臣，大声说: “陛下如果不信我的话，可以问问众位大臣。”\r\n\r\n　　大臣们都被赵高的一派胡言搞得不知所措，私下里嘀咕:这个赵高搞什么名堂？是鹿是马这不是明摆着吗！当看到赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着每个人的时候，大臣们忽然明白了他的用意。\r\n\r\n　　一些胆小又有正义感的人都低下头，不敢说话，因为说假话，对不起自己的良心，说真话又怕日后被赵高所害。有些正直的人，坚持认为是说明书而不是马。还有一些平时就紧跟赵高的奸佞之人立刻表示拥护赵高的说法，对皇上说，“这确是一匹千里马！”\r\n\r\n　　事后，赵高通过各种手段把那些不顺从自己的正直大臣纷纷治罪，甚至满门抄斩。\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Zhi Lu Wei Ma', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', '', '', '', '2020-04-29 09:29:47', '2020-04-29 13:29:47', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1030', 0, 'post', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` (`ID`, `post_author`, `post_date`, `post_date_gmt`, `post_content`, `post_title`, `post_excerpt`, `post_status`, `comment_status`, `ping_status`, `post_password`, `post_name`, `to_ping`, `pinged`, `post_modified`, `post_modified_gmt`, `post_content_filtered`, `post_parent`, `guid`, `menu_order`, `post_type`, `post_mime_type`, `comment_count`) VALUES
(2124, 1, '2020-04-29 09:29:47', '2020-04-29 13:29:47', '[two_third]\r\nUpper intermediate - HSK 6.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\nOriginal is here: http://cy.5156edu.com/html1/13535.html\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摇滚 - [pinyin]yao2 gun3[/pinyin] - Rock (rock\'n\'roll)\r\n铭记 - [pinyin]ming2 ji4[/pinyin] - Engrave in one\'s mind\r\n掀起 - [pinyin]xian1 qi3[/pinyin] - To set off (to set off a reaction or commotion, for example)\r\n风暴 - [pinyin]feng1 bao4[/pinyin] - Violent commotion\r\n颠覆性 - [pinyin]dian1 fu4 xing4[/pinyin] - Subversive\r\n反抗 - [pinyin]fan3 kang4[/pinyin] - To rebel\r\n义无返顾 - [pinyin]yi4 wu2 fan3 gu4[/pinyin] - No looking back\r\n燃烧 - [pinyin]ran2 shao1[/pinyin] - Ignite, combust\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        秦二世时，丞相赵高野心勃勃，日夜盘算着要篡夺皇位。可朝中大臣有多少人能听他摆布，有多少人反对他，他心中没底。于是，他想了一个办法，准备试一试自己的威信，同时也可以摸清敢于反对他的人。\r\n\r\n　　一天上朝时，赵高让人牵来一只鹿，满脸堆笑地对秦二世说: “陛下，我献给您一匹好马。”秦二世一看，心想: 这哪里是马，这分明是一只鹿嘛！便笑着对赵高说: “丞相搞错了，这里一只鹿，你怎么说是马呢？”赵高面不改色心不跳地说: “请陛下看清楚，这的确是一匹千里马。”秦二世又看了看那只鹿，将信将疑地说:“马的头上怎么会长角呢？”赵高一转身，用手指着众大臣，大声说: “陛下如果不信我的话，可以问问众位大臣。”\r\n\r\n　　大臣们都被赵高的一派胡言搞得不知所措，私下里嘀咕:这个赵高搞什么名堂？是鹿是马这不是明摆着吗！当看到赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着每个人的时候，大臣们忽然明白了他的用意。\r\n\r\n　　一些胆小又有正义感的人都低下头，不敢说话，因为说假话，对不起自己的良心，说真话又怕日后被赵高所害。有些正直的人，坚持认为是说明书而不是马。还有一些平时就紧跟赵高的奸佞之人立刻表示拥护赵高的说法，对皇上说，“这确是一匹千里马！”\r\n\r\n　　事后，赵高通过各种手段把那些不顺从自己的正直大臣纷纷治罪，甚至满门抄斩。\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        秦二世时，丞相赵高野心勃勃，日夜盘算着要篡夺皇位。可朝中大臣有多少人能听他摆布，有多少人反对他，他心中没底。于是，他想了一个办法，准备试一试自己的威信，同时也可以摸清敢于反对他的人。\r\n\r\n　　一天上朝时，赵高让人牵来一只鹿，满脸堆笑地对秦二世说: “陛下，我献给您一匹好马。”秦二世一看，心想: 这哪里是马，这分明是一只鹿嘛！便笑着对赵高说: “丞相搞错了，这里一只鹿，你怎么说是马呢？”赵高面不改色心不跳地说: “请陛下看清楚，这的确是一匹千里马。”秦二世又看了看那只鹿，将信将疑地说:“马的头上怎么会长角呢？”赵高一转身，用手指着众大臣，大声说: “陛下如果不信我的话，可以问问众位大臣。”\r\n\r\n　　大臣们都被赵高的一派胡言搞得不知所措，私下里嘀咕:这个赵高搞什么名堂？是鹿是马这不是明摆着吗！当看到赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着每个人的时候，大臣们忽然明白了他的用意。\r\n\r\n　　一些胆小又有正义感的人都低下头，不敢说话，因为说假话，对不起自己的良心，说真话又怕日后被赵高所害。有些正直的人，坚持认为是说明书而不是马。还有一些平时就紧跟赵高的奸佞之人立刻表示拥护赵高的说法，对皇上说，“这确是一匹千里马！”\r\n\r\n　　事后，赵高通过各种手段把那些不顺从自己的正直大臣纷纷治罪，甚至满门抄斩。\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Zhi Lu Wei Ma', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1030-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-29 09:29:47', '2020-04-29 13:29:47', '', 1030, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/29/1030-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2469, 1, '2020-05-31 22:33:04', '2020-06-01 02:33:04', '[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;\">In the <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/tag/novels/\">Novels</a> series, I get you started reading the first few paragraphs of classic Chinese fiction. If you like the beginning, you can <a href=“https://amzn.to/2zEEBIo\">buy the book</a> and keep reading.</p> \r\n\r\nOkay, guys, time for a super challenge: this is the longest and most difficult read I\'ve ever posted. Long, because I wanted to put up the entire first chapter. Difficult, because... well, I explain below. Wang Shuo has been called \"China\'s Kerouac\", I might lean more towards \"China\'s Bukowski\", and as such, this piece is not appropriate for children. There is tons of swearing and (very) mild sexual content - you have been warned. \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Shuo\">Wang Shuo (王朔)</a> is the bad boy of contemporary Chinese writers, a real controversial figure, and his work, which centers around the dark underbelly of Beijing in the 1970s and 80s, spawned its own genre of \"hooligan\" fiction. This isn\'t the organized, moneyed mob fiction of Hong Kong, this is the small-scale thievery that reflects urban life on the mainland right after the Cultural Revolution, when the country just started opening up to international trade and society was a mess. Wang Shuo\'s plots are so ugly, dark and brutal that he has been called a \"spiritual pollutant\" by the powers that be.  \r\n\r\nThis is the complete first chapter of his book <em>Hot and Cold, Measure for Measure</em>, or 《一半是火焰，一半是海水》. The book contains several short novellas, but the namesake work is only around 90 pages long in total. I\'m just about to finish reading it. The plot is horrendously depressing: the story of a thug who casually seduces a young high school girl with a bright future, breaks her down with his callousness until she becomes a prostitute and eventually kills herself, which sets off another chain of events. The extremely relatable realism with which Wang Shuo describes her destruction will have any woman who has ever been involved with a bad-news boyfriend cringing. \r\n\r\nThis chapter sets up the rest of the book in two scenes: One, we meet the protagonist as he is in the middle of a scam he often runs. I\'m going to explain the nature of the scam here because it\'s confusing unless you spent time in China twenty years ago. Basically, the protagonist works with a gang that includes a friend of his (named 方方) and a few prostitutes (mainly one lady named 亚红). During this time in China, it was very common for prostitutes to work in and around hotels, they would push their cards under the door of hotel rooms, or cold-call the room to ask if services were required. This was illegal, but it happened all the time; I can still remember having cards pushed under my hotel room doors in the early 2000s, sometimes five different cards a night. The protagonist and his friend wait until one of the prostitutes in the gang have landed a client. Then complicit hotel staff (named 卫宁) calls the gang, who burst into the room dressed like policemen and demand money as a \"fine\" from the hotel guest, and take the prostitute out as if they are arresting her. So this is where the book starts, with a phone call from a corrupt staff member at the hotel\'s front desk to the gangsters, telling them which rooms the prostitutes are in with their clients.\r\n\r\nIn the second half of the chapter, the protagonist goes about the next day of his life doing some errands, and eventually meets and has a conversation with this girl, Wudi (吴迪), whose life he will later ruin. She is spunky but naive, daring and precocious in the way that young people can be when they think they can handle themselves, but haven\'t yet encountered real danger or darkness in their lives. \r\n\r\n<h3>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nLinguistically speaking, this is one of the hardest Chinese books I\'ve ever read, because it\'s full, full, full of underworld slang, colloquialisms and swear words, and like a lot of great fiction, some of the things that happen aren\'t clearly spelled out, they\'re only suggested and you have to read between the lines. I read it very slowly, 5-10 pages in a sitting. I\'m going to explain some of the slang used here that isn\'t in the dictionary. \r\n\r\n野鸽 - 鸽 is slang for \"prostitute\". 野, as you probably know from the word 野生, means \"wild\" or \"untamed\". 野鸽 refers to a prostitute that is not working for the gang. In the first paragraph, 野 is used by itself, this is what it\'s referring to.\r\n\r\n小子 - This is a derogatory way to refer to someone. It translates to something like, \"little shit\". \r\n\r\n他妈 - Usually 他妈的, the swear word \"fuck\" or \"fucking\" - but not referring to the sexual act itself, just used for emphasis in the middle of a sentence, same way it is in English, as in \"What the fuck are you doing here?\"\r\n\r\n没劲\r\n\r\n小毛头\r\n\r\n丫头\r\n\r\n四胜三和五负\r\n\r\n凑人\r\n\r\n来劲\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>《一半是火焰，一半是海水》第一章</h4>\r\n	\r\n“喂，两对都进房了。房间号927、1208，还有一只野的，进了1713.”\r\n\r\n“知道了。” \r\n\r\n我放下电话，马上穿上西服外套，提起书包，招呼正在看电视的方方，三步并作两步跑下楼。我那辆花四千元买来的旧“白茹”车停在街角便道上。我们坐进车里，把汽车迅速地开上马路，直驶远处灯火辉煌的“燕都”大饭店。在饭店旁边的一条林荫道上，我招手停在一溜轿车的后边，下了车“乒乓”关好门，快步加入一群刚从一辆大旅行车下来的日本游客中间，走进“燕都”饭店富丽堂皇的大厅。彬彬有礼地站在总服务台里的卫宁不易察觉地给我们使个眼声：一切正常。我和方方走进盥洗室，打开皮包，拿出两套警服换上，走出盥洗室，沿安全楼梯爬上去。爬到第九层，我们都是气喘吁吁，待呼吸均匀了，我们走向服务台，坐着的服务员抬头诧异地看我们。“我们是公安局的，请开927房间。”\r\n\r\n服务员顺从地拎起一串钥匙领着我们走向长廊尽头的一间客房。“里边有客人。”服务员看到门上挂的“请勿打扰”的小牌，回头对我说。“知道，打开锁。”我命令道。\r\n\r\n服务员钮开锁，站在一旁。\r\n\r\n“你回去吧。”方方粗鲁地挥手避开服务员。\r\n\r\n服务员消逝在走廊的另一端，我和方方立即开门冲了进去……我和方方带着亚红出来，皮包里塞着几千崭新的钞票，神情严肃地走服务台进了电梯间，方方和亚红忍不住笑起来。\r\n\r\n“你们笑什么，真<span class=\"textHighlight\">他妈没劲</span>。”我说着也忍不住笑了，对亚红说：“你在楼下酒吧等会儿，我们还得上去收拾12层那小子。”我们把电梯开到底层，让亚红出去，又开上12层。\r\n\r\n十五分钟后，我们换下警服带着另一个姑娘在酒吧找到亚红，一起喝了杯酒，亚红挽着方方先出去。我给总服务台的卫宁打了电话，告诉他事已办完，十七层那只野鸽让她舒舒服服睡一宿，早晨报警。我挽着另一个姑娘坦然走出饭店。方方已经把“白茹”发动了，我们一上车就开走了。\r\n\r\n早晨，我被电话铃吵醒，睡在我旁边的亚红接了电话，告诉我，卫宁说那两个受到我们讹诈的倒霉蛋已经结了房钱走了，那只野鸽也被在大门等着的警察塞上车抓走了。亚红翻身又睡了。我却睡不着，一支接一支地抽起烟。阳光从厚重的窗帘后倾泄出来，我轻轻走到窗前，从窗帘缝隙看了会儿外面车水马龙，阳光明媚的街道，把窗帘拉严。我不喜欢晴朗的早晨，看到成千上万的人兴冲冲地去上班、上学，我就感到形孤影单。白天我没有什么事可干，也没什么人等我，我的朋友们都在睡觉。我又抽了五支烟，看了看日历，然后穿衣服，洗脸刷牙，走出我住的这套公寓。我走过街角停放的“自茹”车，径直走向公共汽车站。尽管上班高峰已过，车内还是十分拥挤。一个坐着的中年男人下车，我刚要坐下，看到一个抱小孩的年轻妇女，便呼招她过来。\r\n\r\n“谢谢。”年轻妇女坐下后，又逗弄着小孩说：“谢谢叔叔。”\r\n\r\n“谢谢叔叔。”我冲小孩笑笑，小孩从衣兜里掏出一块彩纸包装的巧克力，剥开纸刚要往嘴里填，看我瞅着他，举起巧克力给我。\r\n\r\n“不要，叔叔不吃。”“吃吧，没事。”“真的不吃，叔叔要下车了。”\r\n\r\n我挤下车，沿街走了一站，到单位医务室要了张“三联单”，打电话约了一肝不太好的朋友去医院替我抽了一管血。又在商业区的两个储蓄所把我昨晚挣的那笔钱分别用我去世父母的名字存了进去，然后去邮局给一个交钱即可注册入学，不须考试的函授大学汇了报名款和一年的学费。我报的专业是法律。办完这些事，我到一家人不太多的豪华餐厅吃午饭。这家餐厅菜做的十分讲究，我看着漂亮的图案喝了不少红酒，又吃了几个浇了巧克力汁的冰淇淋，下午才走出餐厅，在报亭买当天所有的日报和晚报，坐在电报局等长途电话的排椅上细细测览。黄昏时我给家里打了个电话，方方接的。我们聊了会儿，他正在和卫宁下围棋，卫宁一早前来了，他们下了一天棋，他四胜三和五负，晚上准备凑人撞麻将。我告诉他我晚点回去，就挂了电话。\r\n\r\n暮春时节，树木草地都绿遍了，花丛怒放。我走进一个举办晚间音乐会的公园，在音乐亭前等退票。一个老人送了我一张，我又转送给一对只有一张票的青年伴侣，坚决不要他们加倍的票款。在高大、油漆剥落的廊柱间，我看到一美丽少女坐以汉白玉石台上看书，悬在空中的两条长腿互相勾着脚，一翘一翘。她一手棒书，一手从放在身旁的一个袋袋中抓瓜子磕，吐出的皮儿拢成一堆，嘴里哼着歌，间或翻一页书，悠闲自在，楚楚动人。我悄悄走到她身后，踮脚看那本使她入迷的书。是一本很深奥的文艺理论著作，我一目十行地看了一会儿，索然无味，正要转身走开，忽听女孩说：\r\n\r\n“看不懂吧。”她仰起脸，笑吟吟地望着我。\r\n\r\n我脸红了，感到不知所措，因为我还会脸红。片刻，我镇静下来，说：“就是学生，这会儿在公司看书也有点装模作样。”“我在这儿坐了一下午了，你瞧，我看了多少。”\r\n\r\n她快速地把看过一页数捻了一遍，我捏捏那厚厚的一迭，联想到书的内容，怀疑地问：“你看这么快”\r\n\r\n“我也看不懂呗，就看得快。”\r\n\r\n　　我们都笑了。“不看了。”女孩把书撂到一旁。“你有事吗”她问我。“没有。”我说：“没人约我。”“聊聊？”“聊聊。”我在她旁边坐，她把瓜子袋推给我。我不大会磕瓜子，磕得皮瓤唾液一塌糊涂。\r\n\r\n　　“瞧我。”女孩示范性地磕了一个瓜子，洁白的贝齿一闪，我下意识地闭紧自己被烟熏得黑黄的牙齿。女孩倒没注意，晃悠着腿四处张望。“你是哪个学校的”我注意到她里面毛衣上别着一枚校徽。女孩龇齿咬着瓜子看着我笑起来。\r\n\r\n　　“这就叫‘套瓷’吧。”女孩说：“下边你该说自己是哪个学校的，我们两校挨得如何近，没准天天能碰见……”\r\n\r\n　　“你看我象学生吗”我说：“我是劳改释放犯，现在还靠敲诈勒索为生。”“我才不管你是什么呢。”女孩笑着瞅着自己的脚尖，似乎那儿有什么好玩可笑的，“你是什么我都无所谓。”\r\n\r\n　　我半天没说话，女孩也没说话，只是美滋滋地看着天边夕阳消逝后迅即黯淡下来，却又不失瑰丽的云彩：“那块云象马克思、那块象海盗，象吗，你说象吗”\r\n\r\n　　“你多大了”女孩转过头看我，仔仔细细打量了我一遍：“你，过去没怎么跟女孩接触过吧。”“没有。”我面不改声色心不跳地骗她。\r\n\r\n　　“我早看出来了，小男孩！刚才我看书时就看见你远远地，想过来搭讪又胆怯，怕我臊你一顿是不是”\r\n\r\n　　“我和一百多个女的睡过觉。”\r\n\r\n　　女孩放声笑起来，笑得那么肆无忌惮，那么开心。\r\n\r\n　　“你笑起来，”我说：“跟个傻丫头似的。”\r\n\r\n　　女孩一下不笑了，悻悻地白了我一眼：“我不说你，你也别说我了。实话告诉你，我已经谈了一年多恋爱了。”女孩又笑了，有几分得意。“是你的傻冒同学吧？”\r\n\r\n　　“他才不傻呢，是学生会干部。”\r\n\r\n　　“那还不傻傻得已经没法练了。”\r\n\r\n　　“哼，你这种只被爸爸妈妈吻过的<span class=\"highlightText\">小毛头</span>也<span class=\"highlightText\">配</span>说他。”\r\n\r\n　　“我要是他，就敢跟你睡觉。”我微笑地说：“他敢吗？”\r\n\r\n　　尽管天色已经很暗了，我也察觉得出女孩的脸排红了：“他很尊重我。”我哧笑：“嘁，尊重，别说了，咱甭说了。你也别装傻了。”\r\n\r\n　　女孩闷了半天没吭声。我吹起口哨，叼起一支烟，把烟盒递给她，她摇摇头。“”又完了不是“我取笑她，”敢在光天化日之下看书，不会抽烟，时髦半截。“”你别来劲。“女孩不服地说，”给我一支！“\r\n\r\n　　我把嘴上的烟给她，她抽了一口，“呼”地全吹了出去。我伸胳膊搭在她肩上，她哆嗦了一下，并没拒绝。我把她搂过来，她近在咫尺地看看我，拔拉掉我的胳膊，强笑着说：\r\n\r\n　　“我有点儿信你和一百多个女人睡过觉了。”\r\n\r\n　　“干吗有点信，就应该信。知道我外号叫什么吗？老枪！”\r\n\r\n　　我听到完完全全收拾书的声音，恶意地笑着说：“我叫你害怕了。”“才没有呢。”女孩站起来：“我只是该走了。”\r\n\r\n　　“敢告诉我你叫什么，住哪儿吗”\r\n\r\n　　女孩跳下石台，亮晶晶的眼睛在黑暗中闪烁，笑着说：“啊哈！我还以为你能始终不同凡响，闹了半天，也落了俗套。”\r\n\r\n　　“好，我俗。你走吧。哎，”我叫住她：“咱们要是再见了，就得算朋友了吧”“算朋友”女孩笑着走了。\r\n\r\n　　我笑眯眯地在石台上坐了一会儿，也跳下石台走了。\r\nBy <a href=\"https://amzn.to/2zEEBIo\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paperback</a> or <a href=\"https://amzn.to/2Z7Japj\">Kindle</a>.\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\n\"Hey, both pairs just went into their rooms, the room numbers are 927, 1208, and there\'s one other [that isn\'t part of our gang], went into 1713.\" \r\n\r\n\"Got it.\" \r\n\r\nI put down the phone, immediately put on my suit jacket, picked up my book bag, and called to Fangfang who was watching TV, and we ran down the stairs two at a time. The “Peugeot” car I paid 4000 RMB for was parked on the corner of the street. We got in the car, and drove quickly onto the road, and drove directly towards the brilliant lights of the Yandu Hotel. On a shady street next to the hotel, I waved to stop behind a row of cars, our doors closed with a <em>ping pang</em>, and we quickly stepped in to intermingle with a group of Japanese tourists that had just gotten off a tour bus, walking [among them] into the Yandu Hotel\'s resplendent lobby. Courteously standing behind the main service counter, Weining surreptitiously shot us a look: everything was normal. Fangfang and I walked into the washroom, opened the leather bag, took out two police uniforms and changed into them, walked out of the washroom, and took the emergency exit stairs up. We climbed to the 9th floor, both of us huffing and puffing, and waiting until our breath came easier, then we walked towards the [floor\'s] service counter. The service personnel sitting there raised his head and looked at us astonished. \r\n\r\n\"We\'re the police, please open room 927.\" \r\n\r\nThe staff compliantly lifted out a chain of keys and lead us to a room at the end of the long hall. \r\n\r\n\"There\'s a guest inside.\" The staff saw the \"do not disturb\" sign hung on the door, and said looking back at us. \r\n\r\n\"We know, open the lock.\" I ordered. \r\n\r\nThe service staff twisted open the lock, and stood to one side.\r\n\r\n\"Get back,\" Fangfang roughly waved away the staffer. \r\n\r\nThe staff disappeared down another hallway, and Fangfang and I immediately opened the door and charged inside.... Fangfang and I walked out with Yahong, our leather bag stuffed full of a few thousand fresh bank notes, and with serious expressions entered the elevator next to the service desk, then Fangfang and Yahong could [no longer] suppress their laughter. \r\n\r\n\"What are you two laughing at, what the fuck is so funny [lit: it\'s really fucking uninteresting].\" But as I spoke I couldn\'t help laughing myself, and I said to Yahong, \"Wait in the bar downstairs for a bit, we\'ve still got to go grab up those little shits on the 12th floor.\" We took the elevator to the lower floor, let Yahong out, then went back up to 12.  　\r\n\r\nFifteen minutes later, we changed out of our police clothes and took the second girl to the bar to find Yahong, had some drinks together, and Yahong left on Fangfang\'s arm. I gave Weining at the main service desk a call, told him it was done, and to let the hooker on the 17th floor sleep soundly for the night, then call the [real] cops [on her] in the morning. With the other girl on my arm I walked casually out of the hotel. Fangfang had already started up the Peugeot, and he drove off as soon as we got in.\r\n\r\nIn the morning, I was woken up by a phone call, and Yahong who had been sleeping by my side answered it. She told me: Weining said that the two sorry suckers that we\'d scammed had already paid for the rooms and left, the other prostitute had been taken away by the cops that were waiting at the main entrance. Yahong rolled over and went back to sleep. I couldn\'t fall asleep again, [so I just] smoked one cigarette after another. Sunlight was spilling at an angle through the thick curtains, and I walked quietly to the window, looking out through the crack in the curtains onto the flow of people and traffic outside, the sun shining brightly on the street, and pulled the curtains firmly shut. I don\'t like the early morning, seeing people in their hundreds and thousands rush to work, to school, makes me feel like an isolated shadow. I don\'t have anything to do during the day, and no one\'s waiting for me, my friends are all asleep. I smoked another five cigarettes, looked at the calendar, then put on my clothes, washed my face and brushed my teeth, and walked out of the apartment where I was staying. I walked past the Peugot parked at the corner, and walked straight to the bust stop. Even though rush hour was already over, the bus was still pretty packed. One guy who was sitting down got off the bus, and I was just about to sit [in his place], when I saw a young woman carrying a small child, and called her to sit.\r\n\r\n\"Thank you.\" After the young woman sat down, she cutely said to the kid: \"Thank the uncle.\"　\r\n\r\n\"Thank you uncle.\"\r\n\r\nI smiled at the kid, and he fished a piece of chocolate wrapped in colored paper out of his pocket, ripped open the packet and was about to stuff it into his mouth, saw me watching him, and held up the chocolate to me.\r\n\r\n\"No thanks, uncle doesn\'t want it.\" \r\n\r\n\"Have it, it\'s nothing.\" \r\n\r\n\"No, really, uncle\'s got to get off.\" \r\n\r\nI pushed my way off the bus, walked along the road as far as the next stop, arrive an infirmary and asked for asked for a triplicate invoice, then called an acquaintance to go to the hospital and get some blood drawn in my place. At two [separate] savings banks in the business district I deposited the money I\'d gotten last night under my dead parents\' names, then I went to the post office and sent a tuition payment to a correspondence university where you didn\'t have to take a test to register, just pay. I registered to major in law. Once I\'d finished these things, I went to eat lunch at a fine dining restaurant where there weren\'t too many patrons. The food at this restaurant was exquisite. I drank no small measure of wine while looking at the lovely picture [menu]，ate a few ice creams drizzled with chocolate sauce, left the restaurant in the afternoon, bought the morning and evening papers at the news stand, and sat on the long-distance call waiting bench in the telegraph office and browsed them thoroughly. I called the house around dusk, Fangfang picked up. We talked for a while, he\'d just been playing Go with Weining. Weining had come over earlier, they\'d been playing Go all day，he won a few, tied a few and lost a few，and tonight they were planning to get some people together for a Majiang game. I told him I\'d be back that night, and hung up the phone.\r\n\r\nIt was late spring, the trees and grasses had turned green, the flowers bloomed in profusion. I went into a park where they\'d organized an evening music event, and waited in line to return my ticket. An old man had given me one ticket, I ended up re-gifting it to a young couple who only had one, refused their offer to make up the difference. Between the huge, green-painted pillars, I saw a beautiful young woman sitting on the marble platform reading a book, her two long legs hanging in the air hooked at the angles, swinging. She was holding a book in one hand, and was picking sunflower seeds out of the bag at her side with the other, the shells she\'d spit out had amassed into a pile, she was humming a song, turning a page now and then, leisurely and unrestrained, delicate and lovely. I quietly walked up behind her, and stood on tiptoe to look at the book that had fascinated her so. It was a profound works of literary theory, I skimmed it for bit, [found it dull and insipid], and I was just about to turn around and leave, when I suddenly heard the girl say:\r\n\r\n\"You don\'t understand it, huh?\" she turned up her face, looking at me with a smile. \r\n\r\nMy face turned red, and I felt at a loss that I [was still capable of] getting embarrassed. After a moment, I settled down, and said: \"You\'re just a student, sitting here in the park reading is a bit of affectation.\" \r\n\r\n\"I\'ve been sitting here all afternoon, look here you, see how much I\'ve read.\"\r\n\r\nShe quickly flipped through all the pages she\'d read, and I pinched that thick stack, and thinking back on the contents, asked doubtfully, \"You read that quickly?\" \r\n\r\n\"I don\'t understand it either, but I read it quickly.\" \r\n\r\nWe both smiled. \"I\'m done reading.\" The girl put the book to one side. \"You have somewhere to be?\" she asked me. \r\n\r\n\"No,\" I said. \"No appointments.\" \r\n\r\n\"[Shall we] chat [for a bit]?\"\r\n\r\n\"Let\'s chat.\" \r\n\r\nI sat down next to her, and she pushed the bag of sunflower seeds over to me. I didn\'t really know how to crack the sunflower seeds [with my teeth], and [when I tried] spittle went everywhere.\r\n\r\n\"Watch me.\" The girl demonstrated with a single sunflower seed, her pure white teeth flashing, and I subconsciously closed my mouth over my own tobacco smoke-yellowed teeth. But she didn\'t notice, swinging her legs in all directions. \"What school are you from?\" I noticed there was a school emblem on her inside sweater. Biting down on a sunflower seed, the girl looked at me and smiled. \r\n\r\n\"That\'s called \'cottoning up\',\" she said. \"Next you\'ll probably say whatever school you\'re from, and that our schools are so close to each other, maybe we can run into each other every day...\" \r\n\r\n\"You think I look like a student?\" I said. \"I\'m a criminal freed from the work camps, I extort people for a living.\"\r\n\r\n\"I don\'t care what you are,\" the girl said, smiling and looking at her toes, as if there was something amusing there. \"Whatever you are is nothing to me.\" \r\n\r\nI didn\'t speak for a while, and the girl didn\'t speak either, just looked on, pleased, as the evening light disappeared on the horizon and the sky quickly dimmed, but didn\'t lose its magnificent clouds: \"That cloud looks like Marx, that one looks like a pirate, doesn\'t it, don\'t you think so?\" \r\n\r\n\"How old are you?\" the girl turned her head to look at me, carefully looking me over. \"You, doesn\'t look like you\'ve been with that many women.\" \r\n\r\n\"Nope,\" I said, lying to her without a change in expression or a thump of the heart. \r\n\r\n\"I could tell right away, little boy! As I was reading my book just now, I saw you standing far away, wanting to talk to me but also timid, afraid I\'d curse you, huh?\"　\r\n\r\n\"[Actually,] I\'ve slept with over 100 women.\"\r\n\r\nThe girl let loose a laugh, unbridled and amused. \r\n\r\n\"You laugh,\" I said, \"like a dumb chick.\"　　\r\n\r\nShe suddenly stopped laughing, angrily throwing me a scornful glance, \"I didn\'t criticize you, don\'t criticize me. Truthfully speaking, I\'ve already been with someone for a year.\" The girl smiled again, quite satisfied with herself. \r\n\r\n\"Is it one of your idiot classmates?\" 　\r\n\r\n\"He\'s not an idiot, he\'s a cadre in the student union.\"　　\r\n\r\n\"Then he\'s stupid beyond measure.\"　\r\n\r\n\"Huh, a little baby like you who\'s only been kissed by his parents doesn\'t deserve to speak of him.\"　\r\n\r\n\"If I was him, I\'d already have had the courage to bed you,\" I said, smiling lightly. \"Has he dared?\"　　\r\n\r\nAlthough the sky was already gloomy, I perceived the girl\'s face reddening, \"He respects me.\" \r\n\r\nI tittered, \"Oh, respect, don\'t even, no need for us to talk about that. And no need for you to play dumb.\"  \r\n\r\nThe girl sat there vexed for a while saying nothing. I started whistling, started sucking on a cigarette, passed her the cigarette pack, she shook her head. \r\n\r\n\"Busted again, aren\'t you?\" I teased her, \"willing to read a book in broad daylight, but can\'t smoke cigarettes, [guess you\'re] only half-fashionable.\"\r\n\r\n\"Don\'t be obnoxious.\" Still, unwilling to be conquered, she said, \"Give me one!\"\r\n\r\nI passed her the cigarette that was in my mouth, she took a puff, and <em>heng</em>, blew it all out. I stretched an arm around her shoulder, she trembled a second, but didn\'t refuse. I pulled her near to me, she looked at me from close up, pushed my arm off, and with a forced smile said: \r\n\r\n\"I might believe a little that you\'ve slept with over 100 women.\" \r\n\r\n\"What are you doing only \'believing a little\', you ought to just believe. You want to know what they call me? The Old Pistol.\"　\r\n\r\nI heard her grabbing up all of her books, and she said with a nasty smile, \"Well, <em>I</em> call you scared.\" \r\n\r\n\"Well, I\'m not.\"\r\n\r\nThe girl stood up: \"I should probably go.\"\r\n\r\n\"Do you dare tell me your name, or where you live?\"　\r\n\r\nThe girl jumped off the platform, her bright, crystal eyes flashed in the darkness, and she said smiling, \"Ah ha! I thought maybe you weren\'t like everyone else, [talking shit] half the day, but then sinking into mediocrity.\"　　\r\n\r\n\"Fine, I\'m mediocre. Go. Hey,\" I called her to stop, \"If we meet again, let\'s consider ourselves friends.\"\r\n\r\n\"Sure, friends,\" she said, and smiling, left.　\r\n\r\nI sat for a while on the platform smiling genially, then I too jumped down and left. 　\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Novels: Start reading Chinese gangster novel 《一半是火焰，一半是海水》by Wang Shuo', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2453-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-31 22:33:04', '2020-06-01 02:33:04', '', 2453, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/31/2453-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2468, 1, '2020-05-31 22:29:37', '2020-06-01 02:29:37', '[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;\">In the <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/tag/novels/\">Novels</a> series, I get you started reading the first few paragraphs of classic Chinese fiction. If you like the beginning, you can <a href=“https://amzn.to/2zEEBIo\">buy the book</a> and keep reading.</p> \r\n\r\nOkay, guys, time for a super challenge: this is the longest and most difficult read I\'ve ever posted. Long, because I wanted to put up the entire first chapter. Difficult, because... well, I explain below. Wang Shuo has been called \"China\'s Kerouac\", I might lean more towards \"China\'s Bukowski\", and as such, this piece is not appropriate for children. There is tons of swearing and (very) mild sexual content - you have been warned. \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Shuo\">Wang Shuo (王朔)</a> is the bad boy of contemporary Chinese writers, a real controversial figure, and his work, which centers around the dark underbelly of Beijing in the 1970s and 80s, spawned its own genre of \"hooligan\" fiction. This isn\'t the organized, moneyed mob fiction of Hong Kong, this is the small-scale thievery that reflects urban life on the mainland right after the Cultural Revolution, when the country just started opening up to international trade and society was a mess. Wang Shuo\'s plots are so ugly, dark and brutal that he has been called a \"spiritual pollutant\" by the powers that be.  \r\n\r\nThis is the complete first chapter of his book <em>Hot and Cold, Measure for Measure</em>, or 《一半是火焰，一半是海水》. The book contains several short novellas, but the namesake work is only around 90 pages long in total. I\'m just about to finish reading it. The plot is horrendously depressing: the story of a thug who casually seduces a young high school girl with a bright future, breaks her down with his callousness until she becomes a prostitute and eventually kills herself, which sets off another chain of events. The extremely relatable realism with which Wang Shuo describes her destruction will have any woman who has ever been involved with a bad-news boyfriend cringing. \r\n\r\nThis chapter sets up the rest of the book in two scenes: One, we meet the protagonist as he is in the middle of a scam he often runs. I\'m going to explain the nature of the scam here because it\'s confusing unless you spent time in China twenty years ago. Basically, the protagonist works with a gang that includes a friend of his (named 方方) and a few prostitutes (mainly one lady named 亚红). During this time in China, it was very common for prostitutes to work in and around hotels, they would push their cards under the door of hotel rooms, or cold-call the room to ask if services were required. This was illegal, but it happened all the time; I can still remember having cards pushed under my hotel room doors in the early 2000s, sometimes five different cards a night. The protagonist and his friend wait until one of the prostitutes in the gang have landed a client. Then complicit hotel staff (named 卫宁) calls the gang, who burst into the room dressed like policemen and demand money as a \"fine\" from the hotel guest, and take the prostitute out as if they are arresting her. So this is where the book starts, with a phone call from a corrupt staff member at the hotel\'s front desk to the gangsters, telling them which rooms the prostitutes are in with their clients.\r\n\r\nIn the second half of the chapter, the protagonist goes about the next day of his life doing some errands, and eventually meets and has a conversation with this girl, Wudi (吴迪), whose life he will later ruin. She is spunky but naive, daring and precocious in the way that young people can be when they think they can handle themselves, but haven\'t yet encountered real danger or darkness in their lives. \r\n\r\n<h3>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nLinguistically speaking, this is one of the hardest Chinese books I\'ve ever read, because it\'s full, full, full of underworld slang, colloquialisms and swear words, and like a lot of great fiction, some of the things that happen aren\'t clearly spelled out, they\'re only suggested and you have to read between the lines. I read it very slowly, 5-10 pages in a sitting. I\'m going to explain some of the slang used here that isn\'t in the dictionary. \r\n\r\n野鸽 - 鸽 is slang for \"prostitute\". 野, as you probably know from the word 野生, means \"wild\" or \"untamed\". 野鸽 refers to a prostitute that is not working for the gang. In the first paragraph, 野 is used by itself, this is what it\'s referring to.\r\n\r\n小子 - This is a derogatory way to refer to someone. It translates to something like, \"little shit\". \r\n\r\n他妈 - Usually 他妈的, the swear word \"fuck\" or \"fucking\" - but not referring to the sexual act itself, just used for emphasis in the middle of a sentence, same way it is in English, as in \"What the fuck are you doing here?\"\r\n\r\n没劲\r\n\r\n小毛头\r\n\r\n丫头\r\n\r\n四胜三和五负\r\n\r\n凑人\r\n\r\n来劲\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>《一半是火焰，一半是海水》第一章</h4>\r\n	\r\n“喂，两对都进房了。房间号927、1208，还有一只野的，进了1713.”\r\n\r\n“知道了。” \r\n\r\n我放下电话，马上穿上西服外套，提起书包，招呼正在看电视的方方，三步并作两步跑下楼。我那辆花四千元买来的旧“白茹”车停在街角便道上。我们坐进车里，把汽车迅速地开上马路，直驶远处灯火辉煌的“燕都”大饭店。在饭店旁边的一条林荫道上，我招手停在一溜轿车的后边，下了车“乒乓”关好门，快步加入一群刚从一辆大旅行车下来的日本游客中间，走进“燕都”饭店富丽堂皇的大厅。彬彬有礼地站在总服务台里的卫宁不易察觉地给我们使个眼声：一切正常。我和方方走进盥洗室，打开皮包，拿出两套警服换上，走出盥洗室，沿安全楼梯爬上去。爬到第九层，我们都是气喘吁吁，待呼吸均匀了，我们走向服务台，坐着的服务员抬头诧异地看我们。“我们是公安局的，请开927房间。”\r\n\r\n服务员顺从地拎起一串钥匙领着我们走向长廊尽头的一间客房。“里边有客人。”服务员看到门上挂的“请勿打扰”的小牌，回头对我说。“知道，打开锁。”我命令道。\r\n\r\n服务员钮开锁，站在一旁。\r\n\r\n“你回去吧。”方方粗鲁地挥手避开服务员。\r\n\r\n服务员消逝在走廊的另一端，我和方方立即开门冲了进去……我和方方带着亚红出来，皮包里塞着几千崭新的钞票，神情严肃地走服务台进了电梯间，方方和亚红忍不住笑起来。\r\n\r\n“你们笑什么，真<span class=\"textHighlight\">他妈没劲</span>。”我说着也忍不住笑了，对亚红说：“你在楼下酒吧等会儿，我们还得上去收拾12层那小子。”我们把电梯开到底层，让亚红出去，又开上12层。\r\n\r\n十五分钟后，我们换下警服带着另一个姑娘在酒吧找到亚红，一起喝了杯酒，亚红挽着方方先出去。我给总服务台的卫宁打了电话，告诉他事已办完，十七层那只野鸽让她舒舒服服睡一宿，早晨报警。我挽着另一个姑娘坦然走出饭店。方方已经把“白茹”发动了，我们一上车就开走了。\r\n\r\n早晨，我被电话铃吵醒，睡在我旁边的亚红接了电话，告诉我，卫宁说那两个受到我们讹诈的倒霉蛋已经结了房钱走了，那只野鸽也被在大门等着的警察塞上车抓走了。亚红翻身又睡了。我却睡不着，一支接一支地抽起烟。阳光从厚重的窗帘后倾泄出来，我轻轻走到窗前，从窗帘缝隙看了会儿外面车水马龙，阳光明媚的街道，把窗帘拉严。我不喜欢晴朗的早晨，看到成千上万的人兴冲冲地去上班、上学，我就感到形孤影单。白天我没有什么事可干，也没什么人等我，我的朋友们都在睡觉。我又抽了五支烟，看了看日历，然后穿衣服，洗脸刷牙，走出我住的这套公寓。我走过街角停放的“自茹”车，径直走向公共汽车站。尽管上班高峰已过，车内还是十分拥挤。一个坐着的中年男人下车，我刚要坐下，看到一个抱小孩的年轻妇女，便呼招她过来。\r\n\r\n“谢谢。”年轻妇女坐下后，又逗弄着小孩说：“谢谢叔叔。”\r\n\r\n“谢谢叔叔。”我冲小孩笑笑，小孩从衣兜里掏出一块彩纸包装的巧克力，剥开纸刚要往嘴里填，看我瞅着他，举起巧克力给我。\r\n\r\n“不要，叔叔不吃。”“吃吧，没事。”“真的不吃，叔叔要下车了。”\r\n\r\n我挤下车，沿街走了一站，到单位医务室要了张“三联单”，打电话约了一肝不太好的朋友去医院替我抽了一管血。又在商业区的两个储蓄所把我昨晚挣的那笔钱分别用我去世父母的名字存了进去，然后去邮局给一个交钱即可注册入学，不须考试的函授大学汇了报名款和一年的学费。我报的专业是法律。办完这些事，我到一家人不太多的豪华餐厅吃午饭。这家餐厅菜做的十分讲究，我看着漂亮的图案喝了不少红酒，又吃了几个浇了巧克力汁的冰淇淋，下午才走出餐厅，在报亭买当天所有的日报和晚报，坐在电报局等长途电话的排椅上细细测览。黄昏时我给家里打了个电话，方方接的。我们聊了会儿，他正在和卫宁下围棋，卫宁一早前来了，他们下了一天棋，他四胜三和五负，晚上准备凑人撞麻将。我告诉他我晚点回去，就挂了电话。\r\n\r\n暮春时节，树木草地都绿遍了，花丛怒放。我走进一个举办晚间音乐会的公园，在音乐亭前等退票。一个老人送了我一张，我又转送给一对只有一张票的青年伴侣，坚决不要他们加倍的票款。在高大、油漆剥落的廊柱间，我看到一美丽少女坐以汉白玉石台上看书，悬在空中的两条长腿互相勾着脚，一翘一翘。她一手棒书，一手从放在身旁的一个袋袋中抓瓜子磕，吐出的皮儿拢成一堆，嘴里哼着歌，间或翻一页书，悠闲自在，楚楚动人。我悄悄走到她身后，踮脚看那本使她入迷的书。是一本很深奥的文艺理论著作，我一目十行地看了一会儿，索然无味，正要转身走开，忽听女孩说：\r\n\r\n“看不懂吧。”她仰起脸，笑吟吟地望着我。\r\n\r\n我脸红了，感到不知所措，因为我还会脸红。片刻，我镇静下来，说：“就是学生，这会儿在公司看书也有点装模作样。”“我在这儿坐了一下午了，你瞧，我看了多少。”\r\n\r\n她快速地把看过一页数捻了一遍，我捏捏那厚厚的一迭，联想到书的内容，怀疑地问：“你看这么快”\r\n\r\n“我也看不懂呗，就看得快。”\r\n\r\n　　我们都笑了。“不看了。”女孩把书撂到一旁。“你有事吗”她问我。“没有。”我说：“没人约我。”“聊聊？”“聊聊。”我在她旁边坐，她把瓜子袋推给我。我不大会磕瓜子，磕得皮瓤唾液一塌糊涂。\r\n\r\n　　“瞧我。”女孩示范性地磕了一个瓜子，洁白的贝齿一闪，我下意识地闭紧自己被烟熏得黑黄的牙齿。女孩倒没注意，晃悠着腿四处张望。“你是哪个学校的”我注意到她里面毛衣上别着一枚校徽。女孩龇齿咬着瓜子看着我笑起来。\r\n\r\n　　“这就叫‘套瓷’吧。”女孩说：“下边你该说自己是哪个学校的，我们两校挨得如何近，没准天天能碰见……”\r\n\r\n　　“你看我象学生吗”我说：“我是劳改释放犯，现在还靠敲诈勒索为生。”“我才不管你是什么呢。”女孩笑着瞅着自己的脚尖，似乎那儿有什么好玩可笑的，“你是什么我都无所谓。”\r\n\r\n　　我半天没说话，女孩也没说话，只是美滋滋地看着天边夕阳消逝后迅即黯淡下来，却又不失瑰丽的云彩：“那块云象马克思、那块象海盗，象吗，你说象吗”\r\n\r\n　　“你多大了”女孩转过头看我，仔仔细细打量了我一遍：“你，过去没怎么跟女孩接触过吧。”“没有。”我面不改声色心不跳地骗她。\r\n\r\n　　“我早看出来了，小男孩！刚才我看书时就看见你远远地，想过来搭讪又胆怯，怕我臊你一顿是不是”\r\n\r\n　　“我和一百多个女的睡过觉。”\r\n\r\n　　女孩放声笑起来，笑得那么肆无忌惮，那么开心。\r\n\r\n　　“你笑起来，”我说：“跟个傻丫头似的。”\r\n\r\n　　女孩一下不笑了，悻悻地白了我一眼：“我不说你，你也别说我了。实话告诉你，我已经谈了一年多恋爱了。”女孩又笑了，有几分得意。“是你的傻冒同学吧？”\r\n\r\n　　“他才不傻呢，是学生会干部。”\r\n\r\n　　“那还不傻傻得已经没法练了。”\r\n\r\n　　“哼，你这种只被爸爸妈妈吻过的<span class=\"highlightText\">小毛头</span>也<span class=\"highlightText\">配</span>说他。”\r\n\r\n　　“我要是他，就敢跟你睡觉。”我微笑地说：“他敢吗？”\r\n\r\n　　尽管天色已经很暗了，我也察觉得出女孩的脸排红了：“他很尊重我。”我哧笑：“嘁，尊重，别说了，咱甭说了。你也别装傻了。”\r\n\r\n　　女孩闷了半天没吭声。我吹起口哨，叼起一支烟，把烟盒递给她，她摇摇头。“”又完了不是“我取笑她，”敢在光天化日之下看书，不会抽烟，时髦半截。“”你别来劲。“女孩不服地说，”给我一支！“\r\n\r\n　　我把嘴上的烟给她，她抽了一口，“呼”地全吹了出去。我伸胳膊搭在她肩上，她哆嗦了一下，并没拒绝。我把她搂过来，她近在咫尺地看看我，拔拉掉我的胳膊，强笑着说：\r\n\r\n　　“我有点儿信你和一百多个女人睡过觉了。”\r\n\r\n　　“干吗有点信，就应该信。知道我外号叫什么吗？老枪！”\r\n\r\n　　我听到完完全全收拾书的声音，恶意地笑着说：“我叫你害怕了。”“才没有呢。”女孩站起来：“我只是该走了。”\r\n\r\n　　“敢告诉我你叫什么，住哪儿吗”\r\n\r\n　　女孩跳下石台，亮晶晶的眼睛在黑暗中闪烁，笑着说：“啊哈！我还以为你能始终不同凡响，闹了半天，也落了俗套。”\r\n\r\n　　“好，我俗。你走吧。哎，”我叫住她：“咱们要是再见了，就得算朋友了吧”“算朋友”女孩笑着走了。\r\n\r\n　　我笑眯眯地在石台上坐了一会儿，也跳下石台走了。\r\nBy <a href=\"https://amzn.to/2zEEBIo\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paperback</a> or <a href=\"https://amzn.to/2Z7Japj\">Kindle</a>.\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\n\"Hey, both pairs just went into their rooms, the room numbers are 927, 1208, and there\'s one other [that isn\'t part of our gang], went into 1713.\" \r\n\r\n\"Got it.\" \r\n\r\nI put down the phone, immediately put on my suit jacket, picked up my book bag, and called to Fangfang who was watching TV, and we ran down the stairs two at a time. The “Peugeot” car I paid 4000 RMB for was parked on the corner of the street. We got in the car, and drove quickly onto the road, and drove directly towards the brilliant lights of the Yandu Hotel. On a shady street next to the hotel, I waved to stop behind a row of cars, our doors closed with a <em>ping pang</em>, and we quickly stepped in to intermingle with a group of Japanese tourists that had just gotten off a tour bus, walking [among them] into the Yandu Hotel\'s resplendent lobby. Courteously standing behind the main service counter, Weining surreptitiously shot us a look: everything was normal. Fangfang and I walked into the washroom, opened the leather bag, took out two police uniforms and changed into them, walked out of the washroom, and took the emergency exit stairs up. We climbed to the 9th floor, both of us huffing and puffing, and waiting until our breath came easier, then we walked towards the [floor\'s] service counter. The service personnel sitting there raised his head and looked at us astonished. \r\n\r\n\"We\'re the police, please open room 927.\" \r\n\r\nThe staff compliantly lifted out a chain of keys and lead us to a room at the end of the long hall. \r\n\r\n\"There\'s a guest inside.\" The staff saw the \"do not disturb\" sign hung on the door, and said looking back at us. \r\n\r\n\"We know, open the lock.\" I ordered. \r\n\r\nThe service staff twisted open the lock, and stood to one side.\r\n\r\n\"Get back,\" Fangfang roughly waved away the staffer. \r\n\r\nThe staff disappeared down another hallway, and Fangfang and I immediately opened the door and charged inside.... Fangfang and I walked out with Yahong, our leather bag stuffed full of a few thousand fresh bank notes, and with serious expressions entered the elevator next to the service desk, then Fangfang and Yahong could [no longer] suppress their laughter. \r\n\r\n\"What are you two laughing at, what the fuck is so funny [lit: it\'s really fucking uninteresting].\" But as I spoke I couldn\'t help laughing myself, and I said to Yahong, \"Wait in the bar downstairs for a bit, we\'ve still got to go grab up those little shits on the 12th floor.\" We took the elevator to the lower floor, let Yahong out, then went back up to 12.  　\r\n\r\nFifteen minutes later, we changed out of our police clothes and took the second girl to the bar to find Yahong, had some drinks together, and Yahong left on Fangfang\'s arm. I gave Weining at the main service desk a call, told him it was done, and to let the hooker on the 17th floor sleep soundly for the night, then call the [real] cops [on her] in the morning. With the other girl on my arm I walked casually out of the hotel. Fangfang had already started up the Peugeot, and he drove off as soon as we got in.\r\n\r\nIn the morning, I was woken up by a phone call, and Yahong who had been sleeping by my side answered it. She told me: Weining said that the two sorry suckers that we\'d scammed had already paid for the rooms and left, the other prostitute had been taken away by the cops that were waiting at the main entrance. Yahong rolled over and went back to sleep. I couldn\'t fall asleep again, [so I just] smoked one cigarette after another. Sunlight was spilling at an angle through the thick curtains, and I walked quietly to the window, looking out through the crack in the curtains onto the flow of people and traffic outside, the sun shining brightly on the street, and pulled the curtains firmly shut. I don\'t like the early morning, seeing people in their hundreds and thousands rush to work, to school, makes me feel like an isolated shadow. I don\'t have anything to do during the day, and no one\'s waiting for me, my friends are all asleep. I smoked another five cigarettes, looked at the calendar, then put on my clothes, washed my face and brushed my teeth, and walked out of the apartment where I was staying. I walked past the Peugot parked at the corner, and walked straight to the bust stop. Even though rush hour was already over, the bus was still pretty packed. One guy who was sitting down got off the bus, and I was just about to sit [in his place], when I saw a young woman carrying a small child, and called her to sit.\r\n\r\n\"Thank you.\" After the young woman sat down, she cutely said to the kid: \"Thank the uncle.\"　\r\n\r\n\"Thank you uncle.\"\r\n\r\nI smiled at the kid, and he fished a piece of chocolate wrapped in colored paper out of his pocket, ripped open the packet and was about to stuff it into his mouth, saw me watching him, and held up the chocolate to me.\r\n\r\n\"No thanks, uncle doesn\'t want it.\" \r\n\r\n\"Have it, it\'s nothing.\" \r\n\r\n\"No, really, uncle\'s got to get off.\" \r\n\r\nI pushed my way off the bus, walked along the road as far as the next stop, got to an infirmary and asked for asked for \"\" 　我挤下车，沿街走了一站，到单位医务室要了张“三联单”，打电话约了一肝不太好的朋友去医院替我抽了一管血。At two [separate] savings banks in the business district I deposited the money I\'d gotten last night under my dead parents\' names, then I went to the post office and sent a tuition payment to a correspondence university where you didn\'t have to take a test to register, just pay. I registered to major in law. Once I\'d finished these things, I went to eat lunch at a fine dining restaurant where there weren\'t too many patrons. The food at this restaurant was exquisite. I drank no small measure of wine while looking at the lovely picture [menu]，ate a few ice creams drizzled with chocolate sauce, left the restaurant in the afternoon, bought the morning and evening papers at the news stand, and sat on the long-distance call waiting bench in the telegraph office and browsed them thoroughly. I called the house around dusk, Fangfang picked up. We talked for a while, he\'d just been playing Go with Weining. Weining had come over earlier, they\'d been playing Go all day，he won a few, tied a few and lost a few，and tonight they were planning to get some people together for a Majiang game. I told him I\'d be back that night, and hung up the phone.\r\n\r\nIt was late spring, the trees and grasses had turned green, the flowers bloomed in profusion. I went into a park where they\'d organized an evening music event, and waited in line to return my ticket. An old man had given me one ticket, I ended up re-gifting it to a young couple who only had one, refused their offer to make up the difference. Between the huge, green-painted pillars, I saw a beautiful young woman sitting on the marble platform reading a book, her two long legs hanging in the air hooked at the angles, swinging. She was holding a book in one hand, and was picking sunflower seeds out of the bag at her side with the other, the shells she\'d spit out had amassed into a pile, she was humming a song, turning a page now and then, leisurely and unrestrained, delicate and lovely. I quietly walked up behind her, and stood on tiptoe to look at the book that had fascinated her so. It was a profound works of literary theory, I skimmed it for bit, [found it dull and insipid], and I was just about to turn around and leave, when I suddenly heard the girl say:\r\n\r\n\"You don\'t understand it, huh?\" she turned up her face, looking at me with a smile. \r\n\r\nMy face turned red, and I felt at a loss that I [was still capable of] getting embarrassed. After a moment, I settled down, and said: \"You\'re just a student, sitting here in the park reading is a bit of affectation.\" \r\n\r\n\"I\'ve been sitting here all afternoon, look here you, see how much I\'ve read.\"\r\n\r\nShe quickly flipped through all the pages she\'d read, and I pinched that thick stack, and thinking back on the contents, asked doubtfully, \"You read that quickly?\" \r\n\r\n\"I don\'t understand it either, but I read it quickly.\" \r\n\r\nWe both smiled. \"I\'m done reading.\" The girl put the book to one side. \"You have somewhere to be?\" she asked me. \r\n\r\n\"No,\" I said. \"No appointments.\" \r\n\r\n\"[Shall we] chat [for a bit]?\"\r\n\r\n\"Let\'s chat.\" \r\n\r\nI sat down next to her, and she pushed the bag of sunflower seeds over to me. I didn\'t really know how to crack the sunflower seeds [with my teeth], and [when I tried] spittle went everywhere.\r\n\r\n\"Watch me.\" The girl demonstrated with a single sunflower seed, her pure white teeth flashing, and I subconsciously closed my mouth over my own tobacco smoke-yellowed teeth. But she didn\'t notice, swinging her legs in all directions. \"What school are you from?\" I noticed there was a school emblem on her inside sweater. Biting down on a sunflower seed, the girl looked at me and smiled. \r\n\r\n\"That\'s called \'cottoning up\',\" she said. \"Next you\'ll probably say whatever school you\'re from, and that our schools are so close to each other, maybe we can run into each other every day...\" \r\n\r\n\"You think I look like a student?\" I said. \"I\'m a criminal freed from the work camps, I extort people for a living.\"\r\n\r\n\"I don\'t care what you are,\" the girl said, smiling and looking at her toes, as if there was something amusing there. \"Whatever you are is nothing to me.\" \r\n\r\nI didn\'t speak for a while, and the girl didn\'t speak either, just looked on, pleased, as the evening light disappeared on the horizon and the sky quickly dimmed, but didn\'t lose its magnificent clouds: \"That cloud looks like Marx, that one looks like a pirate, doesn\'t it, don\'t you think so?\" \r\n\r\n\"How old are you?\" the girl turned her head to look at me, carefully looking me over. \"You, doesn\'t look like you\'ve been with that many women.\" \r\n\r\n\"Nope,\" I said, lying to her without a change in expression or a thump of the heart. \r\n\r\n\"I could tell right away, little boy! As I was reading my book just now, I saw you standing far away, wanting to talk to me but also timid, afraid I\'d curse you, huh?\"　\r\n\r\n\"[Actually,] I\'ve slept with over 100 women.\"\r\n\r\nThe girl let loose a laugh, unbridled and amused. \r\n\r\n\"You laugh,\" I said, \"like a dumb chick.\"　　\r\n\r\nShe suddenly stopped laughing, angrily throwing me a scornful glance, \"I didn\'t criticize you, don\'t criticize me. Truthfully speaking, I\'ve already been with someone for a year.\" The girl smiled again, quite satisfied with herself. \r\n\r\n\"Is it one of your idiot classmates?\" 　\r\n\r\n\"He\'s not an idiot, he\'s a cadre in the student union.\"　　\r\n\r\n\"Then he\'s stupid beyond measure.\"　\r\n\r\n\"Huh, a little baby like you who\'s only been kissed by his parents doesn\'t deserve to speak of him.\"　\r\n\r\n\"If I was him, I\'d already have had the courage to bed you,\" I said, smiling lightly. \"Has he dared?\"　　\r\n\r\nAlthough the sky was already gloomy, I perceived the girl\'s face reddening, \"He respects me.\" \r\n\r\nI tittered, \"Oh, respect, don\'t even, no need for us to talk about that. And no need for you to play dumb.\"  \r\n\r\nThe girl sat there vexed for a while saying nothing. I started whistling, started sucking on a cigarette, passed her the cigarette pack, she shook her head. \r\n\r\n\"Busted again, aren\'t you?\" I teased her, \"willing to read a book in broad daylight, but can\'t smoke cigarettes, [guess you\'re] only half-fashionable.\"\r\n\r\n\"Don\'t be obnoxious.\" Still, unwilling to be conquered, she said, \"Give me one!\"\r\n\r\nI passed her the cigarette that was in my mouth, she took a puff, and <em>heng</em>, blew it all out. I stretched an arm around her shoulder, she trembled a second, but didn\'t refuse. I pulled her near to me, she looked at me from close up, pushed my arm off, and with a forced smile said: \r\n\r\n\"I might believe a little that you\'ve slept with over 100 women.\" \r\n\r\n\"What are you doing only \'believing a little\', you ought to just believe. You want to know what they call me? The Old Pistol.\"　\r\n\r\nI heard her grabbing up all of her books, and she said with a nasty smile, \"Well, <em>I</em> call you scared.\" \r\n\r\n\"Well, I\'m not.\"\r\n\r\nThe girl stood up: \"I should probably go.\"\r\n\r\n\"Do you dare tell me your name, or where you live?\"　\r\n\r\nThe girl jumped off the platform, her bright, crystal eyes flashed in the darkness, and she said smiling, \"Ah ha! I thought maybe you weren\'t like everyone else, [talking shit] half the day, but then sinking into mediocrity.\"　　\r\n\r\n\"Fine, I\'m mediocre. Go. Hey,\" I called her to stop, \"If we meet again, let\'s consider ourselves friends.\"\r\n\r\n\"Sure, friends,\" she said, and smiling, left.　\r\n\r\nI sat for a while on the platform smiling genially, then I too jumped down and left. 　\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Novels: Start reading Chinese gangster novel 《一半是火焰，一半是海水》by Wang Shuo', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2453-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-31 22:29:37', '2020-06-01 02:29:37', '', 2453, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/31/2453-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` (`ID`, `post_author`, `post_date`, `post_date_gmt`, `post_content`, `post_title`, `post_excerpt`, `post_status`, `comment_status`, `ping_status`, `post_password`, `post_name`, `to_ping`, `pinged`, `post_modified`, `post_modified_gmt`, `post_content_filtered`, `post_parent`, `guid`, `menu_order`, `post_type`, `post_mime_type`, `comment_count`) VALUES
(1032, 1, '2012-03-17 01:16:58', '2012-03-17 05:16:58', '[two_third]\nThe idom Zhi Lu Wei Ma means to \"point to a deer and say it\'s a horse\" - in other words, to deliberately misrepresent something. This post describes the backstory of that idiom. <!--more-->\n\nOriginal is here: http://cy.5156edu.com/html1/13535.html\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n摇滚 - [pinyin]yao2 gun3[/pinyin] - Rock (rock\'n\'roll)\n铭记 - [pinyin]ming2 ji4[/pinyin] - Engrave in one\'s mind\n掀起 - [pinyin]xian1 qi3[/pinyin] - To set off (to set off a reaction or commotion, for example)\n风暴 - [pinyin]feng1 bao4[/pinyin] - Violent commotion\n颠覆性 - [pinyin]dian1 fu4 xing4[/pinyin] - Subversive\n反抗 - [pinyin]fan3 kang4[/pinyin] - To rebel\n义无返顾 - [pinyin]yi4 wu2 fan3 gu4[/pinyin] - No looking back\n燃烧 - [pinyin]ran2 shao1[/pinyin] - Ignite, combust\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n        秦二世时，丞相赵高野心勃勃，日夜盘算着要篡夺皇位。可朝中大臣有多少人能听他摆布，有多少人反对他，他心中没底。于是，他想了一个办法，准备试一试自己的威信，同时也可以摸清敢于反对他的人。\n\n　　一天上朝时，赵高让人牵来一只鹿，满脸堆笑地对秦二世说:“陛下，我献给您一匹好马。”秦二世一看，心想: 这哪里是马，这分明是一只鹿嘛！便笑着对赵高说: “丞相搞错了，这里一只鹿，你怎么说是马呢？”赵高面不改色心不跳地说: “请陛下看清楚，这的确是一匹千里马。”秦二世又看了看那只鹿，将信将疑地说:“马的头上怎么会长角呢？”赵高一转身，用手指着众大臣，大声说: “陛下如果不信我的话，可以问问众位大臣。”\n\n　　大臣们都被赵高的一派胡言搞得不知所措，私下里嘀咕:这个赵高搞什么名堂？是鹿是马这不是明摆着吗！当看到赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着每个人的时候，大臣们忽然明白了他的用意。\n\n　　一些胆小又有正义感的人都低下头，不敢说话，因为说假话，对不起自己的良心，说真话又怕日后被赵高所害。有些正直的人，坚持认为是说明书而不是马。还有一些平时就紧跟赵高的奸佞之人立刻表示拥护赵高的说法，对皇上说，“这确是一匹千里马！”\n\n　　事后，赵高通过各种手段把那些不顺从自己的正直大臣纷纷治罪，甚至满门抄斩。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n1998 was absolutely the year in Chinese rock history to be engraved in your mind, as this is the year that music culture magazine \"Punk Times\" was first published, [a magazine] whose like hadn\'t been seen before, and it has never since been surpassed. It set off a civilian firestorm which had a subversive impact on China\'s art world towards the end of the last century, as it was the first time a music magazine\'s content introduced the spirit of rebellion into the sphere of popular consciousness. At that time, the magazine brought untold numbers of youths into the world of real rock, and [untold numbers] picked up the guitar without looking back, using music to ignite the young.  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Zhi Lu Wei Ma', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1030-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-03-17 01:16:58', '2012-03-17 05:16:58', '', 1030, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/03/17/1030-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1033, 1, '2012-03-17 01:17:25', '2012-03-17 05:17:25', '[two_third]\r\nThe idom Zhi Lu Wei Ma means to \"point to a deer and say it\'s a horse\" - in other words, to deliberately misrepresent something. This post describes the backstory of that idiom. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nOriginal is here: http://cy.5156edu.com/html1/13535.html\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摇滚 - [pinyin]yao2 gun3[/pinyin] - Rock (rock\'n\'roll)\r\n铭记 - [pinyin]ming2 ji4[/pinyin] - Engrave in one\'s mind\r\n掀起 - [pinyin]xian1 qi3[/pinyin] - To set off (to set off a reaction or commotion, for example)\r\n风暴 - [pinyin]feng1 bao4[/pinyin] - Violent commotion\r\n颠覆性 - [pinyin]dian1 fu4 xing4[/pinyin] - Subversive\r\n反抗 - [pinyin]fan3 kang4[/pinyin] - To rebel\r\n义无返顾 - [pinyin]yi4 wu2 fan3 gu4[/pinyin] - No looking back\r\n燃烧 - [pinyin]ran2 shao1[/pinyin] - Ignite, combust\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        秦二世时，丞相赵高野心勃勃，日夜盘算着要篡夺皇位。可朝中大臣有多少人能听他摆布，有多少人反对他，他心中没底。于是，他想了一个办法，准备试一试自己的威信，同时也可以摸清敢于反对他的人。\r\n\r\n　　一天上朝时，赵高让人牵来一只鹿，满脸堆笑地对秦二世说: “陛下，我献给您一匹好马。”秦二世一看，心想: 这哪里是马，这分明是一只鹿嘛！便笑着对赵高说: “丞相搞错了，这里一只鹿，你怎么说是马呢？”赵高面不改色心不跳地说: “请陛下看清楚，这的确是一匹千里马。”秦二世又看了看那只鹿，将信将疑地说:“马的头上怎么会长角呢？”赵高一转身，用手指着众大臣，大声说: “陛下如果不信我的话，可以问问众位大臣。”\r\n\r\n　　大臣们都被赵高的一派胡言搞得不知所措，私下里嘀咕:这个赵高搞什么名堂？是鹿是马这不是明摆着吗！当看到赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着每个人的时候，大臣们忽然明白了他的用意。\r\n\r\n　　一些胆小又有正义感的人都低下头，不敢说话，因为说假话，对不起自己的良心，说真话又怕日后被赵高所害。有些正直的人，坚持认为是说明书而不是马。还有一些平时就紧跟赵高的奸佞之人立刻表示拥护赵高的说法，对皇上说，“这确是一匹千里马！”\r\n\r\n　　事后，赵高通过各种手段把那些不顺从自己的正直大臣纷纷治罪，甚至满门抄斩。\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        秦二世时，丞相赵高野心勃勃，日夜盘算着要篡夺皇位。可朝中大臣有多少人能听他摆布，有多少人反对他，他心中没底。于是，他想了一个办法，准备试一试自己的威信，同时也可以摸清敢于反对他的人。\r\n\r\n　　一天上朝时，赵高让人牵来一只鹿，满脸堆笑地对秦二世说: “陛下，我献给您一匹好马。”秦二世一看，心想: 这哪里是马，这分明是一只鹿嘛！便笑着对赵高说: “丞相搞错了，这里一只鹿，你怎么说是马呢？”赵高面不改色心不跳地说: “请陛下看清楚，这的确是一匹千里马。”秦二世又看了看那只鹿，将信将疑地说:“马的头上怎么会长角呢？”赵高一转身，用手指着众大臣，大声说: “陛下如果不信我的话，可以问问众位大臣。”\r\n\r\n　　大臣们都被赵高的一派胡言搞得不知所措，私下里嘀咕:这个赵高搞什么名堂？是鹿是马这不是明摆着吗！当看到赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着赵高脸上露出阴险的笑容，两只眼睛骨碌碌轮流地盯着每个人的时候，大臣们忽然明白了他的用意。\r\n\r\n　　一些胆小又有正义感的人都低下头，不敢说话，因为说假话，对不起自己的良心，说真话又怕日后被赵高所害。有些正直的人，坚持认为是说明书而不是马。还有一些平时就紧跟赵高的奸佞之人立刻表示拥护赵高的说法，对皇上说，“这确是一匹千里马！”\r\n\r\n　　事后，赵高通过各种手段把那些不顺从自己的正直大臣纷纷治罪，甚至满门抄斩。\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Zhi Lu Wei Ma', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1030-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-03-17 01:17:25', '2012-03-17 05:17:25', '', 1030, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/03/17/1030-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1036, 1, '2012-03-23 07:00:22', '2012-03-23 11:00:22', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis is the backstory behind the Chinese idiom 鹬蚌相争 [pinyin]yu4 bang4 xiang1 zheng1[/pinyin], which translates to \"The Sandpiper and the Clam Fight Each Other\", and means \"Two parties fight and a third party benefits.\" <!--more-->\r\n\r\nCool upper-intermediate piece - in case it hasn\'t been obvious throughout these posts, I love classical stories about wily government counselors and should probably post about something else on occasion, but so many classical tales involve this trope that it\'s hard to avoid. \r\n\r\nThis piece is cool because - excepting the first sentence - the sentence structure is simple but there are quite a few classical words, so you\'ll learn some historical terms. In case you think this kind of thing isn\'t really useful, think again. Historical figures in the Chinese dynasties are mentioned frequently in the oddest places, and their stories bleed out into every medium. If you\'re at a museum, if you\'re reading Chinese magazines, if you\'re reading Chinese historical essays, if you\'re watching a TV show or book or listening to the radio, you\'ll see mentions of historical dynasties all the time. But most importantly, if you want to watch Chinese war movies or period pieces (and there are some great ones), this vocab is crucial. You might as well know at least when to recognize that the conversation has gone that way.\r\n\r\nThis short story takes place during the Warring States period (475 BC to 221 BC), and mentions three of the seven warring kingdoms of that time, so you\'ll learn some dynasty names: 赵国 [pinyin]zhao4 guo2[/pinyin] (The Zhao State), 燕国 [pinyin]yan1 guo2[/pinyin] (The Yan State), and 秦国 [pinyin]qin2 guo2[/pinyin] (the Qin State). Speaking of dynasties, when you\'re reading this, look out for the word 王[pinyin]wang2[/pinyin] - as you probably know at this point in your studies, 王means \"king\", and when you see that, you can sometimes guess that the two or three characters before this word are the name of the king. Unlike in English, where we say \"King Charles\" or \"King John\", in this case the Chinese put \"king\" after the name. For example, in this story, we have 赵惠文王 - King Huiwen of Zhao (in other words, king of the Zhao state).\r\n\r\nWhat\'s amusing about this story is that in reality, the Qin Dynasty came out on top of the Warring States period and ruled China (well, for a decade or so, anyway) after the Warring States were over - so bear that in mind as you read the last sentence. \r\n\r\nYou\'ll also meet our protagonist 苏代 [pinyin]su1 dai4[/pinyin] - who he is is explained in the first sentence, but suffice to say that 苏代 is a person\'s name. He\'s mentioned in conjunction with 纵横家 [pinyin]zong4 heng2 jia1[/pinyin], the School of Diplomacy, which was a sort of league of scholar-statesmen from the Warring States period. If you\'re interested, you can <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Diplomacy\">read more about it on Wikipedia</a>. \r\n\r\nAnyway, I\'m making this story sound really complicated, but other than the historical terminology, the storyline is not at all convoluted. \r\n\r\nOriginal story is <a href=\"http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html\">here</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>鹬蚌相争</h4>\r\n赵国将要讨伐燕国，苏代(战国时<strong>策士</strong>，纵横家苏秦的弟弟)替燕国游说赵惠文王，讲了<strong>如下</strong>的<strong>寓言</strong>故事: \r\n\r\n“我来的时候经过<strong>易水</strong>，<strong>恰好</strong>看到<strong>蚌</strong>出来晒太阳。<strong>鹬</strong>趁机啄蚌的肉，蚌把两扇<strong>介壳</strong>一闭就夹住了鹬的喙。鹬说:‘今天不下雨，明天不下雨，就有死蚌。’蚌也<strong>针锋相对</strong>地说: ‘今天不出，明天不出(夹住不放)，就有死鹬。’<strong>两者</strong>谁也不肯罢休，这时过来一个<strong>渔父</strong>把两者一起拎走了。”燕赵相对抗，都搞得很<strong>疲劳</strong>，我恐怕强大的秦国正在<strong>扮演</strong>渔父的角色，所以希望大王<strong>深思熟虑</strong>。\r\n\r\n惠文王赞同苏代的意见，停止对燕国用兵。\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 Zhao State was taking up arms against the Yan State, and Su Dai (a military strategist during the Warring States period, and little brother to Su Qin of the School of Diplomacy) traveled to speak with King HuiWen of Zhao on behalf of the Yan State, and he told the following fable: \r\n\r\n\"When I was coming here I passed over some gentle water, and by chance I happened to see a clam sunning itself. A sandpiper seized the opportunity to peck at the clam\'s meat, but the clam slammed the two wings of its hard shell shut on the sandpiper\'s beak. The sandpiper said, \'Today it won\'t rain, tomorrow it won\'t rain, and there will be one dead clam!\' The clam gave as good as he got, saying: \'I won\'t come out today, I won\'t come out tomorrow (so your beak won\'t be free), and there will be one dead sandpiper!\' Neither party was willing to give up, and at this time, a fisherman scooped them both up and carried them off. If Yan and Zhao oppose each other, we\'ll both fight ourselves weary. I\'m afraid the strong Qin State is playing the role of the fisherman, so I hope that your majesty will carefully deliberate on this matter.\" \r\n\r\nKing HuiWen approved of SuDai\'s message, and stopped using armed forces against the Yan State.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: 鹬蚌相争 - When two parties fight and a third party benefits', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'story-behind-the-idiom-yu-bang-xiang-zheng', '', '', '2020-05-07 17:17:12', '2020-05-07 21:17:12', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1036', 0, 'post', '', 3),
(1788, 1, '2020-04-20 05:32:07', '2020-04-20 09:32:07', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis is the backstory behind the Chinese idiom 鹬蚌相争 [pinyin]yu4 bang4 xiang1 zheng1[/pinyin], which translates to \"The Sandpiper and the Clam Fight Each Other\", and means \"Two parties fight and a third party benefits.\" <!--more-->\r\n\r\nCool upper-intermediate piece - in case it hasn\'t been obvious throughout these posts, I love classical stories about wily government counselors and should probably post about something else on occasion, but so many classical tales involve this trope that it\'s hard to avoid. \r\n\r\nThis piece is cool because - excepting the first sentence - the sentence structure is simple but there are quite a few classical words, so you\'ll learn some historical terms. In case you think this kind of thing isn\'t really useful, think again. Historical figures in the Chinese dynasties are mentioned frequently in the oddest places, and their stories bleed out into every medium. If you\'re at a museum, if you\'re reading Chinese magazines, if you\'re reading Chinese historical essays, if you\'re watching a TV show or book or listening to the radio, you\'ll see mentions of historical dynasties all the time. But most importantly, if you want to watch Chinese war movies or period pieces (and there are some great ones), this vocab is crucial. You might as well know at least when to recognize that the conversation has gone that way.\r\n\r\nThis short story takes place during the Warring States period (475 BC to 221 BC), and mentions three of the seven warring kingdoms of that time, so you\'ll learn some dynasty names: 赵国 [pinyin]zhao4 guo2[/pinyin] (The Zhao State), 燕国 [pinyin]yan1 guo2[/pinyin] (The Yan State), and 秦国 [pinyin]qin2 guo2[/pinyin] (the Qin State). Speaking of dynasties, when you\'re reading this, look out for the word 王[pinyin]wang2[/pinyin] - as you probably know at this point in your studies, 王means \"king\", and when you see that, you can sometimes guess that the two or three characters before this word are the name of the king. Unlike in English, where we say \"King Charles\" or \"King John\", in this case the Chinese put \"king\" after the name. For example, in this story, we have 赵惠文王 - King Huiwen of Zhao (in other words, king of the Zhao state).\r\n\r\nWhat\'s amusing about this story is that in reality, the Qin Dynasty came out on top of the Warring States period and ruled China (well, for a decade or so, anyway) after the Warring States were over - so bear that in mind as you read the last sentence. \r\n\r\nYou\'ll also meet our protagonist 苏代 [pinyin]su1 dai4[/pinyin] - who he is is explained in the first sentence, but suffice to say that 苏代 is a person\'s name. He\'s mentioned in conjunction with 纵横家 [pinyin]zong4 heng2 jia1[/pinyin], the School of Diplomacy, which was a sort of league of scholar-statesmen from the Warring States period. If you\'re interested, you can <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Diplomacy\">read more about it on Wikipedia</a>. \r\n\r\nAnyway, I\'m making this story sound really complicated, but other than the historical terminology, the storyline is not at all convoluted. \r\n\r\nOriginal story is <a href=\"http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html\">here</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>鹬蚌相争</h4>\r\n赵国将要讨伐燕国，苏代(战国时<strong>策士</strong>，纵横家苏秦的弟弟)替燕国游说赵惠文王，讲了<strong>如下</strong>的<strong>寓言</strong>故事: \r\n\r\n“我来的时候经过<strong>易水</strong>，<strong>恰好</strong>看到<strong>蚌</strong>出来晒太阳。<strong>鹬</strong>趁机啄蚌的肉，蚌把两扇<strong>介壳</strong>一闭就夹住了鹬的喙。鹬说:‘今天不下雨，明天不下雨，就有死蚌。’蚌也<strong>针锋相对</strong>地说: ‘今天不出，明天不出(夹住不放)，就有死鹬。’<strong>两者</strong>谁也不肯罢休，这时过来一个<strong>渔父</strong>把两者一起拎走了。”燕赵相对抗，都搞得很<strong>疲劳</strong>，我恐怕强大的秦国正在<strong>扮演</strong>渔父的角色，所以希望大王<strong>深思熟虑</strong>。\r\n\r\n惠文王赞同苏代的意见，停止对燕国用兵。\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 Zhao State was taking up arms against the Yan State, and Su Dai (a military strategist during the Warring States period, and little brother to Su Qin of the School of Diplomacy) traveled to speak with King HuiWen of Zhao on behalf of the Yan State, and he told the following fable: \r\n\r\n\"When I was coming here I passed over some gentle water, and by chance I happened to see a clam sunning itself. A sandpiper seized the opportunity to peck at the clam\'s meat, but the clam slammed the two wings of its hard shell shut on the sandpiper\'s beak. The sandpiper said, \'Today it won\'t rain, tomorrow it won\'t rain, and there will be one dead clam!\' The clam gave as good as he got, saying: \'I won\'t come out today, I won\'t come out tomorrow (so your beak won\'t be free), and there will be one dead sandpiper!\' Neither party was willing to give up, and at this time, a fisherman scooped them both up and carried them off. If Yan and Zhao oppose each other, we\'ll both fight ourselves weary. I\'m afraid the strong Qin State is playing the role of the fisherman, so I hope that your majesty will carefully deliberate on this matter.\" \r\n\r\nKing HuiWen approved of SuDai\'s message, and stopped using armed forces against the Yan State.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: 鹬蚌相争', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1036-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:32:07', '2020-04-20 09:32:07', '', 1036, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1036-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1784, 1, '2020-04-20 05:27:22', '2020-04-20 09:27:22', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis is the backstory behind the Chinese idiom 鹬蚌相争 [pinyin]yu4 bang4 xiang1 zheng1[/pinyin], which translates to \"The Sandpiper and the Clam Fight Each Other\", and means \"Two parties fight and a third party benefits.\" <!--more-->\r\n\r\nCool upper-intermediate piece - in case it hasn\'t been obvious throughout these posts, I love classical stories about wily government counselors and should probably post about something else on occasion, but so many classical tales involve this trope that it\'s hard to avoid. \r\n\r\nThis piece is cool because - excepting the first sentence - the sentence structure is simple but there are quite a few classical words, so you\'ll learn some historical terms. In case you think this kind of thing isn\'t really useful, think again. Historical figures in the Chinese dynasties are mentioned frequently in the oddest places, and their stories bleed out into every medium. If you\'re at a museum, if you\'re reading Chinese magazines, if you\'re reading Chinese historical essays, if you\'re watching a TV show or book or listening to the radio, you\'ll see mentions of historical dynasties all the time. But most importantly, if you want to watch Chinese war movies or period pieces (and there are some great ones), this vocab is crucial. You might as well know at least when to recognize that the conversation has gone that way.\r\n\r\nThis short story takes place during the Warring States period (475 BC to 221 BC), and mentions three of the seven warring kingdoms of that time, so you\'ll learn some dynasty names: 赵国 [pinyin]zhao4 guo2[/pinyin] (The Zhao State), 燕国 [pinyin]yan1 guo2[/pinyin] (The Yan State), and 秦国 [pinyin]qin2 guo2[/pinyin] (the Qin State). Speaking of dynasties, when you\'re reading this, look out for the word 王[pinyin]wang2[/pinyin] - as you probably know at this point in your studies, 王means \"king\", and when you see that, you can sometimes guess that the two or three characters before this word are the name of the king. Unlike in English, where we say \"King Charles\" or \"King John\", in this case the Chinese put \"king\" after the name. For example, in this story, we have 赵惠文王 - King Huiwen of Zhao (in other words, king of the Zhao state).\r\n\r\nWhat\'s amusing about this story is that in reality, the Qin Dynasty came out on top of the Warring States period and ruled China (well, for a decade or so, anyway) after the Warring States were over - so bear that in mind as you read the last sentence. \r\n\r\nYou\'ll also meet our protagonist 苏代 [pinyin]su1 dai4[/pinyin] - who he is is explained in the first sentence, but suffice to say that 苏代 is a person\'s name. He\'s mentioned in conjunction with 纵横家 [pinyin]zong4 heng2 jia1[/pinyin], the School of Diplomacy, which was a sort of league of scholar-statesmen from the Warring States period. If you\'re interested, you can <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Diplomacy\">read more about it on Wikipedia</a>. \r\n\r\nAnyway, I\'m making this story sound really complicated, but other than the historical terminology, the storyline is not at all convoluted. \r\n\r\nOriginal story is here: <a href=\"http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html\">http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html</a>\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>鹬蚌相争</h4>\r\n赵国将要讨伐燕国，苏代(战国时<strong>策士</strong>，纵横家苏秦的弟弟)替燕国游说赵惠文王，讲了<strong>如下</strong>的<strong>寓言</strong>故事: \r\n\r\n“我来的时候经过<strong>易水</strong>，<strong>恰好</strong>看到<strong>蚌</strong>出来晒太阳。<strong>鹬</strong>趁机啄蚌的肉，蚌把两扇<strong>介壳</strong>一闭就夹住了鹬的喙。鹬说:‘今天不下雨，明天不下雨，就有死蚌。’蚌也<strong>针锋相对</strong>地说: ‘今天不出，明天不出(夹住不放)，就有死鹬。’<strong>两者</strong>谁也不肯罢休，这时过来一个<strong>渔父</strong>把两者一起拎走了。”燕赵相对抗，都搞得很<strong>疲劳</strong>，我恐怕强大的秦国正在<strong>扮演</strong>渔父的角色，所以希望大王<strong>深思熟虑</strong>。\r\n\r\n惠文王赞同苏代的意见，停止对燕国用兵。\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 Zhao State was taking up arms against the Yan State, and Su Dai (a military strategist during the Warring States period, and little brother to Su Qin of the School of Diplomacy) traveled to speak with King HuiWen of Zhao on behalf of the Yan State, and he told the following fable: \r\n\r\n\"When I was coming here I passed over some gentle water, and by chance I happened to see a clam sunning itself. A sandpiper seized the opportunity to peck at the clam\'s meat, but the clam slammed the two wings of its hard shell shut on the sandpiper\'s beak. The sandpiper said, \'Today it won\'t rain, tomorrow it won\'t rain, and there will be one dead clam!\' The clam gave as good as he got, saying: \'I won\'t come out today, I won\'t come out tomorrow (so your beak won\'t be free), and there will be one dead sandpiper!\' Neither party was willing to give up, and at this time, a fisherman scooped them both up and carried them off. If Yan and Zhao oppose each other, we\'ll both fight ourselves weary. I\'m afraid the strong Qin State is playing the role of the fisherman, so I hope that your majesty will carefully deliberate on this matter.\" \r\n\r\nKing HuiWen approved of SuDai\'s message, and stopped using armed forces against the Yan State.\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: 鹬蚌相争', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1036-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:27:22', '2020-04-20 09:27:22', '', 1036, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1036-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1037, 1, '2012-03-17 02:57:33', '2012-03-17 06:57:33', '[two_third]\nThis is the backstory behind the Chinese idiom 鹬蚌相争 [pinyin]yu4 bang4 xiang1 zheng1[/pinyin], which translates to \"The Sandpiper and the Clam Fight Each Other\", and means \"Two parties fight and a third party benefits.\" <!--more-->\n\nCool upper-intermediate piece - in case it hasn\'t been obvious throughout these posts, I love classical stories about wily government counselors and should probably post about something else on occasion, but so many classical tales involve this trope that it\'s hard to avoid. \n\nThis piece is cool because - excepting the first sentence - the sentence structure is simple but there are quite a few classical words, so you\'ll learn some historical terms. In case you think this kind of thing isn\'t really useful, think again. Historical figures in the Chinese dynasties are mentioned frequently in the oddest places, and their stories bleed out into every medium. If you\'re at a museum, if you\'re reading Chinese magazines, if you\'re reading Chinese historical essays, if you\'re watching a TV show or book or listening to the radio, you\'ll see mentions of historical dynasties all the time. But most importantly, if you want to watch Chinese war movies or period pieces (and there are some great ones), this vocab is crucial. You might as well know at least when to recognize that the conversation has gone that way.\n\nThis short story takes place during the Warring States period (475 BC to 221 BC), and mentions three of the seven warring kingdoms of that time, so you\'ll learn some dynasty names: 赵国 [pinyin]zhao4 guo2[/pinyin] (The Zhao State), 燕国 [pinyin]yan1 guo2[/pinyin] (The Yan State), and 秦国 [pinyin]qin2 guo2[/pinyin] (the Qin State). Speaking of dynasties, when you\'re reading this, look out for the word 王[pinyin]wang2[/pinyin] - as you probably know at this point in your studies, 王means \"king\", and when you see that, you can sometimes guess that the two or three characters before this word are the name of the king. Unlike in English, where we say \"King Charles\" or \"King John\", in this case the Chinese put \"king\" after the name. For example, in this story, we have 赵惠文王 - King Huiwen of Zhao (in other words, king of the Zhao state).\n\nWhat\'s amusing about this story is that in reality, the Qin Dynasty came out on top of the Warring States period and ruled China (well, for a decade or so, anyway) after the Warring States were over - so bear that in mind as you read the last sentence. \n\nYou\'ll also meet our protagonist 苏代 [pinyin]su1 dai4[/pinyin] - who he is is explained in the first sentence, but suffice to say that 苏代 is a person\'s name. He\'s mentioned in conjunction with 纵横家 [pinyin]zong4 heng2 jia1[/pinyin], the School of Diplomacy, which was a sort of league of scholar-statesmen from the Warring States period. If you\'re interested, you can <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Diplomacy\">read more about it on Wikipedia</a>. \n\nAnyway, I\'m making this story sound really complicated, but other than the historical terminology, the storyline is not at all convoluted. \n\nOriginal story is here: <a href=\"http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html\">http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html</a>\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n策士 - [pinyin]ce5 shi1[/pinyin] - Military strategist\n如下 - [pinyin]ru xia[/pinyin] - The following, as follows\n寓言 - [pinyin]yu4 yan2[/pinyin] - Fable\n易水 - [pinyin]yi4 shui3[/pinyin] - Gentle waters\n恰好 - [pinyin]qia4 hao3[/pinyin] - As it happens\n蚌 - [pinyin]bang4[/pinyin] - Clam\n鹬 - [pinyin]yu4[/pinyin] - Sandpiper\n介壳 - [pinyin]jie4 qiao4[/pinyin] - Hard outer shell\n针锋相对 - [pinyin]zhen1 feng1 xiang1 dui4[/pinyin] - Measure for measure, give as good as one gets, fight back just as hard\n两者 - [pinyin]liang3 zhe3[/pinyin] - Both sides\n渔父 - [pinyin]yu4 fu4[/pinyin] - Fisherman\n疲劳 - [pinyin]pi2 lao2[/pinyin] - Weary\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play the role of, as an actor, or person pretending\n深思熟虑 - [pinyin]pi2 lao2[/pinyin] - Weary\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n赵国将要讨伐燕国，苏代(战国时<strong>策士</strong>，纵横家苏秦的弟弟)替燕国游说赵惠文王，讲了<strong>如下</strong>的<strong>寓言</strong>故事: \n\n“我来的时候经过<strong>易水</strong>，<strong>恰好</strong>看到<strong>蚌</strong>出来晒太阳。<strong>鹬</strong>趁机啄蚌的肉，蚌把两扇<strong>介壳</strong>一闭就夹住了鹬的喙。鹬说:‘今天不下雨，明天不下雨，就有死蚌。’蚌也<strong>针锋相对</strong>地说: ‘今天不出，明天不出(夹住不放)，就有死鹬。’<strong>两者</strong>谁也不肯罢休，这时过来一个<strong>渔父</strong>把两者一起拎走了。”燕赵相对抗，都搞得很<strong>疲劳</strong>，我恐怕强大的秦国正在<strong>扮演</strong>渔父的角色，所以希望大王<strong>深思熟虑</strong>。\n\n惠文王赞同苏代的意见，停止对燕国用兵。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe Zhao State was taking up arms against the Yan State, and Su Dai (a military strategist during the Warring States period, and little brother to Su Qin of the School of Diplomacy) traveled to speak with King HuiWen of Zhao on behalf of the Yan State, and he told the following fable: \n\n\"When I was coming here I passed over some gentle water, and by chance I happened to see a clam sunning itself. A sandpiper seized the opportunity to peck at the clam\'s meat, but the clam slammed the two wings of its hard shell shut on the sandpiper\'s beak. The sandpiper said, \'Today it won\'t rain, tomorrow it won\'t rain, and there will be one dead clam!\' The clam gave as good as he got, saying: \'I won\'t come out today, I won\'t come out tomorrow (so your beak won\'t be free), and there will be one dead sandpiper!\' Neither party was willing to give up, and at this time, a fisherman scooped them both up and carried them off. If Yan and Zhao oppose each other, we\'ll both fight ourselves weary. I\'m afraid the strong Qin State is playing the role of the fisherman, so I hope that your majesty will carefully deliberate on this matter.\" \n\nKing HuiWen approved of SuDai\'s message, and stopped using armed forces against the Yan State.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Yu Bang Xiang Zheng', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1036-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-03-17 02:57:33', '2012-03-17 06:57:33', '', 1036, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/03/17/1036-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1038, 1, '2012-03-17 03:00:09', '2012-03-17 07:00:09', '', 'Reading Chinese Short Stories with Translation: Intermediate Reading', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20110323-inline', '', '', '2012-03-17 03:00:09', '2012-03-17 07:00:09', '', 1036, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20110323-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1039, 1, '2012-03-17 03:01:28', '2012-03-17 07:01:28', '', 'Reading Simplified Mandarin Chinese: Intermediate Chinese Historical Idioms Explained', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20110323', '', '', '2012-03-17 03:01:28', '2012-03-17 07:01:28', '', 1036, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20110323.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1040, 1, '2012-03-17 02:58:20', '2012-03-17 06:58:20', '[two_third]\r\nThis is the backstory behind the Chinese idiom 鹬蚌相争 [pinyin]yu4 bang4 xiang1 zheng1[/pinyin], which translates to \"The Sandpiper and the Clam Fight Each Other\", and means \"Two parties fight and a third party benefits.\" <!--more-->\r\n\r\nCool upper-intermediate piece - in case it hasn\'t been obvious throughout these posts, I love classical stories about wily government counselors and should probably post about something else on occasion, but so many classical tales involve this trope that it\'s hard to avoid. \r\n\r\nThis piece is cool because - excepting the first sentence - the sentence structure is simple but there are quite a few classical words, so you\'ll learn some historical terms. In case you think this kind of thing isn\'t really useful, think again. Historical figures in the Chinese dynasties are mentioned frequently in the oddest places, and their stories bleed out into every medium. If you\'re at a museum, if you\'re reading Chinese magazines, if you\'re reading Chinese historical essays, if you\'re watching a TV show or book or listening to the radio, you\'ll see mentions of historical dynasties all the time. But most importantly, if you want to watch Chinese war movies or period pieces (and there are some great ones), this vocab is crucial. You might as well know at least when to recognize that the conversation has gone that way.\r\n\r\nThis short story takes place during the Warring States period (475 BC to 221 BC), and mentions three of the seven warring kingdoms of that time, so you\'ll learn some dynasty names: 赵国 [pinyin]zhao4 guo2[/pinyin] (The Zhao State), 燕国 [pinyin]yan1 guo2[/pinyin] (The Yan State), and 秦国 [pinyin]qin2 guo2[/pinyin] (the Qin State). Speaking of dynasties, when you\'re reading this, look out for the word 王[pinyin]wang2[/pinyin] - as you probably know at this point in your studies, 王means \"king\", and when you see that, you can sometimes guess that the two or three characters before this word are the name of the king. Unlike in English, where we say \"King Charles\" or \"King John\", in this case the Chinese put \"king\" after the name. For example, in this story, we have 赵惠文王 - King Huiwen of Zhao (in other words, king of the Zhao state).\r\n\r\nWhat\'s amusing about this story is that in reality, the Qin Dynasty came out on top of the Warring States period and ruled China (well, for a decade or so, anyway) after the Warring States were over - so bear that in mind as you read the last sentence. \r\n\r\nYou\'ll also meet our protagonist 苏代 [pinyin]su1 dai4[/pinyin] - who he is is explained in the first sentence, but suffice to say that 苏代 is a person\'s name. He\'s mentioned in conjunction with 纵横家 [pinyin]zong4 heng2 jia1[/pinyin], the School of Diplomacy, which was a sort of league of scholar-statesmen from the Warring States period. If you\'re interested, you can <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Diplomacy\">read more about it on Wikipedia</a>. \r\n\r\nAnyway, I\'m making this story sound really complicated, but other than the historical terminology, the storyline is not at all convoluted. \r\n\r\nOriginal story is here: <a href=\"http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html\">http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html</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策士 - [pinyin]ce5 shi1[/pinyin] - Military strategist\r\n如下 - [pinyin]ru xia[/pinyin] - The following, as follows\r\n寓言 - [pinyin]yu4 yan2[/pinyin] - Fable\r\n易水 - [pinyin]yi4 shui3[/pinyin] - Gentle waters\r\n恰好 - [pinyin]qia4 hao3[/pinyin] - As it happens\r\n蚌 - [pinyin]bang4[/pinyin] - Clam\r\n鹬 - [pinyin]yu4[/pinyin] - Sandpiper\r\n介壳 - [pinyin]jie4 qiao4[/pinyin] - Hard outer shell\r\n针锋相对 - [pinyin]zhen1 feng1 xiang1 dui4[/pinyin] - Measure for measure, give as good as one gets, fight back just as hard\r\n两者 - [pinyin]liang3 zhe3[/pinyin] - Both sides\r\n渔父 - [pinyin]yu4 fu4[/pinyin] - Fisherman\r\n疲劳 - [pinyin]pi2 lao2[/pinyin] - Weary\r\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play the role of, as an actor, or person pretending\r\n深思熟虑 - [pinyin]shen1 si1 shu2 lv4[/pinyin] - Consider carefully\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n赵国将要讨伐燕国，苏代(战国时<strong>策士</strong>，纵横家苏秦的弟弟)替燕国游说赵惠文王，讲了<strong>如下</strong>的<strong>寓言</strong>故事: \r\n\r\n“我来的时候经过<strong>易水</strong>，<strong>恰好</strong>看到<strong>蚌</strong>出来晒太阳。<strong>鹬</strong>趁机啄蚌的肉，蚌把两扇<strong>介壳</strong>一闭就夹住了鹬的喙。鹬说:‘今天不下雨，明天不下雨，就有死蚌。’蚌也<strong>针锋相对</strong>地说: ‘今天不出，明天不出(夹住不放)，就有死鹬。’<strong>两者</strong>谁也不肯罢休，这时过来一个<strong>渔父</strong>把两者一起拎走了。”燕赵相对抗，都搞得很<strong>疲劳</strong>，我恐怕强大的秦国正在<strong>扮演</strong>渔父的角色，所以希望大王<strong>深思熟虑</strong>。\r\n\r\n惠文王赞同苏代的意见，停止对燕国用兵。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe Zhao State was taking up arms against the Yan State, and Su Dai (a military strategist during the Warring States period, and little brother to Su Qin of the School of Diplomacy) traveled to speak with King HuiWen of Zhao on behalf of the Yan State, and he told the following fable: \r\n\r\n\"When I was coming here I passed over some gentle water, and by chance I happened to see a clam sunning itself. A sandpiper seized the opportunity to peck at the clam\'s meat, but the clam slammed the two wings of its hard shell shut on the sandpiper\'s beak. The sandpiper said, \'Today it won\'t rain, tomorrow it won\'t rain, and there will be one dead clam!\' The clam gave as good as he got, saying: \'I won\'t come out today, I won\'t come out tomorrow (so your beak won\'t be free), and there will be one dead sandpiper!\' Neither party was willing to give up, and at this time, a fisherman scooped them both up and carried them off. If Yan and Zhao oppose each other, we\'ll both fight ourselves weary. I\'m afraid the strong Qin State is playing the role of the fisherman, so I hope that your majesty will carefully deliberate on this matter.\" \r\n\r\nKing HuiWen approved of SuDai\'s message, and stopped using armed forces against the Yan State.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Yu Bang Xiang Zheng', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1036-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-03-17 02:58:20', '2012-03-17 06:58:20', '', 1036, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/03/17/1036-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2414, 1, '2020-05-24 06:48:37', '2020-05-24 10:48:37', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"] \r\nHad a complaint a few days ago that my <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/18/chinese-childrens-fable-freedom-in-heaven/\">fable about a pretty bird</a> was too political, so I figured I\'d give ya\'ll something more exciting to complain about. Break out your Little Red Books, it\'s Communism Week at CRP. \r\n\r\nBecause Chinese Communism is an increasingly touchy international topic, a quick note: I am putting up these stories because they are historically, academically and linguistically interesting, not because I am promoting any political viewpoint. To maintain a pleasant, learning-focused environment, I don\'t allow political comments here. If you express your political opinions in the comments - positive, negative, or neutral - I will delete them. \r\n\r\nRight, so <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_Feng\">Lei Feng</a> (雷锋) was a larger-than-life Communist people\'s folk hero. Though tales of his good deeds spread like wildfire and took on a mythic quality, he was actually a real person: a People\'s Liberation Army solider who lived from 1940-1962, dying at the age of 22 when he was struck by a falling telephone pole in the line of duty. But his legend never really waned: he is still considered the personification of Mao Zedong Thought and the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. He was held up by the Party propaganda machine as a person to emulate, someone with a perfect moral character and devotion to the socialist cause, so much so that children were encouraged to foster \"Lei Feng Spirit\" (雷锋精神).\r\n\r\nIn this post, I translate one of many, many stories about Lei Feng\'s general do-gooding. I chose this one because it\'s got all the best elements of a classic Lei Feng tale: over-the-top selflessness towards the common people, grand statements of loyalty to the Party, and all the rest.\r\n\r\n<h4>Some Language Stuff</h4>\r\nIf this is your first foray into Communist-themed reading, you\'ll learn a few new words that are common to writing from the 1940s-1970s: \r\n\r\n单位 [pinyin]dan1 wei4[/pinyin] - work unit\r\n解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin] - [People\'s] Liberation Army (PLA) \r\n同志 [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] - comrade \r\n毛主席 [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao\r\n党 [pinyin]dang3[/pinyin] - short for \"共产党\", the Party / the Communist Party.  \r\n\r\nThere are also a few names of places: Shenyang (沈阳), Liaoning (辽宁) and Jilin (吉林) - all places within northeastern China. \r\n\r\nThis post centers around good deeds that Lei Feng did while traveling around the northeast on army business. I had a little bit of trouble translating some of the travel-related sentences, because the way people talk about travel in Chinese is slightly different than the way we do in English. For one thing, if someone is traveling within China, the phrase 去外地 [pinyin]qu4 wai4 di4[/pinyin] is used. At first glance, \"去外地\" just means \"to go other places\", but this is specifically used to mean \"other places within China\", not \"other countries\". Trips outside of China are usually described as 去国外 or 去外国. Also, pay attention to the word 出差 [pinyin]chu1 chai1[/pinyin]. This specially means \"to travel on business\", as opposed to traveling for pleasure.\r\n\r\n<strong>想都没想</strong> [pinyin]xiang3 dou1 mei3 xiang3[/pinyin] - Phrase means \"without even thinking about it\" or \"without a second thought\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9B%B7%E9%94%8B/5569?fr=aladdin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</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>雷锋小故事</h4>\r\n从一九六一年开始，雷锋经常应邀去外地作报告，他出差的机会多了，为人民服务的机会也就多了。\r\n\r\n人们流传着这样一句话：“雷锋出差一千里，好事做了一火车。”\r\n\r\n有一次，雷锋外出，在<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>车站换车，出检票口的时候，他发现一群人围着一个背着小孩儿的中年妇女。原来这名妇女从<span class=\"highlightText\">辽宁</span>去<span class=\"highlightText\">吉林</span>看丈夫，一不小心把车票和钱都丢了 ，雷锋连忙用自己的津贴费买了一张去吉林的火车票塞到大嫂手里，大嫂眼含热泪地问：“小兄弟，你叫什么名字？住哪的？是哪个<span class=\"highlightText\">单位</span>的？”\r\n\r\n雷锋回答道：“我叫<span class=\"highlightText\">解放军</span>，家就住在中国。”\r\n\r\n五月的一天，雷锋冒雨去<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>。他为了赶早车，早晨5点多就起来，带了几个干馒头就披上雨衣上路了。路上，雷锋看见一位妇女背着一个小孩，手还牵着一个小女孩，正艰难地向车站走去。雷锋<span class=\"highlightText\">想都没想</span>，脱下身上的雨衣就披在大嫂身上，又抱起小女孩陪她们一起来到车站。上车后，雷锋见小女孩冷得直发抖，就把自己的贴身衬衣脱下来给她穿上。雷锋估计她们早饭没吃，就把自己带的馒头给她们吃。火车到了沈阳，天还在下雨，雷锋便把她们送到家里。\r\n\r\n那位妇女感激地说：“<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，我可怎么感谢你呀！”\r\n\r\n雷锋说 ：“不要感谢我，应该感谢<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>和<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>啊！”\r\n\r\n他在日记中写下了这样一段话：“我的一切都是<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>给的，光荣应该归于<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>，归于热情帮助我的<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，至于我个人做的工作，那是太少了，我这么一点点贡献，比起对我的要求和期望还是非常不够的……” \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\nBeginning in 1961, Lei Feng was often invited to go to other cities to make reports, and [since] he had many opportunities to travel on business, he also had many opportunities to serve the people.   \r\n\r\nPeople often said [of him]: \"When Lei Feng travels for business, [he rides there] on a train of good deeds.\" \r\n\r\nOne time, [while] Lei Feng was out and about, he was changing trains at Shenyang station, and when he was at the ticket booth, he saw a group of people standing around a middle-aged woman who was carrying a small child on her back. Turns out this woman was going from Liaoning to Jilin to see her husband, and accidentally lost her ticket and her wallet, so Lei Feng quickly used his own allowance to buy a ticket to Jilin and pressed it into the woman\'s [lit: \"elder sister\'s\"] hand. Her eyes brimming with tears the woman [lit: elder sister] said: \"Little Brother, What is your name? Where do you live? What is your work unit?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng answered: \"My name is Liberation Army, and China is my home.\" \r\n\r\nOne day in May, Lei Feng braved the rain to go to Shenyang. In order to catch the early train, he woke up at 5:00 A.M., took some dry steamed buns, put on his rain gear and set out upon the road. On the road, Lei Feng saw a woman carrying a small child on her back, and leading another little girl by the hand, and [she was] struggling towards the train station. Lei Feng didn\'t give it a second thought, he took off his own rain gear and draped it over the woman\'s body, picked up the little girl and accompanied them to the station. On the train, Lei Feng saw the little girl shivering from cold, so he took off the shirt on his back and gave it to her to wear. Lei Feng guessed that they hadn\'t eaten breakfast, so he took out the buns he had brought and gave them to the women. When the train reached Shenyang, it was still raining, and Lei Feng took the women to their home. \r\n\r\nThe women gratefully said: \"Comrade, how can I ever thank you?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng said, \"You don\'t have to thank me, you should thank the Party and Chairman Mao!\"\r\n\r\nIn his diary, he wrote the following: \"Everything I have was given to me by the Party, and all glory should belong to the Party, should belong to those comrades who enthusiastically helped me. As for the work I\'ve done, it isn\'t very much, my tiny contributions don\'t measure up to what I need and hope [to give]....\"\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales:  The good deeds of Lei Feng', 'It\'s Communism Week at CRP! I\'m kicking off with some classic stories about the good deeds of Communist folk hero Lei Feng, the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. HSK 4-5.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2350-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:48:37', '2020-05-24 10:48:37', '', 2350, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2350-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wp_posts` (`ID`, `post_author`, `post_date`, `post_date_gmt`, `post_content`, `post_title`, `post_excerpt`, `post_status`, `comment_status`, `ping_status`, `post_password`, `post_name`, `to_ping`, `pinged`, `post_modified`, `post_modified_gmt`, `post_content_filtered`, `post_parent`, `guid`, `menu_order`, `post_type`, `post_mime_type`, `comment_count`) VALUES
(2385, 1, '2020-05-24 00:19:19', '2020-05-24 04:19:19', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"] \r\nHad a complaint a few days ago that my <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/18/chinese-childrens-fable-freedom-in-heaven/\">fable about a pretty bird</a> was too political, so I figured I\'d give ya\'ll something more exciting to complain about. Break out your Little Red Books, it\'s Communism Week at CRP. \r\n\r\nBecause Chinese Communism is an increasingly touchy international topic, a quick note: I am putting up these stories because <em>they are historically, academically and linguistically interesting, not because I am promoting any political viewpoint</em>. There\'s a lot of Communist language out there: in Chinese news sites, on vintage propaganda posters, in historical books, and and knowing this vocab and these stories will help you advance your understanding of the language and culture. To maintain a pleasant, learning-focused environment, I don\'t allow political comments here. If you express your political opinions in the comments - positive, negative, or neutral - I will delete them. There are plenty of places on the internet where you can vent your anger or patriotism, this just isn\'t one of them. Cool?\r\n\r\nRight, so <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_Feng\">Lei Feng</a> (雷锋) was a larger-than-life Communist people\'s folk hero. Though tales of his good deeds spread like wildfire and took on a mythic quality, he was actually a real person: a People\'s Liberation Army solider who lived from 1940-1962, dying at the age of 22 when he was struck by a falling telephone pole in the line of duty. But his legend never really waned: he is still considered the personification of Mao Zedong Thought and the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. He was held up by the Party propaganda machine as a person to emulate, someone with a perfect moral character and devotion to the socialist cause, so much so that children were encouraged to foster \"Lei Feng Spirit\" (雷锋精神).\r\n\r\nIn this post, I translate one of many, many stories about Lei Feng\'s general do-gooding. I chose this one because it\'s got all the best elements of a classic Lei Feng tale: over-the-top selflessness towards the common people, grand statements of loyalty to the Party, and all the rest.\r\n\r\n<h4>Some Language Stuff</h4>\r\nIf this is your first foray into Communist-themed reading, you\'ll learn a few new words that are common to writing from the 1940s-1970s: \r\n\r\n单位 [pinyin]dan1 wei4[/pinyin] - work unit\r\n解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin] - [People\'s] Liberation Army (PLA) \r\n同志 [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] - comrade \r\n毛主席 [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao\r\n党 [pinyin]dang3[/pinyin] - short for \"共产党\", the Party / the Communist Party.  \r\n\r\nThere are also a few names of places: Shenyang (沈阳), Liaoning (辽宁) and Jilin (吉林) - all places within northeastern China. \r\n\r\nThis post centers around good deeds that Lei Feng did while traveling around the northeast on army business. I had a little bit of trouble translating some of the travel-related sentences, because the way people talk about travel in Chinese is slightly different than the way we do in English. For one thing, if someone is traveling within China, the phrase 去外地 [pinyin]qu4 wai4 di4[/pinyin] is used. At first glance, \"去外地\" just means \"to go other places\", but this is specifically used to mean \"other places within China\", not \"other countries\". Trips outside of China are usually described as 去国外 or 去外国. Also, pay attention to the word 出差 [pinyin]chu1 chai1[/pinyin]. This specially means \"to travel on business\", as opposed to traveling for pleasure.\r\n\r\n想都没想 [pinyin]xiang3 dou1 mei3 xiang3[/pinyin] - Phrase means \"without even thinking about it\" or \"without a second thought\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9B%B7%E9%94%8B/5569?fr=aladdin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</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>雷锋小故事</h4>\r\n从一九六一年开始，雷锋经常应邀去外地作报告，他出差的机会多了，为人民服务的机会也就多了。\r\n\r\n人们流传着这样一句话：“雷锋出差一千里，好事做了一火车。”\r\n\r\n有一次，雷锋外出，在<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>车站换车，出检票口的时候，他发现一群人围着一个背着小孩儿的中年妇女。原来这名妇女从<span class=\"highlightText\">辽宁</span>去<span class=\"highlightText\">吉林</span>看丈夫，一不小心把车票和钱都丢了 ，雷锋连忙用自己的津贴费买了一张去吉林的火车票塞到大嫂手里，大嫂眼含热泪地问：“小兄弟，你叫什么名字？住哪的？是哪个<span class=\"highlightText\">单位</span>的？”\r\n\r\n雷锋回答道：“我叫<span class=\"highlightText\">解放军</span>，家就住在中国。”\r\n\r\n五月的一天，雷锋冒雨去<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>。他为了赶早车，早晨5点多就起来，带了几个干馒头就披上雨衣上路了。路上，雷锋看见一位妇女背着一个小孩，手还牵着一个小女孩，正艰难地向车站走去。雷锋<span class=\"highlightText\">想都没想</span>，脱下身上的雨衣就披在大嫂身上，又抱起小女孩陪她们一起来到车站。上车后，雷锋见小女孩冷得直发抖，就把自己的贴身衬衣脱下来给她穿上。雷锋估计她们早饭没吃，就把自己带的馒头给她们吃。火车到了沈阳，天还在下雨，雷锋便把她们送到家里。\r\n\r\n那位妇女感激地说：“<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，我可怎么感谢你呀！”\r\n\r\n雷锋说 ：“不要感谢我，应该感谢<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>和<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>啊！”\r\n\r\n他在日记中写下了这样一段话：“我的一切都是<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>给的，光荣应该归于<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>，归于热情帮助我的<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，至于我个人做的工作，那是太少了，我这么一点点贡献，比起对我的要求和期望还是非常不够的……” \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\nBeginning in 1961, Lei Feng was often invited to go to other cities to make reports, and [since] he had many opportunities to travel on business, he also had many opportunities to serve the people.   \r\n\r\nPeople often said [of him]: \"When Lei Feng travels for business, [he rides there] on a train of good deeds.\" \r\n\r\nOne time, [while] Lei Feng was out and about, he was changing trains at Shenyang station, and when he was at the ticket booth, he saw a group of people standing around a middle-aged woman who was carrying a small child on her back. Turns out this woman was going from Liaoning to Jilin to see her husband, and accidentally lost her ticket and her wallet, so Lei Feng quickly used his own allowance to buy a ticket to Jilin and pressed it into the woman\'s [lit: \"elder sister\'s\"] hand. Her eyes brimming with tears the woman [lit: elder sister] said: \"Little Brother, What is your name? Where do you live? What is your work unit?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng answered: \"My name is Liberation Army, and China is my home.\" \r\n\r\nOne day in May, Lei Feng braved the rain to go to Shenyang. In order to catch the early train, he woke up at 5:00 A.M., took some dry steamed buns, put on his rain gear and set out upon the road. On the road, Lei Feng saw a woman carrying a small child on her back, and leading another little girl by the hand, and [she was] struggling towards the train station. Lei Feng didn\'t give it a second thought, he took off his own rain gear and draped it over the woman\'s body, picked up the little girl and accompanied them to the station. On the train, Lei Feng saw the little girl shivering from cold, so he took off the shirt on his back and gave it to her to wear. Lei Feng guessed that they hadn\'t eaten breakfast, so he took out the buns he had brought and gave them to the women. When the train reached Shenyang, it was still raining, and Lei Feng took the women to their home. \r\n\r\nThe women gratefully said: \"Comrade, how can I ever thank you?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng said, \"You don\'t have to thank me, you should thank the Party and Chairman Mao!\"\r\n\r\nIn his diary, he wrote the following: \"Everything I have was given to me by the Party, and all glory should belong to the Party, should belong to those comrades who enthusiastically helped me. As for the work I\'ve done, it isn\'t very much, my tiny contributions don\'t measure up to what I need and hope [to give]....\"\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales:  The good deeds of Lei Feng', 'It\'s Communism Week at CRP! I\'m kicking off with some classic stories about the good deeds of Communist folk hero Lei Feng, the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. HSK 4-5.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2350-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 00:19:19', '2020-05-24 04:19:19', '', 2350, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2350-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1042, 1, '2012-03-17 03:02:24', '2012-03-17 07:02:24', '[two_third]\r\nThis is the backstory behind the Chinese idiom 鹬蚌相争 [pinyin]yu4 bang4 xiang1 zheng1[/pinyin], which translates to \"The Sandpiper and the Clam Fight Each Other\", and means \"Two parties fight and a third party benefits.\" <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20110323-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Political Short Stories with English Translation: Intermediate Fables and Chinese Idioms Explained\" title=\"Reading Chinese Short Stories with Translation: Intermediate Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Cool upper-intermediate piece - in case it hasn\'t been obvious throughout these posts, I love classical stories about wily government counselors and should probably post about something else on occasion, but so many classical tales involve this trope that it\'s hard to avoid. \r\n\r\nThis piece is cool because - excepting the first sentence - the sentence structure is simple but there are quite a few classical words, so you\'ll learn some historical terms. In case you think this kind of thing isn\'t really useful, think again. Historical figures in the Chinese dynasties are mentioned frequently in the oddest places, and their stories bleed out into every medium. If you\'re at a museum, if you\'re reading Chinese magazines, if you\'re reading Chinese historical essays, if you\'re watching a TV show or book or listening to the radio, you\'ll see mentions of historical dynasties all the time. But most importantly, if you want to watch Chinese war movies or period pieces (and there are some great ones), this vocab is crucial. You might as well know at least when to recognize that the conversation has gone that way.\r\n\r\nThis short story takes place during the Warring States period (475 BC to 221 BC), and mentions three of the seven warring kingdoms of that time, so you\'ll learn some dynasty names: 赵国 [pinyin]zhao4 guo2[/pinyin] (The Zhao State), 燕国 [pinyin]yan1 guo2[/pinyin] (The Yan State), and 秦国 [pinyin]qin2 guo2[/pinyin] (the Qin State). Speaking of dynasties, when you\'re reading this, look out for the word 王[pinyin]wang2[/pinyin] - as you probably know at this point in your studies, 王means \"king\", and when you see that, you can sometimes guess that the two or three characters before this word are the name of the king. Unlike in English, where we say \"King Charles\" or \"King John\", in this case the Chinese put \"king\" after the name. For example, in this story, we have 赵惠文王 - King Huiwen of Zhao (in other words, king of the Zhao state).\r\n\r\nWhat\'s amusing about this story is that in reality, the Qin Dynasty came out on top of the Warring States period and ruled China (well, for a decade or so, anyway) after the Warring States were over - so bear that in mind as you read the last sentence. \r\n\r\nYou\'ll also meet our protagonist 苏代 [pinyin]su1 dai4[/pinyin] - who he is is explained in the first sentence, but suffice to say that 苏代 is a person\'s name. He\'s mentioned in conjunction with 纵横家 [pinyin]zong4 heng2 jia1[/pinyin], the School of Diplomacy, which was a sort of league of scholar-statesmen from the Warring States period. If you\'re interested, you can <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Diplomacy\">read more about it on Wikipedia</a>. \r\n\r\nAnyway, I\'m making this story sound really complicated, but other than the historical terminology, the storyline is not at all convoluted. \r\n\r\nOriginal story is here: <a href=\"http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html\">http://www.diyifanwen.com/chengyu/sizichengyugushi/20100516141051614035955767805.html</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策士 - [pinyin]ce5 shi1[/pinyin] - Military strategist\r\n如下 - [pinyin]ru xia[/pinyin] - The following, as follows\r\n寓言 - [pinyin]yu4 yan2[/pinyin] - Fable\r\n易水 - [pinyin]yi4 shui3[/pinyin] - Gentle waters\r\n恰好 - [pinyin]qia4 hao3[/pinyin] - As it happens\r\n蚌 - [pinyin]bang4[/pinyin] - Clam\r\n鹬 - [pinyin]yu4[/pinyin] - Sandpiper\r\n介壳 - [pinyin]jie4 qiao4[/pinyin] - Hard outer shell\r\n针锋相对 - [pinyin]zhen1 feng1 xiang1 dui4[/pinyin] - Measure for measure, give as good as one gets, fight back just as hard\r\n两者 - [pinyin]liang3 zhe3[/pinyin] - Both sides\r\n渔父 - [pinyin]yu4 fu4[/pinyin] - Fisherman\r\n疲劳 - [pinyin]pi2 lao2[/pinyin] - Weary\r\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play the role of, as an actor, or person pretending\r\n深思熟虑 - [pinyin]shen1 si1 shu2 lv4[/pinyin] - Consider carefully\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n赵国将要讨伐燕国，苏代(战国时<strong>策士</strong>，纵横家苏秦的弟弟)替燕国游说赵惠文王，讲了<strong>如下</strong>的<strong>寓言</strong>故事: \r\n\r\n“我来的时候经过<strong>易水</strong>，<strong>恰好</strong>看到<strong>蚌</strong>出来晒太阳。<strong>鹬</strong>趁机啄蚌的肉，蚌把两扇<strong>介壳</strong>一闭就夹住了鹬的喙。鹬说:‘今天不下雨，明天不下雨，就有死蚌。’蚌也<strong>针锋相对</strong>地说: ‘今天不出，明天不出(夹住不放)，就有死鹬。’<strong>两者</strong>谁也不肯罢休，这时过来一个<strong>渔父</strong>把两者一起拎走了。”燕赵相对抗，都搞得很<strong>疲劳</strong>，我恐怕强大的秦国正在<strong>扮演</strong>渔父的角色，所以希望大王<strong>深思熟虑</strong>。\r\n\r\n惠文王赞同苏代的意见，停止对燕国用兵。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe Zhao State was taking up arms against the Yan State, and Su Dai (a military strategist during the Warring States period, and little brother to Su Qin of the School of Diplomacy) traveled to speak with King HuiWen of Zhao on behalf of the Yan State, and he told the following fable: \r\n\r\n\"When I was coming here I passed over some gentle water, and by chance I happened to see a clam sunning itself. A sandpiper seized the opportunity to peck at the clam\'s meat, but the clam slammed the two wings of its hard shell shut on the sandpiper\'s beak. The sandpiper said, \'Today it won\'t rain, tomorrow it won\'t rain, and there will be one dead clam!\' The clam gave as good as he got, saying: \'I won\'t come out today, I won\'t come out tomorrow (so your beak won\'t be free), and there will be one dead sandpiper!\' Neither party was willing to give up, and at this time, a fisherman scooped them both up and carried them off. If Yan and Zhao oppose each other, we\'ll both fight ourselves weary. I\'m afraid the strong Qin State is playing the role of the fisherman, so I hope that your majesty will carefully deliberate on this matter.\" \r\n\r\nKing HuiWen approved of SuDai\'s message, and stopped using armed forces against the Yan State.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Yu Bang Xiang Zheng', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1036-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-03-17 03:02:24', '2012-03-17 07:02:24', '', 1036, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/03/17/1036-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1050, 1, '2012-03-17 03:53:55', '2012-03-17 07:53:55', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Online: Intermediate Chinese Character Simplified Riddles and Jokes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120327', '', '', '2012-03-17 03:53:55', '2012-03-17 07:53:55', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120327.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2391, 1, '2020-05-24 05:44:14', '2020-05-24 09:44:14', '[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) 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). He was applauded as a \"People\'s general\", and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned popular posters, 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 - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 - Jinggang Mountain \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 troops \r\n敌人 enemy\r\n战士们 soldier \r\n打仗 to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnd a couple words that come up quite a bit:\r\n粮食 - Also just 粮 - This means \"grain\" - could be wheat, rice, millet, or any kind of grain. \r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n争着去 - 争 means \"to fight\" or \"to struggle\", so 争着去 \"fighting to go\". But in this case, 争着去 isn\'t really describing a bad fight, it\'s describing a group of people pushing and shoving to be the first to volunteer to go somewhere. Imagine a group of people 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\r\n<a href=\"http://www.rensheng5.com/xiaogushi/id-9965.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</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>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。从<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上到田园距离很远，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', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 05:44:14', '2020-05-24 09:44:14', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1051, 1, '2012-03-17 03:54:57', '2012-03-17 07:54:57', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Online: Intermediate Chinese Character Simplified Riddles and Jokes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120327-inline', '', '', '2012-03-17 03:54:57', '2012-03-17 07:54:57', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120327-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2389, 1, '2020-05-24 01:04:41', '2020-05-24 05:04:41', '[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) 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). He was applauded as a \"People\'s general\", and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned popular posters, 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. Whatever your opinions on Communism, that guy was one tough survivor. \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nThis is an example of a story where 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, so push through those and it\'ll be easier going from there.\r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here: \r\n朱德同志 - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 - Jinggang Mountain. \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 troops \r\n敌人 enemy\r\n战士们 soldier \r\n打仗 to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n争着去 - \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.rensheng5.com/xiaogushi/id-9965.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</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>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。从<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上到田园，来回有五六十里，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', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 01:04:41', '2020-05-24 05:04:41', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1055, 1, '2012-03-17 04:11:37', '2012-03-17 08:11:37', '', 'Study Chinese Simplified Characters: Intermediate and Beginner', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120329-inline', '', '', '2012-03-17 04:11:37', '2012-03-17 08:11:37', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120329-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1056, 1, '2012-03-17 04:13:20', '2012-03-17 08:13:20', '', 'Modern Chinese Vocabulary Building: Chinese Childrens Riddles, Jokes and Stories', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120329', '', '', '2012-03-17 04:13:20', '2012-03-17 08:13:20', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120329.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2390, 1, '2020-05-24 01:17:10', '2020-05-24 05:17:10', '[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) 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). He was applauded as a \"People\'s general\", and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned popular posters, 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. Whatever your opinions on Communism, that guy was one tough 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.\r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here: \r\n朱德同志 - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 - Jinggang Mountain \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 troops \r\n敌人 enemy\r\n战士们 soldier \r\n打仗 to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnd a couple words that come up quite a bit:\r\n粮食 - Also just 粮 - This means \"grain\" - could be wheat, rice, millet, or any kind of grain. \r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n争着去 - 争 means \"to fight\" or \"to struggle\", so 争着去 \"fighting to go\". But in this case, 争着去 isn\'t really describing a bad fight, it\'s describing a group of people pushing and shoving to be the first to volunteer to go somewhere. Imagine a group of people 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\r\n<a href=\"http://www.rensheng5.com/xiaogushi/id-9965.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</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>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。从<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上到田园，来回有五六十里，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', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 01:17:10', '2020-05-24 05:17:10', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1060, 1, '2012-03-17 04:37:56', '2012-03-17 08:37:56', '', 'Chinese Childrens Riddles: Study Chinese Characters and Learn to Read Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120331-inline', '', '', '2012-03-17 04:37:56', '2012-03-17 08:37:56', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120331-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1061, 1, '2012-03-17 04:47:30', '2012-03-17 08:47:30', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Chinese Characters for Beginners - Easy Riddles and Jokes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120331', '', '', '2012-03-17 04:47:30', '2012-03-17 08:47:30', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120331.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2392, 1, '2020-05-28 00:11:54', '2020-05-28 04:11:54', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\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> \n\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.\n\nZhu De (朱德 [pinyin]zhu1 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:\n\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=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2387\" /> \n\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. \n\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\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. \n\nWe have a few proper names here: \n朱德同志 [pinyin]zhu1 de2 tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] - Comrade Zhu De \n红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin] - the Red Army\n井冈山 [pinyin]jing3 gang1 shan1[/pinyin] - Jinggang Mountain \n\nWe also have some military words: \n队伍 [pinyin]dui4 wu[/pinyin] - troops \n敌人 [pinyin]di2 ren2[/pinyin] - enemy\n战士们 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4 men[/pinyin] - soldier \n打仗 [pinyin]da3 zhang4[/pinyin] - to fight a war\n\nAnother word that comes 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. In this story, Zhu De\'s troops go down the mountain to 挑粮 [pinyin]tiao liang[/pinyin], or \"gather grain\".\n\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\n\n<strong>争着去</strong> [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. \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>朱德的扁担</h4>\n1928年，<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>带领一支<span class=\"highlightText\">红军队伍</span>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>。\n \n<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上粮食不多，常常要派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>。\n \n<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>也跟<span class=\"highlightText\">战士们</span>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<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人打仗</span>。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。\n</div>\n[/su_column]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\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. \n \nNot much grain was produced on Jinggang Mountain, so [they] often had to send a few people down to the fields below to tote back some grain. Jinggang Mountain was far from the fields, 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.\n \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. \n[/hide-this-part]\n[/su_column]\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-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-05-28 00:11:54', '2020-05-28 04:11:54', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1065, 1, '2012-04-05 07:00:07', '2012-04-05 11:00:07', '[two_third]\r\nHoo boy, this song is an AWESOME find. Not only is it politically charged in the most amazing way, it\'s ultra-beginner reading. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120405-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Study Easy Chinese Childrens Reading: Chinese Children&#039;s Songs, Poems and Stories\" title=\"Study Easy Chinese Childrens Reading: Chinese Children&#039;s Songs, Poems and Stories\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />But first, a little back story so we all know what we\'re reading here (and I do hope after this my blog stays available on the mainland - gonna use some weird spacing and spelling to avoid bots). The big campaign here right now is an expansion of the \"Ha rmoni ous S *ocie\\ ty\" campaign. It\'s on every political poster on the roadsides - there are 20 such signs on my street alone. The point, basically, is to do your job in your place and not make waves, or make life uncomfortable for those around you. Sounds nice, but you can kind of see a little ways down that road, and you can understand why \"harmo  ny\" has become a euphemism for ce n z*or*sh p. For example, whenever something \"offensive\" is, erm, stricken from the internet, Chinese sarcastically say that it has been \"h-a r m onisd\".  This concept goes right back to Confucius, whose big idea was that everyone has their duty and their place, and should follow a very strict set of rules governing what people in their position should and should not be able to do. \r\n\r\nSo the concept of har mony (和谐 - [pinyin]he2 xie2[/pinyin]) has long been an integral part of Chinese culture, but it\'s also been a point of criticism. Sadly, this whole \"nail that sticks up gets hammered down\" mentality is now giving the honchos a headache, because while the Chinese now have the manpower and the money to take the world economy by storm, they can\'t get enough people to break away, be creative and innovate. \r\n\r\nAmusingly, the solution to this has apparently been to put signs up all over Beijing that say: \"Beijing Spirit: Patriotism, Innovation, Inclusiveness, Morality.\" So now, the message is \"Don\'t piss anyone off, but hurry up and do something unique\".\r\n\r\nGuess that solves that problem. NEXT!\r\n\r\nAnyway, the below is a children\'s song that has probably been made up in the last few years, teaching children why harmony is so important. There are a couple of intermediate words in the last sentence, but they\'re easy to figure out. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n清 - [pinyin]qing1[/pinyin] - Clear\r\n密 - [pinyin]mi4[/pinyin] - Dense, thick\r\n空 - [pinyin]kong4[/pinyin] - Open, empty, unoccupied\r\n忙 - [pinyin]mang2[/pinyin] - To rush around\r\n啊 - [pinyin]a1[/pinyin] - Ah!, Oh!\r\n和谐 - [pinyin]he2 xie2[/pinyin] - Harmony, harmonious\r\n环境 - [pinyin]huan2 jing4[/pinyin] - Environment\r\n创造 - [pinyin]chuang4 zao4[/pinyin] - to create, to bring about\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蓝蓝的天上鸟儿飞，\r\n<strong>清</strong>清的水里鱼儿游，\r\n<strong>密</strong>密的森林动物跑，\r\n<strong>空</strong>空的草地孩子<strong>忙</strong>，\r\n　　……\r\n<strong>啊</strong>！这一切<strong>多么</strong>美好！\r\n<strong>和谐</strong>的<strong>环境</strong>需要我们去<strong>创造</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH\"]\r\nBirds fly in a blue blue sky, \r\nFish swim in the clear clear water, \r\nAnimals run in the thick thick forest, \r\nChildren run around in the open open meadow, \r\n　　……\r\nOh, how wonderful everything is like this, \r\nA harmonious environment requires us to create it.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Harmonious Environment Song', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', 'the-harmonious-environment-song', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:15:23', '2020-04-20 09:15:23', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1065', 0, 'post', '', 13),
(1066, 1, '2012-03-17 23:47:13', '2012-03-18 03:47:13', '[two_third]\nHoo boy, this song is an AWESOME find. Not only is it politically charged in the most amazing way, it\'s ultra-beginner reading. <!--more-->\n\nBut first, a little back story so we all know what we\'re reading here. The big campaign in Beijing right now is an expansion of the \"Harmonious Society\" campaign. It\'s on every political poster on the roadsides - there are 20 such signs on my street alone. The point, basically, is to do your job in your place and not make waves, or make life uncomfortable for those around you. Sounds nice, but you can kind of see a little ways down that road, and you can understand why \"harmony\" has become a euphemism for ce n z*or*sh p. For example, whenever something \"offensive\" is, erm, stricken from the internet, Chinese sarcastically say that it has been \"harmonized\".  The idea of a harmonious society goes right back to Confucius, whose big idea was that everyone has their place, and should follow a very strict set of rules governing what people in their position should and should not be able to do. \n\nSo the concept of harmony (和谐 - [pinyin]he2 xie2[/pinyin] has long been an integral part of Chinese culture, but it\'s also been a point of criticism. Sadly, this whole \"nail that sticks up gets hammered down\" mentality is now giving the honchos a headache, because while the Chinese now have the manpower and the money to take the world economy by storm, they can\'t get enough people to break away, be creative and innovate.\n\nAmusingly, the solution to this has apparently been to put signs up all over Beijing that say: \"Beijing Spirit: Patriotism, Innovation, Inclusiveness, Morality.\" So now, the message is \"Don\'t piss anyone off, but hurry the hell up and do something unique\".\n\nGuess that solves that problem. NEXT!\n\nAnyway, the below is a children\'s song that has probably been made up in the last few years, teaching children why harmony is so important. Early adoption! Let\'s hear it...\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n面 - [pinyin]mian4[/pinyin] - Face, surface\n脚 - [pinyin]jiao3[/pinyin] - Foot\n虽 - [pinyin]sui1[/pinyin] - Although\n只 - [pinyin]zhi3[/pinyin] - Measure word for \"feet\"\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n蓝蓝的天上鸟儿飞，\n清清的水里鱼儿游，\n密密的森林动物跑，\n空空的草地孩子忙，\n　　……\n啊！这一切多么美好！\n和谐的环境需要我们去创造。\n</div>\n\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH AND ANSWER\"]\nIt has a face but no mouth, it has feet but no hands, though it has four feet, it can\'t walk by itself. \n<strong>Answer: 桌子　(A table) </strong>\n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Harmonious Environment Song', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1065-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-03-17 23:47:13', '2012-03-18 03:47:13', '', 1065, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/03/17/1065-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
