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
(1274, 1, '2012-09-12 12:06:40', '2012-09-12 16:06:40', '[two_third]\r\nI\'ve been idly looking at moving to a new apartment lately (looks like I won\'t be moving after all - a good thing, too, because I like my current place), and I typically use the Chinese property search sites instead of the foreign ones. The prices are about 4 times as high on the English sites made for foreigners, and the properties they offer there are often aimed at high-rolling executives. It helps quite a bit to be able to browse the Chinese listings, so I\'m doing a few here. This is solidly advanced stuff. Local place names abound, so you have to be able to at least guess when something is or isn\'t a proper noun, and because we\'re working with real estate classifieds, a few words are shortened to save space or the formal version is used to sound professional.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120917-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Mandarin Chinese Reading: How and Where to Find an Apartment in Beijing\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Real Estate Classifieds and Apartment Hunting in Beijing\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />One thing to bear in mind if you\'re actually looking for an apartment in China is that quite a few of the pictures are fake, are from other houses in the same compound, or if you\'re dealing with an agency, you should know that most places online have been rented already, but the agencies have left the ads up in hopes you\'ll call them anyway and they can show you something else. \r\n\r\nYou really do have to go hunt around in person in China, but online apartment hunting can give you a few valuable pieces of info: what types of apartments are available in which areas (only old buildings? skyrises? hutong-houses?), which complexes are newer and have nicer amenities, and what apartments in a particular area usually go for. \r\n\r\nHere are three of the best and most popular Beijing real estate websites, if you want to practice on your own:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://bj.58.com/zufang/\">bj.58.com/zufang/</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://beijing.anjuke.com\">beijing.anjuke.com</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://zu.soufun.com/\">zu.soufun.com/</a>\r\n\r\nI\'m going to list and translate a few different Beijing listings here, but I won\'t link to the original listings as I imagine they\'ll come down fairly fast, so I\'ll just show a couple of photos. You can visit the links above for similar stuff. I\'m taking some examples from a little spectrum: one crappy (and very very typical) older apartment near Beijing, a cheaper and nicer apartment in the distant suburbs of Beijing, a high-rolling super luxury apartment city-center, and a traditional-style siheyuan home. \r\n\r\nYou\'ll see a lot of similarities between real estate and property listings in Beijing or anywhere, but a couple of major points of local flavor: \r\n\r\n押一付三　- This indicates how rent is paid. In Beijing, rent is not paid monthly. It can either be paid every three months, every six months, or you can pay the whole year in advance. This indicates rent is to be paid every 3 months, which is by far the most common way to pay. \r\n\r\n朝向南北 - Man, the Chinese sure do care which way their apartment faces. People here will flat-out turn down an east/west facing place if they can afford to. The best apartments, apparently, face south / north, so you get sun all day, but it\'s not blasting in your windows. Less ideal is when a place faces east / west - and people here care SO MUCH about this, that you can get a cheaper place if you don\'t care that it faces east/west (though for haggling purposes, you\'re better off pretending you do care). This is why the direction is front and center. \r\n \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\r\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\r\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\r\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\"><img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n\r\nTitle: 超低的价格 美好的享受 就在京通苑 ,3室精装修 \r\n租金价格： 3200 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 3室1厅1卫　108㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   精装修　朝向南北　\r\n所属楼层： 6层/6层\r\n所在区域： 朝阳 - 管庄 - 京通苑\r\n所在地址： 朝阳路杨闸环岛西北角 （交通地图）\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 《眼见为实》果园城铁低价出租翠屏里两居 首次出租 \r\n租金价格： 2900 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　89㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   简单装修　朝向东西　\r\n所属楼层： 2层/6层\r\n所在区域： 通州 - 果园 - 翠屏里\r\n所在地址： 通州区果园环岛南700米\r\n1.小区位于果园城铁站南侧，绿化面积达50%，有24小时保安巡查。\r\n2.周边配套设施齐全，有苏荷时代购物广场、物美大卖场，北机菜市场。\r\n3.出门就是果园城铁站，周边还有多路公交车站可直达大北窑。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle:拎包入住北京星河湾3期全新地暖房欧式豪装4居、品味高贵生活环境\r\n租 金：43000元/月 (押一付三)\r\n面积 ：353㎡\r\n户型： 3室2厅4卫\r\n装修： 豪华装修\r\n楼层： 23/33\r\n朝向： 南北\r\n入住： 随时\r\n建筑年代： 2009年\r\n楼盘：星河湾  朝阳\r\n配置： 电话，热水器，空调，冰箱，洗衣机，床，家具， 微波炉，厨具\r\n设施： 水，电，煤气/天然气，暖气，有线电视，宽带\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 什刹海前海四合院 2室2厅110平米 豪华装修 \r\n租金价格： 11000 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　110㎡\r\n房屋情况： 平房   豪华装修　朝向南　\r\n所属楼层： 1层/2层\r\n所在区域： 西城 - 什刹海 - 前海四合院\r\n所在地址： 前海银锭桥附近\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Super Low Price - Wonderful Lifestyle - Located at JingTongYuan, Three Beds Nice Decor  \r\nRental Price: 3200 RMB / Month   Paid in 3-month increments 　\r\nRooms: 3 beds, 1 living room, 1 bath, 108 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, nice decor, facing south / north \r\nWhich floor [in the building]: Floor 6 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: Chaoyang - Guanzhuang - JingTongYuan\r\nAddress: ChaoYang Raod, YangZha Roundabout, Northwest Corner (transportation map [link]) \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: \"Seeing is Believing\" GuoYuan Rail Station - Low price Rental in Cui Ping Li - Two-Bedroom - First come, first serve \r\nRental Price: 2900 RMB / Month  Pay 3 months at a time   \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 89 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, simple decor, facing east / west \r\nFloor: Floor 2 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: TongZhou - GuoYuan - CuiPingLi \r\nAddress: TongZhou District, 700 meters south frmo the GuoYuan Roundabout\r\n1. The apartment block is located on the south side of GuoYuan rail station, the area\'s 50% greenery, and there are guards on patrol 24-hours \r\n2. [You\'ll have] a complete set of amenities nearby: there\'s SuHe ShiDai Shopping Mall, WuMei Retail Store, and BeiJi Food Market \r\n3. GuoYuan rail station is right outside the door, and close by there are also many bus stations with non-stop service to DaBeiYao.  \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Move in with just your handbag - Beijing\'s XingHeWan Block 3, Completely New Warm Home in European Style with Stunning Decor - 4 bedrooms, experience [lit: taste] a grand living environment\r\nRental price: 43000 RMB / month (pay in 3 month increments)\r\nArea: 353 square meters \r\nRooms: 3 beds, 2 living rooms, 4 baths \r\nDecor: Luxurious Interior Decor\r\nFloor: Floor 23 of 33\r\nDirection: South / North \r\nWhen you can move in: anytime \r\nBuilt in: 2009\r\nProperty: XingHeWan (Star River Bay), ChaoYang \r\nIncludes: Phone, water heater, air conditioning, fridge, washing machine, bed, furniture, microwave, kitchen implements\r\nInstalled: Water, electricity, coal / natural gas, heating, landline, broadband \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: ShiChaHai QianHai Courtyard House, 2 beds 2 living rooms 110 square meters, Luxurious Decor\r\nRental Price: 11000 RMB / month  Pay in 3 month increments 　 \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 110 square meters \r\nHome type: Bungalow, luxurious decor, facing south\r\nFloor: Floor 1 of 2 \r\nLocation: XiCheng - ShiChaHai - QianHai Courtyard \r\nAddress: In Qianhai near YinDing Bridge\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Understanding Chinese Apartment Rental Listings ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1254-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-12 12:06:40', '2012-09-12 16:06:40', '', 1254, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/12/1254-revision-8/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1284, 1, '2012-10-02 00:43:24', '2012-10-02 04:43:24', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 我们家的跳绳比赛</strong>\r\n\r\nA single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121002-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Haven\'t had a ton of extra time in the last few weeks - just went on a trip to Dalian, and still catching up from that. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n跳 - [pinyin]lie4 ri4[/pinyin] - Scorching sun\r\n绳 - [pinyin]yan2 yan2[/pinyin] - Scorching\r\n失误 - [pinyin]bao4 shang4[/pinyin] - Pick up (the way one picks up a child, encircling them with both arms)\r\n砰砰 - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - Candy \r\n弃权 - [pinyin]zhong4[/pinyin] - To plant (eg. vegetable seeds)\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今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis morning father and competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. So I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-02 00:43:24', '2012-10-02 04:43:24', '', 1277, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/02/1277-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1285, 1, '2012-09-10 05:41:46', '2012-09-10 09:41:46', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\r\nFor those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120910-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"How to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learning to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Kids\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\r\n\r\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \r\n\r\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \r\n\r\nAnd finally: Beware the definition I give for the word 由 here. It\'s one of those grammar words that means a ton of different things in different contexts - kind of like how the English word \"to\" is hard to define and used often. In my definition list, I only ever show the definition relevant to this text, so you\'re going to see the word 由 in many contexts in many essays and it doesn\'t always mean what it means here. \r\n\r\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\r\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\r\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\r\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\r\n\r\n我决得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \r\n\r\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 05:41:46', '2012-09-10 09:41:46', '', 1241, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1241-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1287, 1, '2012-10-21 02:34:14', '2012-10-21 06:34:14', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nGonna lay it on a bit thick today with something nice and serious. This is an abstract of an academic paper from the <a href=\"http://www.genderstudy.cn/\">Gender Studies Network</a> authored by Zhou Ying. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nBecause this is an advanced academic abstract, you can really see how, in the upper levels of written Chinese, a ton of words that we find essential in English can be dropped from a sentence while still preserving the essence of the meaning. We tend to extend sentences with explanation, but here, I feel, is a fabulous example of how efficient Chinese can be. Because so many words have been dropped, I\'ve added a whole lot of bracketed explanation and English fill-in words in the translation to better illuminate the implied meaning.\r\n\r\nI\'m not quite sure I know what a \"proper role in domestic life is\", I\'m fairly certain that not all policewomen feel intensely conflicted, but I do like the idea of implementing some social policies to better support working women. \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>女警察工作与生活平衡问题探讨</h4>\r\n警察职业曾是女性的“<strong>禁区</strong>”。随着社会的发展, 目前女警数量不断扩大, 警务工作<strong>范围</strong>不断扩展, 他们已成为维护社会<strong>治安</strong>、<strong>打击</strong>犯罪的特殊力量。女警发展<strong>面临</strong>着<strong>工作与生活平衡</strong>的困境。一方面, 存在着女警人数所占<strong>比例</strong>小、<strong>岗位</strong>受<strong>限</strong>、晋升和参与决策的机会有限、职业安全<strong>遭受</strong>到<strong>威胁</strong>等限制职业发展的问题。另一方面, 繁忙的警务工作使其无法<strong>扮演</strong>好家庭角色, 内心<strong>冲突</strong>激烈。促进女警工作与生活平衡需要社会方面与个体方面的双重努力, 特别是社会<strong>政策</strong>的支持。\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\nPolice work was once an occupational area forbidden to women. In the wake of [current] social development, the continuous increase in the number of policewomen and the continuous expansion in the scope of police work, policewomen have become an extraordinary force in upholding law and order and cracking down on crime.  [At the same time,] this development has left policewomen faced with difficulties in [maintaining] work-life balance. On the one hand, [there are work-related issues such as] their small number in proportion [to male policemen], a limited number of posts they may accept, few opportunities for promotion or participation in decision-making, threats to their occupational safety, and so on. On the other hand, [there are personal issues such as the fact that] the frenetic pace of police work makes it almost impossible to play a proper role in domestic life, creating an intense inner conflict in [policewomen\'s] heart. In order to improve policewomen\'s work-life balance, we must strive [to address] both the social and individual aspects [of this problem], particularly in the form of support through social policies. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'A Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'a-probe-into-the-work-life-balance-of-chinese-policewomen', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:42:41', '2020-04-20 11:42:41', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1287', 0, 'post', '', 5),
(1760, 1, '2020-04-20 04:40:01', '2020-04-20 08:40:01', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nGonna lay it on a bit thick today with something nice and serious. This is an abstract of an academic paper from the <a href=\"http://www.genderstudy.cn/\">Gender Studies Network</a> authored by Zhou Ying. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nBecause this is an advanced academic abstract, you can really see how, in the upper levels of written Chinese, a ton of words that we find essential in English can be dropped from a sentence while still preserving the essence of the meaning. We tend to extend sentences with explanation, but here, I feel, is a fabulous example of how efficient Chinese can be. Because so many words have been dropped, I\'ve added a whole lot of bracketed explanation and English fill-in words in the translation to better illuminate the implied meaning.\r\n\r\nI\'m not quite sure I know what a \"proper role in domestic life is\", I\'m fairly certain that not all policewomen feel intensely conflicted, but I do like the idea of implementing some social policies to better support working women. \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>小马过河</h4>\r\n<h4>女警察工作与生活平衡问题探讨</h4>\r\n警察职业曾是女性的“<strong>禁区</strong>”。随着社会的发展, 目前女警数量不断扩大, 警务工作<strong>范围</strong>不断扩展, 他们已成为维护社会<strong>治安</strong>、<strong>打击</strong>犯罪的特殊力量。女警发展<strong>面临</strong>着<strong>工作与生活平衡</strong>的困境。一方面, 存在着女警人数所占<strong>比例</strong>小、<strong>岗位</strong>受<strong>限</strong>、晋升和参与决策的机会有限、职业安全<strong>遭受</strong>到<strong>威胁</strong>等限制职业发展的问题。另一方面, 繁忙的警务工作使其无法<strong>扮演</strong>好家庭角色, 内心<strong>冲突</strong>激烈。促进女警工作与生活平衡需要社会方面与个体方面的双重努力, 特别是社会<strong>政策</strong>的支持。\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\nPolice work was once an occupational area forbidden to women. In the wake of [current] social development, the continuous increase in the number of policewomen and the continuous expansion in the scope of police work, policewomen have become an extraordinary force in upholding law and order and cracking down on crime.  [At the same time,] this development has left policewomen faced with difficulties in [maintaining] work-life balance. On the one hand, [there are work-related issues such as] their small number in proportion [to male policemen], a limited number of posts they may accept, few opportunities for promotion or participation in decision-making, threats to their occupational safety, and so on. On the other hand, [there are personal issues such as the fact that] the frenetic pace of police work makes it almost impossible to play a proper role in domestic life, creating an intense inner conflict in [policewomen\'s] heart. In order to improve policewomen\'s work-life balance, we must strive [to address] both the social and individual aspects [of this problem], particularly in the form of support through social policies. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'A Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1287-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:40:01', '2020-04-20 08:40:01', '', 1287, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1287-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1288, 1, '2012-10-21 02:32:17', '2012-10-21 06:32:17', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese - Gender Research and Advanced Academic Papers in Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20121021', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:32:17', '2012-10-21 06:32:17', '', 1287, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121021.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1289, 1, '2012-10-21 02:32:18', '2012-10-21 06:32:18', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese - Gender Research and Advanced Academic Papers in Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20121021-inline', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:32:18', '2012-10-21 06:32:18', '', 1287, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121021-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1290, 1, '2012-10-21 02:34:00', '2012-10-21 06:34:00', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 女警察工作与生活平衡问题探讨</strong>\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121021-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Characters - Academic Research Papers in Mandarin Simplified Chinese\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese - Gender Research and Advanced Academic Papers in Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder\" />Gonna lay it on a bit thick today with something nice and serious. This is an abstract of an academic paper from the Gender Studies Network authored by Zhou Ying. <!--more-->\n\nBecause this is an advanced academic abstract, you can really see how, in the upper levels of written Chinese, a ton of words that we find essential in English can be dropped from a sentence while still preserving the essence of the meaning. We tend to extend sentences with explanation, but here, I feel, is a fabulous example of how efficient Chinese can be. Because so many words have been dropped, I\'ve added a whole lot of bracketed explanation and English fill-in words in the translation to better illuminate the implied meaning.\n\nI\'m not quite sure I know what a \"proper role in domestic life is\", I\'m fairly certain that not all policewomen feel intensely conflicted, and I\'m not sure I really like the implications there, but hey. It\'s not my paper. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n禁区 - [pinyin]jin4 qu1[/pinyin] - Forbidden region\n范围 - [pinyin]fan4 wei2[/pinyin] - Range, scope\n治安 - [pinyin]zhi4 an1[/pinyin] - Law and order\n打击 - [pinyin]da3 ji1[/pinyin] - Crack down on\n面临 - [pinyin]mian4 lin2[/pinyin] - Be faced with\n工作与生活平衡 - [pinyin]gong1 zuo4 yu2 sheng1 huo2 ping2 heng2[/pinyin] - Work-life balance\n比例 - [pinyin]bi3 li4[/pinyin] - Proportion\n岗位 - [pinyin]gang3 wei4[/pinyin] - A job\n限 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - Limit\n遭受 - [pinyin]zao1 shou4[/pinyin] - To suffer\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - To threaten\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play a role\n冲突 - [pinyin]chong1 tu1[/pinyin] - Conflict\n政策 - [pinyin]zheng4 ce4[/pinyin] - Policy\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n警察职业曾是女性的“<strong>禁区</strong>”。随着社会的发展, 目前女警数量不断扩大, 警务工作<strong>范围</strong>不断扩展, 他们已成为维护社会<strong>治安</strong>、<strong>打击</strong>犯罪的特殊力量。女警发展<strong>面临</strong>着<strong>工作与生活平衡</strong>的困境。一方面, 存在着女警人数所占<strong>比例</strong>小、<strong>岗位</strong>受<strong>限</strong>、晋升和参与决策的机会有限、职业安全<strong>遭受</strong>到<strong>威胁</strong>等限制职业发展的问题。另一方面, 繁忙的警务工作使其无法<strong>扮演</strong>好家庭角色, 内心<strong>冲突</strong>激烈。促进女警工作与生活平衡需要社会方面与个体方面的双重努力, 特别是社会<strong>政策</strong>的支持。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nPolice work was once an occupational area forbidden to women. In the wake of [current] social development, the continuous increase in the number of policewomen and the continuous expansion in the scope of police work, policewomen have become an extraordinary force in upholding law and order and cracking down on crime.  [At the same time,] this development has left policewomen faced with difficulties in [maintaining] work-life balance. On the one hand, [there are work-related issues such as] their small number in proportion [to male policemen], a limited number of posts they may accept, few opportunities for promotion or participation in decision-making, threats to their occupational safety, and so on. On the other hand, [there are personal issues such as the fact that] the frenetic pace of police work makes it almost impossible to play a proper role in domestic life, creating an intense inner conflict in [policewomen\'s] heart. In order to improve policewomen\'s work-life balance, we must strive [to address] both the social and individual aspects [of this problem], particularly in the form of support through social policies. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1287-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:34:00', '2012-10-21 06:34:00', '', 1287, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/21/1287-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1291, 1, '2012-10-21 02:34:14', '2012-10-21 06:34:14', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 女警察工作与生活平衡问题探讨</strong>\r\n\r\nGonna lay it on a bit thick today with something nice and serious. This is an abstract of an academic paper from the Gender Studies Network authored by Zhou Ying. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121021-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Characters - Academic Research Papers in Mandarin Simplified Chinese\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese - Gender Research and Advanced Academic Papers in Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Because this is an advanced academic abstract, you can really see how, in the upper levels of written Chinese, a ton of words that we find essential in English can be dropped from a sentence while still preserving the essence of the meaning. We tend to extend sentences with explanation, but here, I feel, is a fabulous example of how efficient Chinese can be. Because so many words have been dropped, I\'ve added a whole lot of bracketed explanation and English fill-in words in the translation to better illuminate the implied meaning.\r\n\r\nI\'m not quite sure I know what a \"proper role in domestic life is\", I\'m fairly certain that not all policewomen feel intensely conflicted, and I\'m not sure I really like the implications there, but hey. It\'s not my paper. \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禁区 - [pinyin]jin4 qu1[/pinyin] - Forbidden region\r\n范围 - [pinyin]fan4 wei2[/pinyin] - Range, scope\r\n治安 - [pinyin]zhi4 an1[/pinyin] - Law and order\r\n打击 - [pinyin]da3 ji1[/pinyin] - Crack down on\r\n面临 - [pinyin]mian4 lin2[/pinyin] - Be faced with\r\n工作与生活平衡 - [pinyin]gong1 zuo4 yu2 sheng1 huo2 ping2 heng2[/pinyin] - Work-life balance\r\n比例 - [pinyin]bi3 li4[/pinyin] - Proportion\r\n岗位 - [pinyin]gang3 wei4[/pinyin] - A job\r\n限 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - Limit\r\n遭受 - [pinyin]zao1 shou4[/pinyin] - To suffer\r\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - To threaten\r\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play a role\r\n冲突 - [pinyin]chong1 tu1[/pinyin] - Conflict\r\n政策 - [pinyin]zheng4 ce4[/pinyin] - Policy\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警察职业曾是女性的“<strong>禁区</strong>”。随着社会的发展, 目前女警数量不断扩大, 警务工作<strong>范围</strong>不断扩展, 他们已成为维护社会<strong>治安</strong>、<strong>打击</strong>犯罪的特殊力量。女警发展<strong>面临</strong>着<strong>工作与生活平衡</strong>的困境。一方面, 存在着女警人数所占<strong>比例</strong>小、<strong>岗位</strong>受<strong>限</strong>、晋升和参与决策的机会有限、职业安全<strong>遭受</strong>到<strong>威胁</strong>等限制职业发展的问题。另一方面, 繁忙的警务工作使其无法<strong>扮演</strong>好家庭角色, 内心<strong>冲突</strong>激烈。促进女警工作与生活平衡需要社会方面与个体方面的双重努力, 特别是社会<strong>政策</strong>的支持。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nPolice work was once an occupational area forbidden to women. In the wake of [current] social development, the continuous increase in the number of policewomen and the continuous expansion in the scope of police work, policewomen have become an extraordinary force in upholding law and order and cracking down on crime.  [At the same time,] this development has left policewomen faced with difficulties in [maintaining] work-life balance. On the one hand, [there are work-related issues such as] their small number in proportion [to male policemen], a limited number of posts they may accept, few opportunities for promotion or participation in decision-making, threats to their occupational safety, and so on. On the other hand, [there are personal issues such as the fact that] the frenetic pace of police work makes it almost impossible to play a proper role in domestic life, creating an intense inner conflict in [policewomen\'s] heart. In order to improve policewomen\'s work-life balance, we must strive [to address] both the social and individual aspects [of this problem], particularly in the form of support through social policies. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1287-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:34:14', '2012-10-21 06:34:14', '', 1287, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/21/1287-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1292, 1, '2012-10-02 00:45:36', '2012-10-02 04:45:36', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 我们家的跳绳比赛</strong>\r\n\r\nA single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121002-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Haven\'t had a ton of extra time in the last few weeks - just went on a trip to Dalian, and still catching up from that. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n跳 - [pinyin]tiao4[/pinyin] - Jump\r\n绳 - [pinyin]sheng2[/pinyin] - Rope\r\n失误 - [pinyin]shi1 wu4[/pinyin] - Mistake\r\n砰砰 - [pinyin]peng1 peng1[/pinyin] - Onomat. Sound of heart beating\r\n弃权 - [pinyin]qi4 quan2[/pinyin] - To voluntarily not participate\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今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis morning father and competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. So I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-02 00:45:36', '2012-10-02 04:45:36', '', 1277, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/02/1277-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1295, 1, '2013-01-15 22:40:26', '2013-01-16 03:40:26', '[two_third]\r\nYou know you need a KTV song! Beijing, Beijing is a slow ballad sung by Chinese artist 汪峰 [pinyin]wang1 feng1[/pinyin] and was in the <a href=\"http://music.baidu.com/top/new\">Baidu Top 100</a> top 10 for a bit this year. Now it looks like it\'s fallen between the 30th and 40th place on various music charts, but it\'s still pretty popular, particularly in, you know, Beijing. If you can find it in yourself to embrace the painful 80\'s growly I-mean-it man voice and the \"Streets of Philadelphia\" emo-dad thing, you may find that the song is a good karaoke song if you\'re just starting out because it\'s repetitive, it\'s not abstract, it\'s sung slowly enough to sing along and it\'s so emotionally over-fraught that it\'s fun. \r\n\r\n<iframe height=498 width=510 frameborder=0 src=\"http://player.youku.com/embed/XMjA5NzgwNTky\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI recommend you read and translate the lyrics before you listen to the song, so you\'ve got an idea of what you\'re hearing. \r\n\r\nA few translation notes: it\'s not always clear exactly how to translate song lyrics. Example: 寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 is not an easy lyric to translate. Or rather, it\'s super easy to get the gist of the meaning (searching, chasing, dying, broken dreams... you get the idea), but put an \"of\" in the wrong place and the meaning changes to something slightly different. I\'ve done my best, feel free to re-write or re-interpret those in a different way. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n平静 - [pinyin]ping2 jing4[/pinyin] - Tranquil\r\n轰鸣 - [pinyin]hong1 ming2[/pinyin] - Rumble\r\n烛骨 - [pinyin]zhu2 gu3[/pinyin] - wick (of a candle)\r\n哭泣 - [pinyin]ku1 qi4[/pinyin] - Weep\r\n祈祷 - [pinyin]qi2 dao3[/pinyin] - Pray\r\n迷惘 - [pinyin]mi2 wang3[/pinyin] - Pray\r\n霓虹灯 - [pinyin]ni2 hong2 deng1[/pinyin] - Neon lights\r\n挣扎 - [pinyin]zheng1 zha2[/pinyin] - Struggle\r\n奄奄一息 - [pinyin]yan3 yan3 yi1 xi1[/pinyin] - Last gasp\r\n眷恋 - [pinyin]juan4 lian4[/pinyin] - To long for\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当我走在这里的每一条街道 \r\n我的心似乎从来都不能<strong>平静</strong> 　　\r\n除了发动机的<strong>轰鸣</strong>和电器之音 　　\r\n我似乎听到了他<strong>烛骨</strong>般的心跳 　　\r\n我在这里欢笑 　　\r\n我在这里<strong>哭泣</strong> 　　\r\n我在这里活着 　　\r\n也在这死去 　　\r\n我在这里<strong>祈祷</strong> 　　\r\n我在这里<strong>迷惘</strong> 　　\r\n我在这里寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京 　　\r\n\r\n咖啡馆与广场有三个街区 　　\r\n就像<strong>霓虹灯</strong>到月亮的距离 　　\r\n人们在<strong>挣扎</strong>中相互告慰和拥抱 　　\r\n寻找着追逐着<strong>奄奄一息</strong>的碎梦 　　\r\n我们在这欢笑 　　\r\n我们在这哭泣 　　\r\n我们在这活着 　　\r\n也在这死去 　　\r\n我们在这祈祷 　　\r\n我们在这迷惘 　　\r\n我们在这寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京 　\r\n　\r\n如果有一天我不得不离去 　　\r\n我希望人们把我埋在这里 　　\r\n在这儿我能感觉到我的存在 　　\r\n在这儿有太多让我<strong>眷恋</strong>的东西 　　\r\n我在这里欢笑 　　\r\n我在这里哭泣 　　\r\n我在这里活着 　　\r\n也在这儿死去 　　\r\n我在这里祈祷 　　\r\n我在这里迷惘 　　\r\n我在这里寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nWhen I walk the streets here\r\nIt seems like my heart can never be serene\r\nBeyond the rumble of engines and sounds of electronics\r\nI seem to hear its candlewick heartbeat\r\nThis is where I laugh happily\r\nThis is where I weep\r\nThis is where I live\r\nAnd this is where I\'ll die\r\nThis is where I pray\r\nThis is where I\'m confused\r\nThis is where I search\r\nAnd also where I lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\r\n\r\nThe three blocks between the coffee shop and the plaza\r\nSeem like the distance between the neon lights and the moon 　　\r\nPeople comfort and embrace each other as they struggle together\r\nSearching for, chasing after, the last gasp of broken dreams\r\nThis is where we laugh happily\r\nThis is where we cry bitterly \r\nThis is where we live\r\nAnd this is where we\'ll die\r\nThis is where we pray\r\nThis is where we\'re confused\r\nThis is where we search\r\nAnd also where we lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　　\r\n\r\n　\r\nIf someday I have no choice but to leave\r\nI hope people bury me here\r\nHere I can sense my existence \r\nHere there are too many things I yearn for\r\nThis is where I laugh happily\r\nThis is where I cry bitterly \r\nThis is where I live\r\nAnd this is where I die\r\nThis is where I pray\r\nThis is where I\'m confused\r\nThis is where I search\r\nAnd also where I lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Song Lyrics: Beijing Beijing by Wang Feng', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', 'song-lyrics-beijing-beijing-by-wang-feng', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:54:24', '2020-04-20 11:54:24', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1295', 0, 'post', '', 3),
(1294, 1, '2012-10-21 02:34:46', '2012-10-21 06:34:46', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 女警察工作与生活平衡问题探讨</strong>\r\n\r\nGonna lay it on a bit thick today with something nice and serious. This is an abstract of an academic paper from the <a href=\"http://www.genderstudy.cn/\">Gender Studies Network</a> authored by Zhou Ying. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121021-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Characters - Academic Research Papers in Mandarin Simplified Chinese\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese - Gender Research and Advanced Academic Papers in Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Because this is an advanced academic abstract, you can really see how, in the upper levels of written Chinese, a ton of words that we find essential in English can be dropped from a sentence while still preserving the essence of the meaning. We tend to extend sentences with explanation, but here, I feel, is a fabulous example of how efficient Chinese can be. Because so many words have been dropped, I\'ve added a whole lot of bracketed explanation and English fill-in words in the translation to better illuminate the implied meaning.\r\n\r\nI\'m not quite sure I know what a \"proper role in domestic life is\", I\'m fairly certain that not all policewomen feel intensely conflicted, and I\'m not sure I really like the implications there, but hey. It\'s not my paper. \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禁区 - [pinyin]jin4 qu1[/pinyin] - Forbidden region\r\n范围 - [pinyin]fan4 wei2[/pinyin] - Range, scope\r\n治安 - [pinyin]zhi4 an1[/pinyin] - Law and order\r\n打击 - [pinyin]da3 ji1[/pinyin] - Crack down on\r\n面临 - [pinyin]mian4 lin2[/pinyin] - Be faced with\r\n工作与生活平衡 - [pinyin]gong1 zuo4 yu2 sheng1 huo2 ping2 heng2[/pinyin] - Work-life balance\r\n比例 - [pinyin]bi3 li4[/pinyin] - Proportion\r\n岗位 - [pinyin]gang3 wei4[/pinyin] - A job\r\n限 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - Limit\r\n遭受 - [pinyin]zao1 shou4[/pinyin] - To suffer\r\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - To threaten\r\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play a role\r\n冲突 - [pinyin]chong1 tu1[/pinyin] - Conflict\r\n政策 - [pinyin]zheng4 ce4[/pinyin] - Policy\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警察职业曾是女性的“<strong>禁区</strong>”。随着社会的发展, 目前女警数量不断扩大, 警务工作<strong>范围</strong>不断扩展, 他们已成为维护社会<strong>治安</strong>、<strong>打击</strong>犯罪的特殊力量。女警发展<strong>面临</strong>着<strong>工作与生活平衡</strong>的困境。一方面, 存在着女警人数所占<strong>比例</strong>小、<strong>岗位</strong>受<strong>限</strong>、晋升和参与决策的机会有限、职业安全<strong>遭受</strong>到<strong>威胁</strong>等限制职业发展的问题。另一方面, 繁忙的警务工作使其无法<strong>扮演</strong>好家庭角色, 内心<strong>冲突</strong>激烈。促进女警工作与生活平衡需要社会方面与个体方面的双重努力, 特别是社会<strong>政策</strong>的支持。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nPolice work was once an occupational area forbidden to women. In the wake of [current] social development, the continuous increase in the number of policewomen and the continuous expansion in the scope of police work, policewomen have become an extraordinary force in upholding law and order and cracking down on crime.  [At the same time,] this development has left policewomen faced with difficulties in [maintaining] work-life balance. On the one hand, [there are work-related issues such as] their small number in proportion [to male policemen], a limited number of posts they may accept, few opportunities for promotion or participation in decision-making, threats to their occupational safety, and so on. On the other hand, [there are personal issues such as the fact that] the frenetic pace of police work makes it almost impossible to play a proper role in domestic life, creating an intense inner conflict in [policewomen\'s] heart. In order to improve policewomen\'s work-life balance, we must strive [to address] both the social and individual aspects [of this problem], particularly in the form of support through social policies. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1287-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:34:46', '2012-10-21 06:34:46', '', 1287, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/21/1287-revision-3/', 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
(1296, 1, '2012-10-28 11:55:31', '2012-10-28 15:55:31', '[two_third]\n<strong>You know you need a KTV song! Beijing, Beijing is a slow ballad sung by Chinese artist 汪峰 and was in the Baidu Top 100 top 10 for a bit this year. Now it looks like it\'s fallen between the 30th and 40th place on various music charts, but it\'s still pretty popular, particularly in, you know, Beijing. \n\nIf you can find it in yourself to embrace the painful 80\'s growly I-mean-it man voice and the \"Streets of Philadelphia\" emo-dad philosophy, you may find that the song is a good karaoke song if you\'re just starting out because it\'s repetitive, sung slowly enough to sing along and the language really isn\'t too hard. \n\nI recommend you read and translate the lyrics before you listen to the song, so you\'ve got an idea of what you\'re hearing. \n\nA few translation notes:\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n禁区 - [pinyin]jin4 qu1[/pinyin] - Forbidden region\n范围 - [pinyin]fan4 wei2[/pinyin] - Range, scope\n治安 - [pinyin]zhi4 an1[/pinyin] - Law and order\n打击 - [pinyin]da3 ji1[/pinyin] - Crack down on\n面临 - [pinyin]mian4 lin2[/pinyin] - Be faced with\n工作与生活平衡 - [pinyin]gong1 zuo4 yu2 sheng1 huo2 ping2 heng2[/pinyin] - Work-life balance\n比例 - [pinyin]bi3 li4[/pinyin] - Proportion\n岗位 - [pinyin]gang3 wei4[/pinyin] - A job\n限 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - Limit\n遭受 - [pinyin]zao1 shou4[/pinyin] - To suffer\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - To threaten\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play a role\n冲突 - [pinyin]chong1 tu1[/pinyin] - Conflict\n政策 - [pinyin]zheng4 ce4[/pinyin] - Policy\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n当我走在这里的每一条街道 \n我的心似乎从来都不能平静 　　\n除了发动机的轰鸣和电器之音 　　\n我似乎听到了他烛骨般的心跳 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里哭泣 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我在这里祈祷 　　\n我在这里迷惘 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　　\n\n咖啡馆与广场有三个街区 　　\n就像霓虹灯到月亮的距离 　　\n人们在挣扎中相互告慰和拥抱 　　\n寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 　　\n我们在这欢笑 　　\n我们在这哭泣 　　\n我们在这活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我们在这祈祷 　　\n我们在这迷惘 　　\n我们在这寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　\n　\n如果有一天我不得不离去 　　\n我希望人们把我埋在这里 　　\n在这儿我能感觉到我的存在 　　\n在这儿有太多让我眷恋的东西 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里哭泣 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这儿死去 　　\n我在这里祈祷 　　\n我在这里迷惘 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nWhen I walk the streets here\nIt seems like my heart can never be serene\nBeyond [except] the rumble of engines and sounds of electronics\nIt seems like I can hear HIS? SOMETHING heartbeat\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I cry bitterly [weep]\nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n\nThe three blocks with the coffee shop and the plaza\nSeem like the distance between the neon lights and the moon 　　\nPeople SPEAK and embrace as they struggle together \nSearching for, chasing after, the last gasp of broken dreams\nThis is where we laugh happily\nThis is where we cry bitterly \nThis is where we live\nAnd this is where we die\nThis is where we pray\nThis is where we\'re confused\nThis is where we search\nAnd also where we lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　　\n\n　\nIf someday I have no choice but to leave\nI hope people bury me here\nHere I can sense my existence \nHere there are many things I yearn for\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I cry bitterly \nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Song Lyrics: Beijing Beijing', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1295-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-28 11:55:31', '2012-10-28 15:55:31', '', 1295, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/28/1295-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1297, 1, '2012-10-28 12:00:41', '2012-10-28 16:00:41', '[two_third]\n<strong>You know you need a KTV song! Beijing, Beijing is a slow ballad sung by Chinese artist 汪峰 and was in the Baidu Top 100 top 10 for a bit this year. Now it looks like it\'s fallen between the 30th and 40th place on various music charts, but it\'s still pretty popular, particularly in, you know, Beijing. \n\nIf you can find it in yourself to embrace the painful 80\'s growly I-mean-it man voice and the \"Streets of Philadelphia\" emo-dad philosophy, you may find that the song is a good karaoke song if you\'re just starting out because it\'s repetitive, sung slowly enough to sing along and the language really isn\'t too hard. \n\nI recommend you read and translate the lyrics before you listen to the song, so you\'ve got an idea of what you\'re hearing. \n\nA few translation notes: it\'s not always clear exactly how to translate song lyrics. Example: 寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 is not an easy lyric to translate. Or rather, it\'s super easy to get the gist of the meaning (searching, chasing, dying, broken dreams... you get the idea), but put an \"of\" in the wrong place and the meaning changes to something slightly different. I\'ve done my best, feel free to re-write or re-interpret those in a different way. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n禁区 - [pinyin]jin4 qu1[/pinyin] - Forbidden region\n范围 - [pinyin]fan4 wei2[/pinyin] - Range, scope\n治安 - [pinyin]zhi4 an1[/pinyin] - Law and order\n打击 - [pinyin]da3 ji1[/pinyin] - Crack down on\n面临 - [pinyin]mian4 lin2[/pinyin] - Be faced with\n工作与生活平衡 - [pinyin]gong1 zuo4 yu2 sheng1 huo2 ping2 heng2[/pinyin] - Work-life balance\n比例 - [pinyin]bi3 li4[/pinyin] - Proportion\n岗位 - [pinyin]gang3 wei4[/pinyin] - A job\n限 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - Limit\n遭受 - [pinyin]zao1 shou4[/pinyin] - To suffer\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - To threaten\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play a role\n冲突 - [pinyin]chong1 tu1[/pinyin] - Conflict\n政策 - [pinyin]zheng4 ce4[/pinyin] - Policy\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n当我走在这里的每一条街道 \n我的心似乎从来都不能平静 　　\n除了发动机的轰鸣和电器之音 　　\n我似乎听到了他烛骨般的心跳 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里哭泣 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我在这里祈祷 　　\n我在这里迷惘 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　　\n\n咖啡馆与广场有三个街区 　　\n就像霓虹灯到月亮的距离 　　\n人们在挣扎中相互告慰和拥抱 　　\n寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 　　\n我们在这欢笑 　　\n我们在这哭泣 　　\n我们在这活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我们在这祈祷 　　\n我们在这迷惘 　　\n我们在这寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　\n　\n如果有一天我不得不离去 　　\n我希望人们把我埋在这里 　　\n在这儿我能感觉到我的存在 　　\n在这儿有太多让我眷恋的东西 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里哭泣 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这儿死去 　　\n我在这里祈祷 　　\n我在这里迷惘 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nWhen I walk the streets here\nIt seems like my heart can never be serene\nBeyond [except] the rumble of engines and sounds of electronics\nIt seems like I can hear HIS? SOMETHING heartbeat\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I cry bitterly [weep]\nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n\nThe three blocks with the coffee shop and the plaza\nSeem like the distance between the neon lights and the moon 　　\nPeople comfort and embrace each other as they struggle together\nSearching for, chasing after, the last gasp of broken dreams\nThis is where we laugh happily\nThis is where we cry bitterly \nThis is where we live\nAnd this is where we die\nThis is where we pray\nThis is where we\'re confused\nThis is where we search\nAnd also where we lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　　\n\n　\nIf someday I have no choice but to leave\nI hope people bury me here\nHere I can sense my existence \nHere there are many things I yearn for\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I cry bitterly \nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Song Lyrics: Beijing Beijing', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1295-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-28 12:00:41', '2012-10-28 16:00:41', '', 1295, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/28/1295-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1304, 1, '2013-01-02 19:55:40', '2013-01-03 00:55:40', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n\r\nIn the spirit of the holiday season, which is winding to a blissfully overweight close, I give you an article about something you may or may not have just struggled through if you flew home for the holidays (which I did).<!--more-->\r\n\r\nThis is a wildly factual article about the congestion caused by the snow storms a week or so ago. Not a lot of excitement here, mostly a tallying up of what a big fat mess the American aviation system becomes during the annual Christmas hysteria. \r\n\r\nLots and lots of proper nouns in here, including lots of U.S. states, some cities and even a couple of basketball team names. Probably the most fun you\'ll have reading this is trying to decipher the list of Chinese names for U.S. states (read the characters out loud quickly and see if you can guess - example: 弗吉尼亚州 fo ji ni ya = Virginia). You can always tell you\'re reading a U.S. state name because the character 州 appears at the tail end of each state. \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>暴风雪已致15人死 2000航班延误取消</h4>\r\n圣诞节期间美国遭遇<strong>暴风</strong>雪袭击，已至少<strong>造成</strong>15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。\r\n\r\n据报道，因暴雪<strong>严寒</strong>造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。\r\n\r\n很多地区发出<strong>警告</strong>提醒人们不要外出，因为<strong>凛冽</strong>狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人<strong>构成</strong><strong>威胁</strong>。<strong>气象部门</strong>说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。\r\n\r\n目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，<strong>成千上万</strong>出游的人们滞留在各处。nba<strong>推迟</strong>了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThis Christmas season, America is suffering through a blizzard, which has already caused at least 15 deaths and the delay or cancellation of 2000 flights. \r\n\r\nAccording to reports, the snowstorm and bitter cold has caused deaths in states including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. \r\n\r\nMany regions issued warnings reminding people not to go outside, because the biting cold, howling winds, low temperatures and dangerous traffic conditions compose a threat to pedestrians. The weather department said that severe snow will soon appear in America\'s northeastern New England area, with snowfall in Maine reaching 18 inches (about 45 centimeters). As a result, many people\'s Christmas travel plans will be effected.\r\n\r\nCurrently, 200,000 homes have already experienced electrical outages, and tens of thousands of travelers have been detained. [Also due to snow] in Indianapolis, the NBA postponed Wednesday night\'s Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls basketball game.  \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'News: Snowstorm has caused 15 deaths and 2000 flight delays or cancellations', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'news-snowstorm-has-caused-15-deaths-and-2000-flight-delays-or-cancellations', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:59:15', '2020-04-20 11:59:15', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1304', 0, 'post', '', 8),
(1755, 1, '2020-04-20 04:23:24', '2020-04-20 08:23:24', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n\r\nIn the spirit of the holiday season, which is winding to a blissfully overweight close, I give you an article about something you may or may not have just struggled through if you flew home for the holidays (which I did).<!--more-->\r\n\r\nThis is a wildly factual article about the congestion caused by the snow storms a week or so ago. Not a lot of excitement here, mostly a tallying up of what a big fat mess the American aviation system becomes during the annual Christmas hysteria. \r\n\r\nLots and lots of proper nouns in here, including lots of U.S. states, some cities and even a couple of basketball team names. Probably the most fun you\'ll have reading this is trying to decipher the list of Chinese names for U.S. states (read the characters out loud quickly and see if you can guess - example: 弗吉尼亚州 fo ji ni ya = Virginia). You can always tell you\'re reading a U.S. state name because the character 州 appears at the tail end of each state. \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>暴风雪已致15人死 2000航班延误取消</h4>\r\n圣诞节期间美国遭遇<strong>暴风</strong>雪袭击，已至少<strong>造成</strong>15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。\r\n\r\n据报道，因暴雪<strong>严寒</strong>造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。\r\n\r\n很多地区发出<strong>警告</strong>提醒人们不要外出，因为<strong>凛冽</strong>狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人<strong>构成</strong><strong>威胁</strong>。<strong>气象部门</strong>说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。\r\n\r\n目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，<strong>成千上万</strong>出游的人们滞留在各处。nba<strong>推迟</strong>了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThis Christmas season, America is suffering through a blizzard, which has already caused at least 15 deaths and the delay or cancellation of 2000 flights. \r\n\r\nAccording to reports, the snowstorm and bitter cold has caused deaths in states including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. \r\n\r\nMany regions issued warnings reminding people not to go outside, because the biting cold, howling winds, low temperatures and dangerous traffic conditions compose a threat to pedestrians. The weather department said that severe snow will soon appear in America\'s northeastern New England area, with snowfall in Maine reaching 18 inches (about 45 centimeters). As a result, many people\'s Christmas travel plans will be effected.\r\n\r\nCurrently, 200,000 homes have already experienced electrical outages, and tens of thousands of travelers have been detained. [Also due to snow] in Indianapolis, the NBA postponed Wednesday night\'s Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls basketball game.  \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'News: Snowstorm has caused 15 deaths and 2000 flight delays or cancellations', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1304-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:23:24', '2020-04-20 08:23:24', '', 1304, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1304-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1300, 1, '2012-11-01 02:15:23', '2012-11-01 06:15:23', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nHere we\'ll cover the back story behind the idiom \"夜郎自大\", or \"Yelang thinks highly of itself\". This idiom one refers to someone who has a high, but misguided, opinion of their own worth. Stick this one in the language bank for when you need to take someone down a peg (preferably while stroking your fu manchu and calmly catching flies with your chopsticks). <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI learned a new word on this one: 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin]. Which brings the total number of \"tongzhi\" words (tonal differences aside) I know up to three. \r\n\r\nWe\'ve got:\r\n同志 - [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] or \"Comrade\" (and in Chinese slang this also means \"a homosexual\", though if you keep an eye on the Chinese news you\'ll see that that one of the more reputable local dictionaries refused to include that definition though it\'s in common use) \r\n\r\n通知 [pinyin]tong1 zhi1[/pinyin] - To notify, give notice\r\n\r\nAnd now, 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin] - To rule over (a kingdom / country)\r\n\r\nLet us hope there aren\'t any more configurations of that sound. \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>夜郎自大</h4>\r\n<strong>汉朝</strong>的时候，在西南方有个名叫夜郎的小国家，它虽然是一个独立的国家，可是<strong>国土</strong>很小，百姓也少，物产更是少得可怜。但是由于邻近地区以夜郎这个国家最大，从没离开过国家的夜郎国国王就以为自己<strong>统治</strong>的国家是全天下最大的国家。\r\n\r\n有一天，夜郎国国王与<strong>部下</strong><strong>巡视</strong><strong>国境</strong>的时候，他指着前方问说：“这里哪个国家最大呀？”部下们为了<strong>迎合</strong>国王的心意，于是就说：“当然是夜郎国最大啰！”走着走着，国王又抬起头来、望着前方的高山问说：“天底下还有比这座山更高的山吗？”部下们回答说：“天底下没有比这座山更高的山了。”后来，他们来到河边，国王又问：“我认为这可是世界上最长的河川了。”部下们仍然<strong>异口同声</strong>回答说：“大王说得一点都没错。”从此以后，无知的国王就更相信夜郎是天底下最大的国家。\r\n\r\n有一次，汉朝<strong>派</strong><strong>使者</strong>来到夜郎，<strong>途中</strong>先经过夜郎的邻国滇国，滇王问使者：“汉朝和我的国家比起来哪个大？”使者一听吓了一跳，他没想到这个小国家，竟然无知的自以为能与汉朝相比。却没想到后来使者到了夜郎国，骄傲又无知的国王因为不知道自己统治的国家只和汉朝的一个县差不多大，竟然不知天高地厚也问使者：“汉朝和我的国家哪个大？”\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\nDuring the Han Dynasty, in the southwest there was a small country called Yelang, and although it was an independent nation, its territory was small, there weren\'t many citizens, and its products were pitifully few. Because it was the largest kingdom in the near area, the Yelang king who\'d never left his own country thought the country he ruled was the biggest on earth. \r\n\r\nOne day, the king of Yelang was on a national border inspection tour with his troops, when he pointed in front of him [to neighboring country] and said, \"Which country is bigger?\" In order to serve their own interests and make the king happy, the troops said, \"Of course Yelang is bigger!\" They walked along, and the king once again lifted up his head, gazed at the big mountain in the distance and asked: \"Is there a taller mountain than this anywhere on earth?\" And his men answered: \"No, there\'s no mountain taller than this one on earth.\" After a while, they reached the river side, and the king asked again: \"I think this is the world\'s longest river.\" And all his men said in unison \"The king speaks truly.\" After this, the ignorant king believed even more firmly that Yelang was the world\'s biggest country.\r\n\r\nThen one day, the Han Dynasty dispatched an envoy to Yelang, and en route they encountered the neighboring kingdom DianGuo, and the King of Dian asked the emissary: \"If you compared the Han Dynasty and my Kingdom, which one would be bigger?\" The emissary listened in astonishment, as he\'d never have thought this small a country thought it could compare itself to the Han Dynasty. But he really never could have suspected that when he got to Yelang, the prideful and ignorant king who didn\'t know that the kingdom he ruled was about the size of one Han county, would ask with an exaggerated opinion of his own worth, \"Which is bigger: the Han Dynasty or my country?\"  \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: 夜郎自大 - Thinking too highly of oneself', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'story-behind-the-idiom-yelang-zi-da', '', '', '2020-05-07 17:40:51', '2020-05-07 21:40:51', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1300', 0, 'post', '', 13),
(1758, 1, '2020-04-20 04:30:04', '2020-04-20 08:30:04', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nHere we\'ll cover the back story behind the idiom \"夜郎自大\", or \"Yelang thinks highly of itself\". This idiom one refers to someone who has a high, but misguided, opinion of their own worth. Stick this one in the language bank for when you need to take someone down a peg (preferably while stroking your fu manchu and calmly catching flies with your chopsticks). <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI learned a new word on this one: 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin]. Which brings the total number of \"tongzhi\" words (tonal differences aside) I know up to three. \r\n\r\nWe\'ve got:\r\n同志 - [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] or \"Comrade\" (and in Chinese slang this also means \"a homosexual\", though if you keep an eye on the Chinese news you\'ll see that that one of the more reputable local dictionaries refused to include that definition though it\'s in common use) \r\n\r\n通知 [pinyin]tong1 zhi1[/pinyin] - To notify, give notice\r\n\r\nAnd now, 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin] - To rule over (a kingdom / country)\r\n\r\nLet us hope there aren\'t any more configurations of that sound. \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>夜郎自大</h4>\r\n<strong>汉朝</strong>的时候，在西南方有个名叫夜郎的小国家，它虽然是一个独立的国家，可是<strong>国土</strong>很小，百姓也少，物产更是少得可怜。但是由于邻近地区以夜郎这个国家最大，从没离开过国家的夜郎国国王就以为自己<strong>统治</strong>的国家是全天下最大的国家。\r\n\r\n有一天，夜郎国国王与<strong>部下</strong><strong>巡视</strong><strong>国境</strong>的时候，他指着前方问说：“这里哪个国家最大呀？”部下们为了<strong>迎合</strong>国王的心意，于是就说：“当然是夜郎国最大啰！”走着走着，国王又抬起头来、望着前方的高山问说：“天底下还有比这座山更高的山吗？”部下们回答说：“天底下没有比这座山更高的山了。”后来，他们来到河边，国王又问：“我认为这可是世界上最长的河川了。”部下们仍然<strong>异口同声</strong>回答说：“大王说得一点都没错。”从此以后，无知的国王就更相信夜郎是天底下最大的国家。\r\n\r\n有一次，汉朝<strong>派</strong><strong>使者</strong>来到夜郎，<strong>途中</strong>先经过夜郎的邻国滇国，滇王问使者：“汉朝和我的国家比起来哪个大？”使者一听吓了一跳，他没想到这个小国家，竟然无知的自以为能与汉朝相比。却没想到后来使者到了夜郎国，骄傲又无知的国王因为不知道自己统治的国家只和汉朝的一个县差不多大，竟然不知天高地厚也问使者：“汉朝和我的国家哪个大？”\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\nDuring the Han Dynasty, in the southwest there was a small country called Yelang, and although it was an independent nation, its territory was small, there weren\'t many citizens, and its products were pitifully few. Because it was the largest kingdom in the near area, the Yelang king who\'d never left his own country thought the country he ruled was the biggest on earth. \r\n\r\nOne day, the king of Yelang was on a national border inspection tour with his troops, when he pointed in front of him [to neighboring country] and said, \"Which country is bigger?\" In order to serve their own interests and make the king happy, the troops said, \"Of course Yelang is bigger!\" They walked along, and the king once again lifted up his head, gazed at the big mountain in the distance and asked: \"Is there a taller mountain than this anywhere on earth?\" And his men answered: \"No, there\'s no mountain taller than this one on earth.\" After a while, they reached the river side, and the king asked again: \"I think this is the world\'s longest river.\" And all his men said in unison \"The king speaks truly.\" After this, the ignorant king believed even more firmly that Yelang was the world\'s biggest country.\r\n\r\nThen one day, the Han Dynasty dispatched an envoy to Yelang, and en route they encountered the neighboring kingdom DianGuo, and the King of Dian asked the emissary: \"If you compared the Han Dynasty and my Kingdom, which one would be bigger?\" The emissary listened in astonishment, as he\'d never have thought this small a country thought it could compare itself to the Han Dynasty. But he really never could have suspected that when he got to Yelang, the prideful and ignorant king who didn\'t know that the kingdom he ruled was about the size of one Han county, would ask with an exaggerated opinion of his own worth, \"Which is bigger: the Han Dynasty or my country?\"  \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: 夜郎自大', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1300-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:30:04', '2020-04-20 08:30:04', '', 1300, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1300-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1301, 1, '2012-11-01 02:11:50', '2012-11-01 06:11:50', '', 'Learn to read Chinese: Intermediate Essays, Idioms and Grammar', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20121101-inline', '', '', '2012-11-01 02:11:50', '2012-11-01 06:11:50', '', 1300, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121101-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1302, 1, '2012-11-01 02:12:08', '2012-11-01 06:12:08', '', 'Learn to read Chinese: Intermediate Essays, Idioms and Grammar', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20121101', '', '', '2012-11-01 02:12:08', '2012-11-01 06:12:08', '', 1300, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121101.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1303, 1, '2012-11-01 02:14:42', '2012-11-01 06:14:42', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 夜郎自大</strong>\n\nHere we\'ll cover the back story behind the idiom \"夜郎自大\", or \"Yelang thinks highly of itself\". This idiom one refers to someone who has a high, but misguided, opinion of their own worth. Stick this one in the language bank for when you need to take someone down a peg (preferably while stroking your fu manchu and calmly catching flies with your chopsticks). <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121101-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning Simplified Chinese: Passages and Exercises for the Intermediate Reader\" title=\"Learn to read Chinese: Intermediate Essays, Idioms and Grammar\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft \" />I learned a new word on this one: 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin]. Which brings the total number of \"tongzhi\" words (tonal differences aside) I know up to three. \n\nWe\'ve got:\n同志 - [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] or \"Comrade\" (and in Chinese slang this also means \"a homosexual\", though if you keep an eye on the Chinese news you\'ll see that that one of the more reputable local dictionaries refused to include that definition though it\'s in common use) \n\n通知 [pinyin1]tong1 zhi1[/pinyin] - To notify, give notice\n\nAnd now, 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin] - To rule over (a kingdom / country)\n\nLet us hope there aren\'t any more configurations of that sound. \n\nAnyway, I\'m not sure how useful the words in this passage will be unless you, like me, enj\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n汉朝 - [pinyin]han4 chao2[/pinyin] - Han Dynasty\n部下 - [pinyin]bu4 xia4[/pinyin] - Troops or subordinates under one\'s command\n巡视 - [pinyin]xun2 shi4[/pinyin] - Go on an inspection tour\n国境 - [pinyin]guo2 jing4[/pinyin] - National Borders\n迎合 - [pinyin]ying2 he2[/pinyin] - Serve one\'s own interests / to fawn or cater\n异口同声 - [pinyin]yi4 kou3 tong2 sheng1[/pinyin] - To say in unison\n派 - [pinyin]pai4[/pinyin] - To dispatch, send someone\n使者 - [pinyin]shi3 zhe3[/pinyin] - Envoy\n途中 - [pinyin]tu2 zhong1[/pinyin] - En route\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<strong>汉朝</strong>的时候，在西南方有个名叫夜郎的小国家，它虽然是一个独立的国家，可是<strong>国土</strong>很小，百姓也少，物产更是少得可怜。但是由于邻近地区以夜郎这个国家最大，从没离开过国家的夜郎国国王就以为自己<strong>统治</strong>的国家是全天下最大的国家。\n\n有一天，夜郎国国王与<strong>部下</strong><strong>巡视</strong><strong>国境</strong>的时候，他指着前方问说：“这里哪个国家最大呀？”部下们为了<strong>迎合</strong>国王的心意，于是就说：“当然是夜郎国最大啰！”走着走着，国王又抬起头来、望着前方的高山问说：“天底下还有比这座山更高的山吗？”部下们回答说：“天底下没有比这座山更高的山了。”后来，他们来到河边，国王又问：“我认为这可是世界上最长的河川了。”部下们仍然<strong>异口同声</strong>回答说：“大王说得一点都没错。”从此以后，无知的国王就更相信夜郎是天底下最大的国家。\n\n有一次，汉朝<strong>派</strong><strong>使者</strong>来到夜郎，<strong>途中</strong>先经过夜郎的邻国滇国，滇王问使者：“汉朝和我的国家比起来哪个大？”使者一听吓了一跳，他没想到这个小国家，竟然无知的自以为能与汉朝相比。却没想到后来使者到了夜郎国，骄傲又无知的国王因为不知道自己统治的国家只和汉朝的一个县差不多大，竟然不知天高地厚也问使者：“汉朝和我的国家哪个大？”\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Han Dynasty, in the southwest there was a small country called Yelang, and although it was an independent nation, its territory was small, there weren\'t many citizens, and its products were pitifully few. Because it was the largest kingdom in the near area, the Yelang king who\'d never left his own country thought the country he ruled was the biggest on earth. \n\nOne day, the king of Yelang was on a national border inspection tour with his troops, when he pointed in front of him [to neighboring country] and said, \"Which country is bigger?\" In order to serve their own interests and make the king happy, the troops said, \"Of course Yelang is bigger!\" They walked along, and the king once again lifted up his head, gazed at the big mountain in the distance and asked: \"Is there a taller mountain than this anywhere on earth?\" And his men answered: \"No, there\'s no mountain taller than this one on earth.\" After a while, they reached the river side, and the king asked again: \"I think this is the world\'s longest river.\" And all his men said in unison \"The king speaks truly.\" After this, the ignorant king believed even more firmly that Yelang was the world\'s biggest country.\n\nThen one day, the Han Dynasty dispatched an envoy to Yelang, and en route they encountered the neighboring kingdom DianGuo, and the King of Dian asked the emissary: \"If you compared the Han Dynasty and my Kingdom, which one would be bigger?\" The emissary listened in astonishment, as he\'d never have thought this small a country thought it could compare itself to the Han Dynasty. But he really never could have suspected that when he got to Yelang, the prideful and ignorant king who didn\'t know that the kingdom he ruled was about the size of one Han county, would ask with an exaggerated opinion of his own worth, \"Which is bigger: the Han Dynasty or my country?\"  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: YeLang Zi Da', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1300-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-11-01 02:14:42', '2012-11-01 06:14:42', '', 1300, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/11/01/1300-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1307, 1, '2013-01-02 19:53:36', '2013-01-03 00:53:36', '', 'How to Read Simplified Chinese: Practice Reading Chinese Newspaper Articles', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130103-inline', '', '', '2013-01-02 19:53:36', '2013-01-03 00:53:36', '', 1304, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130103-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1308, 1, '2013-01-02 19:53:38', '2013-01-03 00:53:38', '', 'How to Read Simplified Chinese: Practice Reading Chinese Newspaper Articles', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130103', '', '', '2013-01-02 19:53:38', '2013-01-03 00:53:38', '', 1304, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130103.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1309, 1, '2013-01-02 19:51:11', '2013-01-03 00:51:11', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 暴风雪已致15人死 2000航班延误取消</strong>\n\nIn the spirit of the holiday season, which is winding to a blissfully overweight close, I give you an article about something you may or may not have just struggled through if you flew home for the holidays (which I did).<!--more-->\n\nThis is a wildly factual article about the congestion caused by the snow storms a week or so ago. Not a lot of excitement here, mostly a tallying up of what a big fat mess the American aviation system becomes during the annual Christmas hysteria. \n\nLots and lots of proper nouns in here, including lots of U.S. states, some cities and even a couple of basketball team names. Probably the most fun you\'ll have reading this is trying to decipher the list of Chinese names for U.S. states (read the characters out loud quickly and see if you can guess - example: 弗吉尼亚州 fo ji ni ya = Virginia). You can always tell you\'re reading a U.S. state name because the character 州 appears at the tail end of each state. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n暴风 - [pinyin]bao4 feng1[/pinyin] - Blizzard\n造成 - [pinyin]zao4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To cause, bring about\n严寒 - [pinyin]yan2 han2[/pinyin] - Severe winter\n警告 - [pinyin]jing3 gao4[/pinyin] - Warning (typically official one, issued by police or govt.)\n凛冽 - [pinyin]lin3 lie4[/pinyin] - Biting cold\n构成 - [pinyin]gou4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To constitute \n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - Threat\n气象部门 - [pinyin]qi4 xiang4 bu4 men2[/pinyin] - Weather service \n成千上万 - [pinyin]cheng2 qian1 shang4 wan4[/pinyin] - Tens of thousands\n推迟 - [pinyin]tui1 chi2[/pinyin] - To postpone\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n圣诞节期间美国遭遇<strong>暴风</strong>雪袭击，已至少<strong>造成</strong>15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。\n\n据报道，因暴雪<strong>严寒</strong>造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。\n\n很多地区发出<strong>警告</strong>提醒人们不要外出，因为<strong>凛冽</strong>狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人<strong>构成</strong><strong>威胁</strong>。<strong>气象部门</strong>说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。\n\n目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，<strong>成千上万</strong>出游的人们滞留在各处。nba<strong>推迟</strong>了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThis Christmas season, America is suffering through a blizzard, which has already caused at least 15 deaths and the delay or cancellation of 2000 flights. \n\nAccording to reports, the snowstorm and bitter cold has caused deaths in states including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. \n\nMany regions issued warnings reminding people not to go outside, because the biting cold, howling winds, low temperatures and dangerous traffic conditions compose a threat to pedestrians. The weather department said that severe snow will soon appear in America\'s northeastern New England area, with snowfall in Maine reaching 18 inches (about 45 centimeters). As a result, many people\'s Christmas travel plans will be effected.\n\nCurrently, 200,000 homes have already experienced electrical outages, and tens of thousands of travelers have been detained. [Also due to snow] in Indianapolis, the NBA postponed Wednesday night\'s Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls basketball game.  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Snowstorm has caused 15 deaths and 2000 flight delays or cancellations', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1304-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 19:51:11', '2013-01-03 00:51:11', '', 1304, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1304-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1305, 1, '2012-12-28 15:12:08', '2012-12-28 20:12:08', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 夜郎自大</strong>\n\nHere we\'ll cover the back story behind the idiom \"夜郎自大\", or \"Yelang thinks highly of itself\". This idiom one refers to someone who has a high, but misguided, opinion of their own worth. Stick this one in the language bank for when you need to take someone down a peg (preferably while stroking your fu manchu and calmly catching flies with your chopsticks). <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121101-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning Simplified Chinese: Passages and Exercises for the Intermediate Reader\" title=\"Learn to read Chinese: Intermediate Essays, Idioms and Grammar\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft \" />I learned a new word on this one: 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin]. Which brings the total number of \"tongzhi\" words (tonal differences aside) I know up to three. \n\nWe\'ve got:\n同志 - [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] or \"Comrade\" (and in Chinese slang this also means \"a homosexual\", though if you keep an eye on the Chinese news you\'ll see that that one of the more reputable local dictionaries refused to include that definition though it\'s in common use) \n\n通知 [pinyin1]tong1 zhi1[/pinyin] - To notify, give notice\n\nAnd now, 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin] - To rule over (a kingdom / country)\n\nLet us hope there aren\'t any more configurations of that sound. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n汉朝 - [pinyin]han4 chao2[/pinyin] - Han Dynasty\n部下 - [pinyin]bu4 xia4[/pinyin] - Troops or subordinates under one\'s command\n巡视 - [pinyin]xun2 shi4[/pinyin] - Go on an inspection tour\n国境 - [pinyin]guo2 jing4[/pinyin] - National Borders\n迎合 - [pinyin]ying2 he2[/pinyin] - Serve one\'s own interests / to fawn or cater\n异口同声 - [pinyin]yi4 kou3 tong2 sheng1[/pinyin] - To say in unison\n派 - [pinyin]pai4[/pinyin] - To dispatch, send someone\n使者 - [pinyin]shi3 zhe3[/pinyin] - Envoy\n途中 - [pinyin]tu2 zhong1[/pinyin] - En route\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n\n\n\n2012年12月28日 美国中文网\n圣诞节期间美国遭遇暴风雪袭击，已至少造成15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。\n\n\n据报道，因暴雪严寒造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。\n\n\n很多地区发出警告提醒人们不要外出，因为凛冽狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人构成威胁。气象部门说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。\n\n\n目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，成千上万出游的人们滞留在各处。nba推迟了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。\n\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Han Dynasty, in the southwest there was a small country called Yelang, and although it was an independent nation, its territory was small, there weren\'t many citizens, and its products were pitifully few. Because it was the largest kingdom in the near area, the Yelang king who\'d never left his own country thought the country he ruled was the biggest on earth. \n\nOne day, the king of Yelang was on a national border inspection tour with his troops, when he pointed in front of him [to neighboring country] and said, \"Which country is bigger?\" In order to serve their own interests and make the king happy, the troops said, \"Of course Yelang is bigger!\" They walked along, and the king once again lifted up his head, gazed at the big mountain in the distance and asked: \"Is there a taller mountain than this anywhere on earth?\" And his men answered: \"No, there\'s no mountain taller than this one on earth.\" After a while, they reached the river side, and the king asked again: \"I think this is the world\'s longest river.\" And all his men said in unison \"The king speaks truly.\" After this, the ignorant king believed even more firmly that Yelang was the world\'s biggest country.\n\nThen one day, the Han Dynasty dispatched an envoy to Yelang, and en route they encountered the neighboring kingdom DianGuo, and the King of Dian asked the emissary: \"If you compared the Han Dynasty and my Kingdom, which one would be bigger?\" The emissary listened in astonishment, as he\'d never have thought this small a country thought it could compare itself to the Han Dynasty. But he really never could have suspected that when he got to Yelang, the prideful and ignorant king who didn\'t know that the kingdom he ruled was about the size of one Han county, would ask with an exaggerated opinion of his own worth, \"Which is bigger: the Han Dynasty or my country?\"  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Snowstorm has caused 15 deaths and 2000 flight delays or cancellations', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1304-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-12-28 15:12:08', '2012-12-28 20:12:08', '', 1304, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/12/28/1304-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1329, 1, '2013-01-26 00:36:33', '2013-01-26 05:36:33', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nHey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \r\n\r\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThough we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \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>小笑话</h4>\r\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\r\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\r\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\r\n小姑娘：退休人员。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\r\n儿子：“不知道。”\r\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\r\n儿子：“知道了。”\r\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\r\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\r\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\r\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\r\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \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 little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\r\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\r\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\r\nLittle girl: A retiree!\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \r\nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \r\nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\r\nSon: \"I get it.\" \r\nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\r\nSon: \"Two idiots!\" \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \r\nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\r\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\r\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Our 100th Post! Plus some new beginner jokes', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'our-100th-post-plus-some-new-beginner-jokes', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:41:35', '2020-04-20 11:41:35', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1329', 0, 'post', '', 18),
(1752, 1, '2020-04-20 04:16:12', '2020-04-20 08:16:12', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nHey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \r\n\r\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThough we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \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>小笑话</h4>\r\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\r\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\r\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\r\n小姑娘：退休人员。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\r\n儿子：“不知道。”\r\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\r\n儿子：“知道了。”\r\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\r\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\r\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\r\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\r\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \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 little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\r\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\r\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\r\nLittle girl: A retiree!\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \r\nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \r\nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\r\nSon: \"I get it.\" \r\nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\r\nSon: \"Two idiots!\" \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \r\nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\r\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\r\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Our 100th Post! Plus some new beginner jokes', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:16:12', '2020-04-20 08:16:12', '', 1329, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1329-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
(1310, 1, '2013-01-08 02:00:41', '2013-01-08 07:00:41', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nI set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is a bit immature (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the gist - and a whole lot of body-shaming. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nAn example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \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>贪吃的哥哥</h4>\r\n“<strong>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\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\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'my-gluttonous-elder-brother', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:41:52', '2020-04-20 11:41:52', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1310', 0, 'post', '', 10),
(1753, 1, '2020-04-20 04:19:53', '2020-04-20 08:19:53', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nI set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is a bit immature (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the gist - and a whole lot of body-shaming. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nAn example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \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>贪吃的哥哥</h4>\r\n“<strong>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\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\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:19:53', '2020-04-20 08:19:53', '', 1310, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1310-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1311, 1, '2013-01-02 21:12:31', '2013-01-03 02:12:31', '', 'Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130109', '', '', '2013-01-02 21:12:31', '2013-01-03 02:12:31', '', 1310, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1312, 1, '2013-01-02 21:12:34', '2013-01-03 02:12:34', '', 'Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130109-inline', '', '', '2013-01-02 21:12:34', '2013-01-03 02:12:34', '', 1310, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1313, 1, '2013-01-02 21:53:48', '2013-01-03 02:53:48', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\n\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is for immature readers (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of his older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at his brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\n\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\n\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \n\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much his brother can eat. Then he says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\n\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \n\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\n\nAnd one last thing that maybe one of you guys can help me out with this: the older brother at one point calls the younger brother 臭乐乐. This is clearly a mean name that the older brother is calling the younger brother. But while I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", I can\'t figure out if this is because the younger brother\'s name is actually \"乐乐\", or if the whole phrase is a colloquialism meaning something like \"Stinky baby!\" or similar. I\'m in the process of asking my Chinese friends, but until I hear back, anyone care to weigh in?\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n“<strong>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\n\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\n\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\n\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\n\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\n\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\n\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\n\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\n\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\n\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \n\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \n\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \n\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig\'s Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \n\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \n\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \n\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\n\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\n\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. But when I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was THIS MAD, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \n\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 21:53:48', '2013-01-03 02:53:48', '', 1310, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1310-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1314, 1, '2020-04-20 04:18:18', '2020-04-20 08:18:18', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nI set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is a bit immature (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\n\nAn example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\n\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\n\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \n\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\n\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \n\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\n\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<h4>贪吃的哥哥</h4>\n“<strong>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\n\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\n\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\n\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\n\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\n\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\n\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\n\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\n\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\n\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \n\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \n\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \n\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \n\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \n\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \n\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\n\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\n\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \n\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:18:18', '2020-04-20 08:18:18', '', 1310, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1310-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1320, 1, '2013-01-03 09:19:39', '2013-01-03 14:19:39', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\r\n\r\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is for immature readers (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of his older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at his brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much his brother can eat. Then he says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the younger brother 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the younger brother\'s name.  \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贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\r\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\r\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\r\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\r\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\r\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\r\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\r\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\r\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\r\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\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>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig\'s Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. But when I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was THIS MAD, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-03 09:19:39', '2013-01-03 14:19:39', '', 1310, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/03/1310-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1319, 1, '2013-01-02 21:58:23', '2013-01-03 02:58:23', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\r\n\r\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is for immature readers (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of his older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at his brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much his brother can eat. Then he says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing that maybe one of you guys can help me out with this: the older brother at one point calls the younger brother 臭乐乐. This is clearly a mean name that the older brother is calling the younger brother. But while I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", I can\'t figure out if this is because the younger brother\'s name is actually \"乐乐\", or if the whole phrase is a colloquialism meaning something like \"Stinky baby!\" or similar. I\'m in the process of asking my Chinese friends, but until I hear back, anyone care to weigh 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贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\r\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\r\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\r\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\r\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\r\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\r\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\r\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\r\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\r\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\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>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig\'s Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. But when I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was THIS MAD, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 21:58:23', '2013-01-03 02:58:23', '', 1310, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1310-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
(1315, 1, '2012-09-12 12:44:39', '2012-09-12 16:44:39', '[two_third]\r\nI\'ve been idly looking at moving to a new apartment lately (looks like I won\'t be moving after all - a good thing, too, because I like my current place), and I typically use the Chinese property search sites instead of the foreign ones. The prices are about 4 times as high on the English sites made for foreigners, and the properties they offer there are often aimed at high-rolling executives. It helps quite a bit to be able to browse the Chinese listings, so I\'m doing a few here. This is solidly advanced stuff. Local place names abound, so you have to be able to at least guess when something is or isn\'t a proper noun, and because we\'re working with real estate classifieds, a few words are shortened to save space or the formal version is used to sound professional.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120917-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Mandarin Chinese Reading: How and Where to Find an Apartment in Beijing\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Real Estate Classifieds and Apartment Hunting in Beijing\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />One thing to bear in mind if you\'re actually looking for an apartment in China is that quite a few of the pictures are fake, are from other houses in the same compound, or if you\'re dealing with an agency, you should know that most places online have been rented already, but the agencies have left the ads up in hopes you\'ll call them anyway and they can show you something else. \r\n\r\nYou really do have to go hunt around in person in China, but online apartment hunting can give you a few valuable pieces of info: what types of apartments are available in which areas (only old buildings? skyrises? hutong-houses?), which complexes are newer and have nicer amenities, and what apartments in a particular area usually go for. \r\n\r\nHere are three of the best and most popular Beijing real estate websites, if you want to practice on your own:\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://bj.58.com/zufang/\">bj.58.com/zufang/</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://beijing.anjuke.com\">beijing.anjuke.com</a>\r\n<a href=\"http://zu.soufun.com/\">zu.soufun.com/</a>\r\n\r\nI\'m going to list and translate a few different Beijing listings here, but I won\'t link to the original listings as I imagine they\'ll come down fairly fast, so I\'ll just show a couple of photos. You can visit the links above for similar stuff. I\'m taking some examples from a little spectrum: one crappy (and very very typical) older apartment near Beijing, a cheaper and nicer apartment in the distant suburbs of Beijing, a high-rolling super luxury apartment city-center, and a traditional-style siheyuan home. \r\n\r\nYou\'ll see a lot of similarities between real estate and property listings in Beijing or anywhere, but a couple of major points of local flavor: \r\n\r\n押一付三　- This indicates how rent is paid. In Beijing, rent is not paid monthly. It can either be paid every three months, every six months, or you can pay the whole year in advance. This indicates rent is to be paid every 3 months, which is by far the most common way to pay. \r\n\r\n朝向南北 - Man, the Chinese sure do care which way their apartment faces. People here will flat-out turn down an east/west facing place if they can afford to. The best apartments, apparently, face south / north, so you get sun all day, but it\'s not blasting in your windows. Less ideal is when a place faces east / west - and people here care SO MUCH about this, that you can get a cheaper place if you don\'t care that it faces east/west (though for haggling purposes, you\'re better off pretending you do care). This is why the direction is front and center. \r\n \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n享受 - [pinyin]xiang3 shou4[/pinyin] - To live it up\r\n户型 - [pinyin]hu4 xing2[/pinyin] - Type of house\r\n住宅 - [pinyin]zhu4 zhai2[/pinyin] - Residence (usually apartment)\r\n所属 - [pinyin]suo3 shu3[/pinyin] - Belonging to, comprising\r\n环岛 - [pinyin]huan2 dao3[/pinyin] - Traffic roundabout\r\n城铁 - [pinyin]cheng2 tie3[/pinyin] - High speed rail\r\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - To patrol\r\n周边 - [pinyin]zhou1 bian1[/pinyin] - Nearby\r\n入住 - [pinyin]ru4 zhu4[/pinyin] - To move in [to a house]\r\n宽带 - [pinyin]kuan1 dai4[/pinyin] - Broadband\r\n豪华 - [pinyin]hao2 hua2[/pinyin] - Luxurious\r\n装修 - [pinyin]zhuang1 xiu1[/pinyin] - Interior decor\r\n平房 - [pinyin]ping2 fang2[/pinyin] - Buangalow (separate house)\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\"><img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n\r\nTitle: 超低的价格 美好的<strong>享受</strong> 就在京通苑 ,3室精装修 \r\n租金价格： 3200 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋<strong>户型</strong>： 3室1厅1卫　108㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通<strong>住宅</strong>   精装修　朝向南北　\r\n<strong>所属</strong>楼层： 6层/6层\r\n所在区域： 朝阳 - 管庄 - 京通苑\r\n所在地址： 朝阳路杨闸<strong>环岛</strong>西北角 （交通地图）\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 《眼见为实》果园<strong>城铁</strong>低价出租翠屏里两居 首次出租 \r\n租金价格： 2900 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　89㎡\r\n房屋情况： 普通住宅   简单装修　朝向东西　\r\n所属楼层： 2层/6层\r\n所在区域： 通州 - 果园 - 翠屏里\r\n所在地址： 通州区果园环岛南700米\r\n1.小区位于果园城铁站南侧，绿化面积达50%，有24小时保安<strong>巡查</strong>。\r\n2.<strong>周边</strong>配套设施齐全，有苏荷时代购物广场、物美大卖场，北机菜市场。\r\n3.出门就是果园城铁站，周边还有多路公交车站可直达大北窑。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle:拎包<strong>入住</strong>北京星河湾3期全新地暖房欧式豪装4居、品味高贵生活环境\r\n租 金：43000元/月 (押一付三)\r\n面积 ：353㎡\r\n户型： 3室2厅4卫\r\n装修： 豪华装修\r\n楼层： 23/33\r\n朝向： 南北\r\n入住： 随时\r\n建筑年代： 2009年\r\n楼盘：星河湾  朝阳\r\n配置： 电话，热水器，空调，冰箱，洗衣机，床，家具， 微波炉，厨具\r\n设施： 水，电，煤气/天然气，暖气，有线电视，<strong>宽带</strong>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: 什刹海前海四合院 2室2厅110平米 <strong>豪华</strong><strong>装修 </strong>\r\n租金价格： 11000 元/月 　押一付三　 \r\n房屋户型： 2室2厅1卫　110㎡\r\n房屋情况： <strong>平房</strong>   豪华装修　朝向南　\r\n所属楼层： 1层/2层\r\n所在区域： 西城 - 什刹海 - 前海四合院\r\n所在地址： 前海银锭桥附近\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"1b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Super Low Price - Wonderful Lifestyle - Located at JingTongYuan, Three Beds Nice Decor  \r\nRental Price: 3200 RMB / Month   Paid in 3-month increments 　\r\nRooms: 3 beds, 1 living room, 1 bath, 108 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, nice decor, facing south / north \r\nWhich floor [in the building]: Floor 6 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: Chaoyang - Guanzhuang - JingTongYuan\r\nAddress: ChaoYang Raod, YangZha Roundabout, Northwest Corner (transportation map [link]) \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2b\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"2c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: \"Seeing is Believing\" GuoYuan Rail Station - Low price Rental in Cui Ping Li - Two-Bedroom - First come, first serve \r\nRental Price: 2900 RMB / Month  Pay 3 months at a time   \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 89 square meters \r\nHome type: Standard residence, simple decor, facing east / west \r\nFloor: Floor 2 of 6 \r\nDistrict / location: TongZhou - GuoYuan - CuiPingLi \r\nAddress: TongZhou District, 700 meters south frmo the GuoYuan Roundabout\r\n1. The apartment block is located on the south side of GuoYuan rail station, the area\'s 50% greenery, and there are guards on patrol 24-hours \r\n2. [You\'ll have] a complete set of amenities nearby: there\'s SuHe ShiDai Shopping Mall, WuMei Retail Store, and BeiJi Food Market \r\n3. GuoYuan rail station is right outside the door, and close by there are also many bus stations with non-stop service to DaBeiYao.  \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/3b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"3b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: Move in with just your handbag - Beijing\'s XingHeWan Block 3, Completely New Warm Home in European Style with Stunning Decor - 4 bedrooms, experience [lit: taste] a grand living environment\r\nRental price: 43000 RMB / month (pay in 3 month increments)\r\nArea: 353 square meters \r\nRooms: 3 beds, 2 living rooms, 4 baths \r\nDecor: Luxurious Interior Decor\r\nFloor: Floor 23 of 33\r\nDirection: South / North \r\nWhen you can move in: anytime \r\nBuilt in: 2009\r\nProperty: XingHeWan (Star River Bay), ChaoYang \r\nIncludes: Phone, water heater, air conditioning, fridge, washing machine, bed, furniture, microwave, kitchen implements\r\nInstalled: Water, electricity, coal / natural gas, heating, landline, broadband \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4a-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4a\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4b-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4b\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/4c-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"4c\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"imgborder\" />\r\nTitle: ShiChaHai QianHai Courtyard House, 2 beds 2 living rooms 110 square meters, Luxurious Decor\r\nRental Price: 11000 RMB / month  Pay in 3 month increments 　 \r\nRooms: 2 beds, 2 living rooms, 1 bath, 110 square meters \r\nHome type: Bungalow, luxurious decor, facing south\r\nFloor: Floor 1 of 2 \r\nLocation: XiCheng - ShiChaHai - QianHai Courtyard \r\nAddress: In Qianhai near YinDing Bridge\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Understanding Chinese Apartment Rental Listings ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1254-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-12 12:44:39', '2012-09-12 16:44:39', '', 1254, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/12/1254-revision-10/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1316, 1, '2013-01-02 23:27:50', '2013-01-03 04:27:50', '', '20130115', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130115', '', '', '2013-01-02 23:27:50', '2013-01-03 04:27:50', '', 1295, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130115.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1317, 1, '2013-01-02 23:27:51', '2013-01-03 04:27:51', '', '20130115-inline', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130115-inline', '', '', '2013-01-02 23:27:51', '2013-01-03 04:27:51', '', 1295, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130115-inline.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1318, 1, '2013-01-02 23:00:31', '2013-01-03 04:00:31', '[two_third]\n<strong>You know you need a KTV song! Beijing, Beijing is a slow ballad sung by Chinese artist 汪峰 [pinyin]wang1 feng1[/pinyin] and was in the <a href=\"http://music.baidu.com/top/new\">Baidu Top 100</a> top 10 for a bit this year. Now it looks like it\'s fallen between the 30th and 40th place on various music charts, but it\'s still pretty popular, particularly in, you know, Beijing. If you can find it in yourself to embrace the painful 80\'s growly I-mean-it man voice and the \"Streets of Philadelphia\" emo-dad thing, you may find that the song is a good karaoke song if you\'re just starting out because it\'s repetitive, it\'s not abstract, it\'s sung slowly enough to sing along and it\'s so emotionally over-fraught that it\'s fun. \n\n<iframe height=498 width=510 frameborder=0 src=\"http://player.youku.com/embed/XMjA5NzgwNTky\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n<!--more-->\n\nI recommend you read and translate the lyrics before you listen to the song, so you\'ve got an idea of what you\'re hearing. \n\nA few translation notes: it\'s not always clear exactly how to translate song lyrics. Example: 寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 is not an easy lyric to translate. Or rather, it\'s super easy to get the gist of the meaning (searching, chasing, dying, broken dreams... you get the idea), but put an \"of\" in the wrong place and the meaning changes to something slightly different. I\'ve done my best, feel free to re-write or re-interpret those in a different way. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n平静 - [pinyin]ping2 jing4[/pinyin] - Tranquil\n轰鸣 - [pinyin]hong1 ming2[/pinyin] - Rumble\n烛骨 - [pinyin]zhu2 gu3[/pinyin] - wick (of a candle)\n哭泣 - [pinyin]ku1 qi4[/pinyin] - Weep\n祈祷 - [pinyin]qi2 dao3[/pinyin] - Pray\n迷惘 - [pinyin]mi2 wang3[/pinyin] - Pray\n霓虹灯 - [pinyin]ni2 hong2 deng1[/pinyin] - Neon lights\n挣扎 - [pinyin]zheng1 zha2[/pinyin] - Struggle\n奄奄一息 - [pinyin]yan3 yan3 yi1 xi1[/pinyin] - Last gasp\n眷恋 - [pinyin]juan4 lian4[/pinyin] - To long for\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n当我走在这里的每一条街道 \n我的心似乎从来都不能<strong>平静</strong> 　　\n除了发动机的<strong>轰鸣</strong>和电器之音 　　\n我似乎听到了他<strong>烛骨</strong>般的心跳 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里<strong>哭泣</strong> 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我在这里<strong>祈祷</strong> 　　\n我在这里<strong>迷惘</strong> 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　　\n\n咖啡馆与广场有三个街区 　　\n就像<strong>霓虹灯</strong>到月亮的距离 　　\n人们在<strong>挣扎</strong>中相互告慰和拥抱 　　\n寻找着追逐着<strong>奄奄一息</strong>的碎梦 　　\n我们在这欢笑 　　\n我们在这哭泣 　　\n我们在这活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我们在这祈祷 　　\n我们在这迷惘 　　\n我们在这寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　\n　\n如果有一天我不得不离去 　　\n我希望人们把我埋在这里 　　\n在这儿我能感觉到我的存在 　　\n在这儿有太多让我<strong>眷恋</strong>的东西 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里哭泣 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这儿死去 　　\n我在这里祈祷 　　\n我在这里迷惘 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nWhen I walk the streets here\nIt seems like my heart can never be serene\nBeyond the rumble of engines and sounds of electronics\nI seem to hear its candlewick heartbeat\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I weep\nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I\'ll die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n\nThe three blocks between the coffee shop and the plaza\nSeem like the distance between the neon lights and the moon 　　\nPeople comfort and embrace each other as they struggle together\nSearching for, chasing after, the last gasp of broken dreams\nThis is where we laugh happily\nThis is where we cry bitterly \nThis is where we live\nAnd this is where we\'ll die\nThis is where we pray\nThis is where we\'re confused\nThis is where we search\nAnd also where we lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　　\n\n　\nIf someday I have no choice but to leave\nI hope people bury me here\nHere I can sense my existence \nHere there are too many things I yearn for\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I cry bitterly \nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Song Lyrics: Beijing Beijing by Wang Feng', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1295-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 23:00:31', '2013-01-03 04:00:31', '', 1295, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1295-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1321, 1, '2013-01-03 09:23:30', '2013-01-03 14:23:30', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\r\n\r\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is for immature readers (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \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贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\r\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\r\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\r\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\r\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\r\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\r\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\r\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\r\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\r\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\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>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-03 09:23:30', '2013-01-03 14:23:30', '', 1310, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/03/1310-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1322, 1, '2013-01-02 19:55:40', '2013-01-03 00:55:40', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 暴风雪已致15人死 2000航班延误取消</strong>\r\n\r\nIn the spirit of the holiday season, which is winding to a blissfully overweight close, I give you an article about something you may or may not have just struggled through if you flew home for the holidays (which I did).<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130103-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Reading Mandarin Chinese News: Reading Materials for Advanced Learners\" title=\"How to Read Simplified Chinese: Practice Reading Chinese Newspaper Articles\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder aligleft\" />This is a wildly factual article about the congestion caused by the snow storms a week or so ago. Not a lot of excitement here, mostly a tallying up of what a big fat mess the American aviation system becomes during the annual Christmas hysteria. \r\n\r\nLots and lots of proper nouns in here, including lots of U.S. states, some cities and even a couple of basketball team names. Probably the most fun you\'ll have reading this is trying to decipher the list of Chinese names for U.S. states (read the characters out loud quickly and see if you can guess - example: 弗吉尼亚州 fo ji ni ya = Virginia). You can always tell you\'re reading a U.S. state name because the character 州 appears at the tail end of each state. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n暴风 - [pinyin]bao4 feng1[/pinyin] - Blizzard\r\n造成 - [pinyin]zao4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To cause, bring about\r\n严寒 - [pinyin]yan2 han2[/pinyin] - Severe winter\r\n警告 - [pinyin]jing3 gao4[/pinyin] - Warning (typically official one, issued by police or govt.)\r\n凛冽 - [pinyin]lin3 lie4[/pinyin] - Biting cold\r\n构成 - [pinyin]gou4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To constitute \r\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - Threat\r\n气象部门 - [pinyin]qi4 xiang4 bu4 men2[/pinyin] - Weather service \r\n成千上万 - [pinyin]cheng2 qian1 shang4 wan4[/pinyin] - Tens of thousands\r\n推迟 - [pinyin]tui1 chi2[/pinyin] - To postpone\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圣诞节期间美国遭遇<strong>暴风</strong>雪袭击，已至少<strong>造成</strong>15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。\r\n\r\n据报道，因暴雪<strong>严寒</strong>造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。\r\n\r\n很多地区发出<strong>警告</strong>提醒人们不要外出，因为<strong>凛冽</strong>狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人<strong>构成</strong><strong>威胁</strong>。<strong>气象部门</strong>说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。\r\n\r\n目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，<strong>成千上万</strong>出游的人们滞留在各处。nba<strong>推迟</strong>了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis Christmas season, America is suffering through a blizzard, which has already caused at least 15 deaths and the delay or cancellation of 2000 flights. \r\n\r\nAccording to reports, the snowstorm and bitter cold has caused deaths in states including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. \r\n\r\nMany regions issued warnings reminding people not to go outside, because the biting cold, howling winds, low temperatures and dangerous traffic conditions compose a threat to pedestrians. The weather department said that severe snow will soon appear in America\'s northeastern New England area, with snowfall in Maine reaching 18 inches (about 45 centimeters). As a result, many people\'s Christmas travel plans will be effected.\r\n\r\nCurrently, 200,000 homes have already experienced electrical outages, and tens of thousands of travelers have been detained. [Also due to snow] in Indianapolis, the NBA postponed Wednesday night\'s Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls basketball game.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Snowstorm has caused 15 deaths and 2000 flight delays or cancellations', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1304-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 19:55:40', '2013-01-03 00:55:40', '', 1304, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1304-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1323, 1, '2013-01-02 23:28:20', '2013-01-03 04:28:20', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>You know you need a KTV song! Beijing, Beijing is a slow ballad sung by Chinese artist 汪峰 [pinyin]wang1 feng1[/pinyin] and was in the <a href=\"http://music.baidu.com/top/new\">Baidu Top 100</a> top 10 for a bit this year. Now it looks like it\'s fallen between the 30th and 40th place on various music charts, but it\'s still pretty popular, particularly in, you know, Beijing. If you can find it in yourself to embrace the painful 80\'s growly I-mean-it man voice and the \"Streets of Philadelphia\" emo-dad thing, you may find that the song is a good karaoke song if you\'re just starting out because it\'s repetitive, it\'s not abstract, it\'s sung slowly enough to sing along and it\'s so emotionally over-fraught that it\'s fun. \r\n\r\n<iframe height=498 width=510 frameborder=0 src=\"http://player.youku.com/embed/XMjA5NzgwNTky\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI recommend you read and translate the lyrics before you listen to the song, so you\'ve got an idea of what you\'re hearing. \r\n\r\nA few translation notes: it\'s not always clear exactly how to translate song lyrics. Example: 寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 is not an easy lyric to translate. Or rather, it\'s super easy to get the gist of the meaning (searching, chasing, dying, broken dreams... you get the idea), but put an \"of\" in the wrong place and the meaning changes to something slightly different. I\'ve done my best, feel free to re-write or re-interpret those in a different way. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n平静 - [pinyin]ping2 jing4[/pinyin] - Tranquil\r\n轰鸣 - [pinyin]hong1 ming2[/pinyin] - Rumble\r\n烛骨 - [pinyin]zhu2 gu3[/pinyin] - wick (of a candle)\r\n哭泣 - [pinyin]ku1 qi4[/pinyin] - Weep\r\n祈祷 - [pinyin]qi2 dao3[/pinyin] - Pray\r\n迷惘 - [pinyin]mi2 wang3[/pinyin] - Pray\r\n霓虹灯 - [pinyin]ni2 hong2 deng1[/pinyin] - Neon lights\r\n挣扎 - [pinyin]zheng1 zha2[/pinyin] - Struggle\r\n奄奄一息 - [pinyin]yan3 yan3 yi1 xi1[/pinyin] - Last gasp\r\n眷恋 - [pinyin]juan4 lian4[/pinyin] - To long for\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当我走在这里的每一条街道 \r\n我的心似乎从来都不能<strong>平静</strong> 　　\r\n除了发动机的<strong>轰鸣</strong>和电器之音 　　\r\n我似乎听到了他<strong>烛骨</strong>般的心跳 　　\r\n我在这里欢笑 　　\r\n我在这里<strong>哭泣</strong> 　　\r\n我在这里活着 　　\r\n也在这死去 　　\r\n我在这里<strong>祈祷</strong> 　　\r\n我在这里<strong>迷惘</strong> 　　\r\n我在这里寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京 　　\r\n\r\n咖啡馆与广场有三个街区 　　\r\n就像<strong>霓虹灯</strong>到月亮的距离 　　\r\n人们在<strong>挣扎</strong>中相互告慰和拥抱 　　\r\n寻找着追逐着<strong>奄奄一息</strong>的碎梦 　　\r\n我们在这欢笑 　　\r\n我们在这哭泣 　　\r\n我们在这活着 　　\r\n也在这死去 　　\r\n我们在这祈祷 　　\r\n我们在这迷惘 　　\r\n我们在这寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京 　\r\n　\r\n如果有一天我不得不离去 　　\r\n我希望人们把我埋在这里 　　\r\n在这儿我能感觉到我的存在 　　\r\n在这儿有太多让我<strong>眷恋</strong>的东西 　　\r\n我在这里欢笑 　　\r\n我在这里哭泣 　　\r\n我在这里活着 　　\r\n也在这儿死去 　　\r\n我在这里祈祷 　　\r\n我在这里迷惘 　　\r\n我在这里寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nWhen I walk the streets here\r\nIt seems like my heart can never be serene\r\nBeyond the rumble of engines and sounds of electronics\r\nI seem to hear its candlewick heartbeat\r\nThis is where I laugh happily\r\nThis is where I weep\r\nThis is where I live\r\nAnd this is where I\'ll die\r\nThis is where I pray\r\nThis is where I\'m confused\r\nThis is where I search\r\nAnd also where I lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\r\n\r\nThe three blocks between the coffee shop and the plaza\r\nSeem like the distance between the neon lights and the moon 　　\r\nPeople comfort and embrace each other as they struggle together\r\nSearching for, chasing after, the last gasp of broken dreams\r\nThis is where we laugh happily\r\nThis is where we cry bitterly \r\nThis is where we live\r\nAnd this is where we\'ll die\r\nThis is where we pray\r\nThis is where we\'re confused\r\nThis is where we search\r\nAnd also where we lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　　\r\n\r\n　\r\nIf someday I have no choice but to leave\r\nI hope people bury me here\r\nHere I can sense my existence \r\nHere there are too many things I yearn for\r\nThis is where I laugh happily\r\nThis is where I cry bitterly \r\nThis is where I live\r\nAnd this is where I die\r\nThis is where I pray\r\nThis is where I\'m confused\r\nThis is where I search\r\nAnd also where I lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Song Lyrics: Beijing Beijing by Wang Feng', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1295-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 23:28:20', '2013-01-03 04:28:20', '', 1295, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1295-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1327, 1, '2013-01-03 09:25:56', '2013-01-03 14:25:56', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\r\n\r\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is a bit immature (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \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贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\r\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\r\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\r\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\r\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\r\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\r\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\r\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\r\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\r\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\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>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-03 09:25:56', '2013-01-03 14:25:56', '', 1310, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/03/1310-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1328, 1, '2013-01-09 03:35:02', '2013-01-09 08:35:02', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\r\n\r\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is a bit immature (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \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贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\r\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\r\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\r\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\r\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\r\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\r\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\r\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\r\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\r\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\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>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-09 03:35:02', '2013-01-09 08:35:02', '', 1310, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/09/1310-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1330, 1, '2013-01-26 00:34:10', '2013-01-26 05:34:10', '', 'How to Read Chinese Jokes: Mandarin Exercise Passages for Reading', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130126-inline', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:34:10', '2013-01-26 05:34:10', '', 1329, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1331, 1, '2013-01-26 00:34:12', '2013-01-26 05:34:12', '', '20130126', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130126', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:34:12', '2013-01-26 05:34:12', '', 1329, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126.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
(1332, 1, '2013-01-26 00:30:58', '2013-01-26 05:30:58', '[two_third]\nHey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \n\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\n\nThough we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n晨练 - [pinyin]chen2 lian4[/pinyin] - Morning exercise\n退休 - [pinyin]tui4 xiu1[/pinyin] - Retire\n笨蛋 - [pinyin]ben4 dan4[/pinyin] - Idiot\n汉堡 - [pinyin]han4 bao3[/pinyin] - Hamburger\n告诉 - [pinyin]gao4 su5[/pinyin] - To tell\n谈 - [pinyin]tan2[/pinyin] - Speak, discuss\n蟑螂 - [pinyin]zhang1 lang2[/pinyin] - Cockroach\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\n小姑娘：退休人员。\n\n\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\n儿子：“不知道。”\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\n儿子：“知道了。”\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \n\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nA little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\nLittle girl: A retiree!\n\n\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\nSon: \"I get it.\" \nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\nSon: \"It\'s two idiots!\" \n\n\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our 100th Post! Plus some new beginner jokes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:30:58', '2013-01-26 05:30:58', '', 1329, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/26/1329-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1333, 1, '2013-01-26 00:36:33', '2013-01-26 05:36:33', '[two_third]\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Chinese for Beginners: Childrens Jokes in Mandarin Chinese\" title=\"How to Read Chinese Jokes: Mandarin Exercise Passages for Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Hey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \r\n\r\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThough we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \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晨练 - [pinyin]chen2 lian4[/pinyin] - Morning exercise\r\n退休 - [pinyin]tui4 xiu1[/pinyin] - Retire\r\n笨蛋 - [pinyin]ben4 dan4[/pinyin] - Idiot\r\n汉堡 - [pinyin]han4 bao3[/pinyin] - Hamburger\r\n告诉 - [pinyin]gao4 su5[/pinyin] - To tell\r\n谈 - [pinyin]tan2[/pinyin] - Speak, discuss\r\n蟑螂 - [pinyin]zhang1 lang2[/pinyin] - Cockroach\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\r\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\r\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\r\n小姑娘：退休人员。\r\n\r\n\r\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\r\n儿子：“不知道。”\r\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\r\n儿子：“知道了。”\r\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\r\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \r\n\r\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\r\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\r\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\r\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nA little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\r\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\r\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\r\nLittle girl: A retiree!\r\n\r\n\r\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \r\nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \r\nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\r\nSon: \"I get it.\" \r\nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\r\nSon: \"It\'s two idiots!\" \r\n\r\n\r\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \r\nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\r\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\r\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our 100th Post! Plus some new beginner jokes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:36:33', '2013-01-26 05:36:33', '', 1329, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/26/1329-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1334, 1, '2013-01-26 00:37:34', '2013-01-26 05:37:34', '[two_third]\r\nHey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \r\n\r\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Chinese for Beginners: Childrens Jokes in Mandarin Chinese\" title=\"How to Read Chinese Jokes: Mandarin Exercise Passages for Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Though we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \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晨练 - [pinyin]chen2 lian4[/pinyin] - Morning exercise\r\n退休 - [pinyin]tui4 xiu1[/pinyin] - Retire\r\n笨蛋 - [pinyin]ben4 dan4[/pinyin] - Idiot\r\n汉堡 - [pinyin]han4 bao3[/pinyin] - Hamburger\r\n告诉 - [pinyin]gao4 su5[/pinyin] - To tell\r\n谈 - [pinyin]tan2[/pinyin] - Speak, discuss\r\n蟑螂 - [pinyin]zhang1 lang2[/pinyin] - Cockroach\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\r\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\r\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\r\n小姑娘：退休人员。\r\n\r\n\r\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\r\n儿子：“不知道。”\r\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\r\n儿子：“知道了。”\r\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\r\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \r\n\r\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\r\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\r\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\r\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nA little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\r\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\r\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\r\nLittle girl: A retiree!\r\n\r\n\r\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \r\nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \r\nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\r\nSon: \"I get it.\" \r\nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\r\nSon: \"It\'s two idiots!\" \r\n\r\n\r\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \r\nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\r\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\r\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our 100th Post! Plus some new beginner jokes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:37:34', '2013-01-26 05:37:34', '', 1329, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/26/1329-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1335, 1, '2013-01-26 00:39:00', '2013-01-26 05:39:00', '[two_third]\r\nHey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \r\n\r\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Chinese for Beginners: Childrens Jokes in Mandarin Chinese\" title=\"How to Read Chinese Jokes: Mandarin Exercise Passages for Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Though we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \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晨练 - [pinyin]chen2 lian4[/pinyin] - Morning exercise\r\n退休 - [pinyin]tui4 xiu1[/pinyin] - Retire\r\n笨蛋 - [pinyin]ben4 dan4[/pinyin] - Idiot\r\n汉堡 - [pinyin]han4 bao3[/pinyin] - Hamburger\r\n告诉 - [pinyin]gao4 su5[/pinyin] - To tell\r\n谈 - [pinyin]tan2[/pinyin] - Speak, discuss\r\n蟑螂 - [pinyin]zhang1 lang2[/pinyin] - Cockroach\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\r\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\r\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\r\n小姑娘：退休人员。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\r\n儿子：“不知道。”\r\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\r\n儿子：“知道了。”\r\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\r\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\r\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\r\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\r\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nA little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\r\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\r\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\r\nLittle girl: A retiree!\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \r\nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \r\nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\r\nSon: \"I get it.\" \r\nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\r\nSon: \"It\'s two idiots!\" \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \r\nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\r\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\r\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our 100th Post! Plus some new beginner jokes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:39:00', '2013-01-26 05:39:00', '', 1329, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/26/1329-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1336, 1, '2012-10-21 02:39:12', '2012-10-21 06:39:12', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 我们家的跳绳比赛</strong>\r\n\r\nA single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121002-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Haven\'t had a ton of extra time in the last few weeks - just went on a trip to Dalian, and still catching up from that. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n跳 - [pinyin]tiao4[/pinyin] - Jump\r\n绳 - [pinyin]sheng2[/pinyin] - Rope\r\n失误 - [pinyin]shi1 wu4[/pinyin] - Mistake\r\n砰砰 - [pinyin]peng1 peng1[/pinyin] - Onomat. Sound of heart beating\r\n弃权 - [pinyin]qi4 quan2[/pinyin] - To voluntarily not participate\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今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis morning father and competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. Mother abstained from participating, so I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:39:12', '2012-10-21 06:39:12', '', 1277, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/21/1277-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1337, 1, '2012-02-12 20:12:10', '2012-02-13 01:12:10', '[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 20:12:10', '2012-02-13 01:12:10', '', 1007, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/12/1007-revision-9/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1339, 1, '2013-03-03 08:40:35', '2013-03-03 13:40:35', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nBeen a little while since I posted, I\'ve been a bit wrapped up in my new iPad app, <a href=\"http://www.hanzireader.com/hanzireader/Home.html\">Hanzi Reader</a>, which is, may I say, amazing for reading practice. It\'s very much like this site, except you can choose any Chinese text you like, copy-paste it into the reader, the reader analyses the text. After the analysis is complete, pushing any word in the text pops up an English and pinyin translation - truly a wonderful reading tool. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe \"Story Behind the Idiom\" posts are my favorite to put up, they\'re not only helpful in remember idioms, they\'re usually pretty interesting to read. This one is a lower intermediate text. \r\n\r\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \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>失斧疑邻</h4>\r\n有人丢失了一把斧子，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是<strong>邻居</strong>的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的<strong>言行</strong>，<strong>神情</strong>怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他<strong>断定</strong>是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个<strong>家伙</strong>不是个好东西。”\r\n\r\n第二天，他上山<strong>砍柴</strong>时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的<strong>怀疑</strong>邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，<strong>根本</strong>不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\r\n\r\n后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、<strong>胡乱</strong><strong>猜疑</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\nThere once was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \r\n\r\nOn the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\r\n\r\nAfter this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Story Behind the Idiom: 失斧疑邻 - Carelessly suspecting others', 'You know the kind of person who loses something and immediately declares it was stolen? Yeah, that. ', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'story-behind-the-idiom-lose-the-axe-suspect-the-neighbor', '', '', '2020-05-07 17:38:34', '2020-05-07 21:38:34', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1339', 0, 'post', '', 20),
(2122, 1, '2020-04-28 20:07:06', '2020-04-29 00:07:06', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nBeen a little while since I posted, I\'ve been a bit wrapped up in my new iPad app, <a href=\"http://www.hanzireader.com/hanzireader/Home.html\">Hanzi Reader</a>, which is, may I say, amazing for reading practice. It\'s very much like this site, except you can choose any Chinese text you like, copy-paste it into the reader, the reader analyses the text. After the analysis is complete, pushing any word in the text pops up an English and pinyin translation - truly a wonderful reading tool. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe \"Story Behind the Idiom\" posts are my favorite to put up, they\'re not only helpful in remember idioms, they\'re usually pretty interesting to read. This one is a lower intermediate text. \r\n\r\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \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>失斧疑邻</h4>\r\n有人丢失了一把斧子，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是<strong>邻居</strong>的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的<strong>言行</strong>，<strong>神情</strong>怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他<strong>断定</strong>是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个<strong>家伙</strong>不是个好东西。”\r\n\r\n第二天，他上山<strong>砍柴</strong>时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的<strong>怀疑</strong>邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，<strong>根本</strong>不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\r\n\r\n后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、<strong>胡乱</strong><strong>猜疑</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\nThere once was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \r\n\r\nOn the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\r\n\r\nAfter this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Story Behind the Idiom: 失斧疑邻', 'You know the kind of person who loses something and immediately declares it was stolen? Yeah, that. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1339-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-28 20:07:06', '2020-04-29 00:07:06', '', 1339, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/28/1339-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2121, 1, '2020-04-28 20:05:25', '2020-04-29 00:05:25', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nCouple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \r\n\r\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (east and west / left and right / in all directions) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\r\n\r\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \r\n\r\nOriginal is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</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>爸爸请您别抽烟了</h4>\r\n爸爸，请您别<strong>抽烟</strong>了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我<strong>悄悄</strong>地把您的烟盒<strong>偷走</strong>，又偷偷地扔进<strong>垃圾桶</strong>里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还<strong>狠</strong>狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到<strong>莫大</strong>的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不<strong>理</strong>你。\r\n\r\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的<strong>肺</strong>已被<strong>尼古丁</strong>熏得<strong>千疮百孔</strong>。\r\n\r\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在<strong>吐痰</strong>。我担心您会离我们而去。那时<strong>丢下</strong>我们，那该怎么办呀。\r\n\r\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\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\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I see you you\'re surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \r\n\r\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Essay: Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke!', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-28 20:05:25', '2020-04-29 00:05:25', '', 1385, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/28/1385-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1340, 1, '2013-02-18 12:02:18', '2013-02-18 17:02:18', '[two_third]\nHey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \n\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Chinese for Beginners: Childrens Jokes in Mandarin Chinese\" title=\"How to Read Chinese Jokes: Mandarin Exercise Passages for Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Though we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n晨练 - [pinyin]chen2 lian4[/pinyin] - Morning exercise\n退休 - [pinyin]tui4 xiu1[/pinyin] - Retire\n笨蛋 - [pinyin]ben4 dan4[/pinyin] - Idiot\n汉堡 - [pinyin]han4 bao3[/pinyin] - Hamburger\n告诉 - [pinyin]gao4 su5[/pinyin] - To tell\n谈 - [pinyin]tan2[/pinyin] - Speak, discuss\n蟑螂 - [pinyin]zhang1 lang2[/pinyin] - Cockroach\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\n小姑娘：退休人员。\n\n<hr />\n\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\n儿子：“不知道。”\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\n儿子：“知道了。”\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \n\n<hr />\n\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nA little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\nLittle girl: A retiree!\n\n<hr />\n\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\nSon: \"I get it.\" \nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\nSon: \"Two idiots!\" \n\n<hr />\n\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1339-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-02-18 12:02:18', '2013-02-18 17:02:18', '', 1339, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/02/18/1339-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1348, 1, '2013-05-06 04:37:53', '2013-05-06 08:37:53', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nRebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that \"the exam of life\" matters more than tests in school. This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\r\n\r\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\r\n\r\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese high schools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them.\r\n\r\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\r\n\r\n从 - From\r\n天堂 - Heaven\r\n降落 - descend\r\n到 - to\r\n地狱 - Hell\r\n\r\nThis phrase means to \"have a sinking heart\" or to \"fall from joy to misery\".\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>人生考卷</h4>\r\n我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A+，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我<strong>竟然</strong>忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要给我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻<strong>松了一口气</strong>。\r\n\r\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一<strong>顿</strong>。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？” 如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"<strong>到底</strong>怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\r\n\r\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\r\n\r\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\r\n\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\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\r\n\r\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, had just been handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and my teacher praised me. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I discovered that I forgot to answer a whole page of questions, worth a deduction of 10 points! But my teacher hadn\'t noticed, and I wasn\'t sure if I should tell her. I was of two minds. One said, \"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you\'ll lose face and your father won\'t give you a present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, I should actually receive 87 points!\" She helped me change my score, and I heaved a sigh of relief.\r\n\r\nAs I was going home, I wished I hadn\'t told her. Now, not only was I not going to receive a gift from my father, but I was also going to be scolded. That night, when I passed my paper to him, he said, \"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me these kinds of things, I call him a \"dad of ten-thousand questions\". But I didn\'t dare because he seemed so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, he saw that my 97 points had been changed to 87 points, and he asked me, \"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready for him to yell at me.\r\n\r\nMy father was silent for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though your results weren\'t satisfactory, in the exam of life, you have gotten high marks. I am proud of you! You did right......\" after saying that, he signed his name.\r\n\r\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Guest Post: The exam of life', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'guest-post-by-rebecca-chua-the-difference-between-lifes-exam-and-exam-papers', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:41:13', '2020-04-20 11:41:13', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1348', 0, 'post', '', 23),
(1751, 1, '2020-04-20 04:15:54', '2020-04-20 08:15:54', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nRebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that \"the exam of life\" matters more than tests in school. This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\r\n\r\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\r\n\r\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese high schools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them.\r\n\r\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\r\n\r\n从 - From\r\n天堂 - Heaven\r\n降落 - descend\r\n到 - to\r\n地狱 - Hell\r\n\r\nThis phrase means to \"have a sinking heart\" or to \"fall from joy to misery\".\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>人生考卷</h4>\r\n我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A+，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我<strong>竟然</strong>忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要给我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻<strong>松了一口气</strong>。\r\n\r\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一<strong>顿</strong>。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？” 如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"<strong>到底</strong>怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\r\n\r\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\r\n\r\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\r\n\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\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\r\n\r\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, had just been handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and my teacher praised me. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I discovered that I forgot to answer a whole page of questions, worth a deduction of 10 points! But my teacher hadn\'t noticed, and I wasn\'t sure if I should tell her. I was of two minds. One said, \"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you\'ll lose face and your father won\'t give you a present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, I should actually receive 87 points!\" She helped me change my score, and I heaved a sigh of relief.\r\n\r\nAs I was going home, I wished I hadn\'t told her. Now, not only was I not going to receive a gift from my father, but I was also going to be scolded. That night, when I passed my paper to him, he said, \"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me these kinds of things, I call him a \"dad of ten-thousand questions\". But I didn\'t dare because he seemed so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, he saw that my 97 points had been changed to 87 points, and he asked me, \"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready for him to yell at me.\r\n\r\nMy father was silent for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though your results weren\'t satisfactory, in the exam of life, you have gotten high marks. I am proud of you! You did right......\" after saying that, he signed his name.\r\n\r\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Guest Post: The exam of life', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:15:54', '2020-04-20 08:15:54', '', 1348, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1348-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
(1747, 1, '2020-04-20 04:12:53', '2020-04-20 08:12:53', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nRebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that \"the exam of life\" matters more than tests in school. This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\r\n\r\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\r\n\r\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese high schools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them.\r\n\r\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\r\n\r\n从 - From\r\n天堂 - Heaven\r\n降落 - descend\r\n到 - to\r\n地狱 - Hell\r\n\r\nThis phrase means to \"have a sinking heart\" or to \"fall from joy to misery\".\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>人生考卷</h4>\r\n我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A+，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我<strong>竟然</strong>忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要给我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻<strong>松了一口气</strong>。\r\n\r\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一<strong>顿</strong>。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？” 如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"<strong>到底</strong>怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\r\n\r\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\r\n\r\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\r\n\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\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\r\n\r\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, had just been handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and my teacher praised me. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I discovered that I forgot to answer a whole page of questions, worth a deduction of 10 points! But my teacher hadn\'t noticed, and I wasn\'t sure if I should tell her. I was of two minds. One said, \"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you\'ll lose face and your father won\'t give you a present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, I should actually receive 87 points!\" She helped me change my score, and I heaved a sigh of relief.\r\n\r\nAs I was going home, I wished I hadn\'t told her. Now, not only was I not going to receive a gift from my father, but I was also going to be scolded. That night, when I passed my paper to him, he said, \"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me these kinds of things, I call him a \"dad of ten-thousand questions\". But I didn\'t dare because he seemed so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, he saw that my 97 points had been changed to 87 points, and he asked me, \"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready for him to yell at me.\r\n\r\nMy father was silent for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though your results weren\'t satisfactory, in the exam of life, you have gotten high marks. I am proud of you! You did right......\" after saying that, he signed his name.\r\n\r\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:12:53', '2020-04-20 08:12:53', '', 1348, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1348-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1342, 1, '2013-03-03 08:37:19', '2013-03-03 13:37:19', '', 'Read Chinese: Read Mandarin Chinese Lessons Exercises ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130303-inline', '', '', '2013-03-03 08:37:19', '2013-03-03 13:37:19', '', 1339, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/20130303-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1343, 1, '2013-03-03 08:37:36', '2013-03-03 13:37:36', '', 'Read Chinese: Read Mandarin Chinese Lessons Exercises ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130303', '', '', '2013-03-03 08:37:36', '2013-03-03 13:37:36', '', 1339, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/20130303.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1344, 1, '2013-03-03 08:40:27', '2013-03-03 13:40:27', 'http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueernianjizuowen/2013-02-03/1359852541245275.html\n[two_third]\nBeen a little while since I posted, I\'ve been a bit wrapped up in my new iPad app, <a href=\"http://www.hanzireader.com/hanzireader/Home.html\">Hanzi Reader</a>, which is, may I say, amazing for reading practice. It\'s very much like this site, except you can choose any Chinese text you like, copy-paste it into the reader, the reader analyses the text. After the analysis is complete, pushing any word in the text pops up an English and pinyin translation - truly a wonderful reading tool. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/20130303-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Read Simplified Chinese: Read Chinese Characters\" title=\"Read Chinese: Read Mandarin Chinese Lessons Exercises \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder\" />The \"Story Behind the Idiom\" posts are my favorite to put up, they\'re not only helpful in remember idioms, they\'re usually pretty interesting to read. This one is a lower intermediate text. \n\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guys was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n斧子 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\n邻居 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\n言行 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n有人丢失了一把<strong>斧子</strong>，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是<strong>邻居</strong>的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的<strong>言行</strong>，<strong>神情</strong>怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他<strong>断定</strong>是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个<strong>家伙</strong>不是个好东西。”\n\n第二天，他上山<strong>砍柴</strong>时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的<strong>怀疑</strong>邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，<strong>根本</strong>不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\n\n后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、<strong>胡乱</strong><strong>猜疑</strong>。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThere once was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \n\nOn the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\n\nAfter this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Lose the Axe, Suspect the Neighbor', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1339-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-03-03 08:40:27', '2013-03-03 13:40:27', '', 1339, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/03/03/1339-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1345, 1, '2020-05-07 17:38:16', '2020-05-07 21:38:16', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nBeen a little while since I posted, I\'ve been a bit wrapped up in my new iPad app, <a href=\"http://www.hanzireader.com/hanzireader/Home.html\">Hanzi Reader</a>, which is, may I say, amazing for reading practice. It\'s very much like this site, except you can choose any Chinese text you like, copy-paste it into the reader, the reader analyses the text. After the analysis is complete, pushing any word in the text pops up an English and pinyin translation - truly a wonderful reading tool. <!--more-->\n\nThe \"Story Behind the Idiom\" posts are my favorite to put up, they\'re not only helpful in remember idioms, they\'re usually pretty interesting to read. This one is a lower intermediate text. \n\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \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>失斧疑邻</h4>\n有人丢失了一把斧子，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是<strong>邻居</strong>的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的<strong>言行</strong>，<strong>神情</strong>怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他<strong>断定</strong>是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个<strong>家伙</strong>不是个好东西。”\n\n第二天，他上山<strong>砍柴</strong>时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的<strong>怀疑</strong>邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，<strong>根本</strong>不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\n\n后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、<strong>胡乱</strong><strong>猜疑</strong>。\n</div>\n[/su_column]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\nThere once was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \n\nOn the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\n\nAfter this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \n[/hide-this-part]\n[/su_column]\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Story Behind the Idiom: 失斧疑邻 - Being carelessly suspicious', 'You know the kind of person who loses something and immediately declares it was stolen? Yeah, that. ', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1339-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-05-07 17:38:16', '2020-05-07 21:38:16', '', 1339, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/03/03/1339-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2259, 1, '2020-05-07 17:38:34', '2020-05-07 21:38:34', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nBeen a little while since I posted, I\'ve been a bit wrapped up in my new iPad app, <a href=\"http://www.hanzireader.com/hanzireader/Home.html\">Hanzi Reader</a>, which is, may I say, amazing for reading practice. It\'s very much like this site, except you can choose any Chinese text you like, copy-paste it into the reader, the reader analyses the text. After the analysis is complete, pushing any word in the text pops up an English and pinyin translation - truly a wonderful reading tool. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe \"Story Behind the Idiom\" posts are my favorite to put up, they\'re not only helpful in remember idioms, they\'re usually pretty interesting to read. This one is a lower intermediate text. \r\n\r\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \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>失斧疑邻</h4>\r\n有人丢失了一把斧子，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是<strong>邻居</strong>的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的<strong>言行</strong>，<strong>神情</strong>怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他<strong>断定</strong>是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个<strong>家伙</strong>不是个好东西。”\r\n\r\n第二天，他上山<strong>砍柴</strong>时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的<strong>怀疑</strong>邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，<strong>根本</strong>不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\r\n\r\n后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、<strong>胡乱</strong><strong>猜疑</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\nThere once was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \r\n\r\nOn the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\r\n\r\nAfter this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Story Behind the Idiom: 失斧疑邻 - Carelessly suspecting others', 'You know the kind of person who loses something and immediately declares it was stolen? Yeah, that. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1339-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-07 17:38:34', '2020-05-07 21:38:34', '', 1339, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/07/1339-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1347, 1, '2013-03-03 08:43:23', '2013-03-03 13:43:23', '[two_third]\r\nBeen a little while since I posted, I\'ve been a bit wrapped up in my new iPad app, <a href=\"http://www.hanzireader.com/hanzireader/Home.html\">Hanzi Reader</a>, which is, may I say, amazing for reading practice. It\'s very much like this site, except you can choose any Chinese text you like, copy-paste it into the reader, the reader analyses the text. After the analysis is complete, pushing any word in the text pops up an English and pinyin translation - truly a wonderful reading tool. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/20130303-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Read Simplified Chinese: Read Chinese Characters\" title=\"Read Chinese: Read Mandarin Chinese Lessons Exercises \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The \"Story Behind the Idiom\" posts are my favorite to put up, they\'re not only helpful in remember idioms, they\'re usually pretty interesting to read. This one is a lower intermediate text. \r\n\r\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guys was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n斧子 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\r\n邻居 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\r\n言行 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\r\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\r\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\r\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\r\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\r\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\r\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\r\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\r\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\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有人丢失了一把<strong>斧子</strong>，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是<strong>邻居</strong>的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的<strong>言行</strong>，<strong>神情</strong>怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他<strong>断定</strong>是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个<strong>家伙</strong>不是个好东西。”\r\n\r\n第二天，他上山<strong>砍柴</strong>时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的<strong>怀疑</strong>邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，<strong>根本</strong>不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\r\n\r\n后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、<strong>胡乱</strong><strong>猜疑</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThere once was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \r\n\r\nOn the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\r\n\r\nAfter this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Lose the Axe, Suspect the Neighbor', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1339-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-03-03 08:43:23', '2013-03-03 13:43:23', '', 1339, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/03/03/1339-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1346, 1, '2013-03-03 08:40:35', '2013-03-03 13:40:35', 'http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueernianjizuowen/2013-02-03/1359852541245275.html\r\n[two_third]\r\nBeen a little while since I posted, I\'ve been a bit wrapped up in my new iPad app, <a href=\"http://www.hanzireader.com/hanzireader/Home.html\">Hanzi Reader</a>, which is, may I say, amazing for reading practice. It\'s very much like this site, except you can choose any Chinese text you like, copy-paste it into the reader, the reader analyses the text. After the analysis is complete, pushing any word in the text pops up an English and pinyin translation - truly a wonderful reading tool. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/20130303-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Read Simplified Chinese: Read Chinese Characters\" title=\"Read Chinese: Read Mandarin Chinese Lessons Exercises \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The \"Story Behind the Idiom\" posts are my favorite to put up, they\'re not only helpful in remember idioms, they\'re usually pretty interesting to read. This one is a lower intermediate text. \r\n\r\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guys was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n斧子 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\r\n邻居 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\r\n言行 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\r\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\r\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\r\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\r\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\r\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\r\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\r\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\r\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\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有人丢失了一把<strong>斧子</strong>，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是<strong>邻居</strong>的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的<strong>言行</strong>，<strong>神情</strong>怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他<strong>断定</strong>是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个<strong>家伙</strong>不是个好东西。”\r\n\r\n第二天，他上山<strong>砍柴</strong>时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的<strong>怀疑</strong>邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，<strong>根本</strong>不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\r\n\r\n后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、<strong>胡乱</strong><strong>猜疑</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThere once was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \r\n\r\nOn the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\r\n\r\nAfter this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Lose the Axe, Suspect the Neighbor', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1339-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-03-03 08:40:35', '2013-03-03 13:40:35', '', 1339, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/03/03/1339-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1349, 1, '2013-05-02 04:23:29', '2013-05-02 08:23:29', '[two_third]\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read.\n\nRebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most.  This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\n\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\n\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?)\n\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n斧子 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\n邻居 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\n言行 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚发下来的考卷，一边拖着沉重的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……\n\n前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很羡慕我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就从天堂降落到地狱。天啊！我竟然忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要給我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻松了一口气。\n\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一顿。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？”如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"到底怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\n\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\n\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\n\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said,\"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\n\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"super inquisitive dad\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\n\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\n\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-02 04:23:29', '2013-05-02 08:23:29', '', 1348, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/02/1348-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1350, 1, '2013-05-02 04:29:25', '2013-05-02 08:29:25', '[two_third]\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. \n\nRebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most.  This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\n\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\n\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese highschools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them. We also see that Rebecca\'s book spells \"A+\" as \"A*\". \n\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\n\n从 - From\n天堂 - Heaven\n降落到\n地狱 - Hell\n\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n发下来\n考卷 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\n沉重 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\n羡慕 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……\n\n前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我竟然忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要給我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻松了一口气。\n\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一顿。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？”如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"到底怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\n\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\n\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\n\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said,\"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\n\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"super inquisitive dad\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\n\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\n\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-02 04:29:25', '2013-05-02 08:29:25', '', 1348, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/02/1348-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1351, 1, '2013-05-02 04:32:26', '2013-05-02 08:32:26', '[two_third]\r\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. \r\n\r\nRebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most.  This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\r\n\r\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\r\n\r\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese highschools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them. We also see that Rebecca\'s book spells \"A+\" as \"A*\". \r\n\r\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\r\n\r\n从 - From\r\n天堂 - Heaven\r\n降落 - descend\r\n到 - to\r\n地狱 - Hell\r\n\r\nThis phrase means to \"have a sinking heart\" or to \"fall from joy to misery\". \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发下来\r\n考卷 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\r\n沉重 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\r\n羡慕 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\r\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\r\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\r\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\r\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\r\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\r\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\r\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\r\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……\r\n\r\n前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我竟然忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要給我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻松了一口气。\r\n\r\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一顿。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？”如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"到底怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\r\n\r\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\r\n\r\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\r\n\r\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said,\"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\r\n\r\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"super inquisitive dad\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\r\n\r\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\r\n\r\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-02 04:32:26', '2013-05-02 08:32:26', '', 1348, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/02/1348-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1354, 1, '2013-05-06 04:34:20', '2013-05-06 08:34:20', '', '20130506-inline', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130506-inline', '', '', '2013-05-06 04:34:20', '2013-05-06 08:34:20', '', 1348, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130506-inline.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1353, 1, '2013-05-06 04:32:54', '2013-05-06 08:32:54', '', 'Learn Mandarin Chinese Characters: Practice Reading Simplified Chinese Character Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130506', '', '', '2013-05-06 04:32:54', '2013-05-06 08:32:54', '', 1348, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130506.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1355, 1, '2013-05-06 04:37:11', '2013-05-06 08:37:11', '[two_third]\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. <!--more-->\n\n<img class=\"imgborder alignleft\" title=\"20130506-inline\" src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130506-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Mandarin Chinese Characters: Practice Reading Simplified Chinese Character Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" />Rebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most. This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\n\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\n\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese highschools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them. We also see that Rebecca\'s book spells \"A+\" as \"A*\".\n\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\n\n从 - From\n天堂 - Heaven\n降落 - descend\n到 - to\n地狱 - Hell\n\nThis phrase means to \"have a sinking heart\" or to \"fall from joy to misery\".\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n发下来 - [pinyin]fa1 xia4 lai5[/pinyin] - To pass out (papers), hand back (homework)\n考卷 - [pinyin]kao3 juan4[/pinyin] - Exam paper\n沉重 - [pinyin]chen2 zhong4[/pinyin] - Hard, serious\n羡慕 - [pinyin]xian4 mu4[/pinyin] - To envy\n竟然 - [pinyin]jing4 ran2[/pinyin] - Unexpectedly\n松了一口气 - [pinyin]song1 le yi1 kou3 qi4[/pinyin] - Let out a sigh (usually of relief) \n顿 - [pinyin]dun4[/pinyin] - Classifier for a period of time when a beating, scolding or critique takes place\n到底 - [pinyin]dao4 di3[/pinyin] - When all is said and done\n\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我<strong>竟然</strong>忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要給我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻<strong>松了一口气</strong>。\n\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一<strong>顿</strong>。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？” 如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"<strong>到底</strong>怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\n\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\n\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\n\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said, \"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\n\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"dad of ten-thousand questions\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\n\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\n\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-06 04:37:11', '2013-05-06 08:37:11', '', 1348, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/06/1348-revision-4/', 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
(1356, 1, '2013-05-06 04:37:53', '2013-05-06 08:37:53', '[two_third]\r\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img class=\"imgborder alignleft\" title=\"20130506-inline\" src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130506-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Mandarin Chinese Characters: Practice Reading Simplified Chinese Character Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" />Rebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most. This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\r\n\r\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\r\n\r\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese highschools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them. We also see that Rebecca\'s book spells \"A+\" as \"A*\".\r\n\r\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\r\n\r\n从 - From\r\n天堂 - Heaven\r\n降落 - descend\r\n到 - to\r\n地狱 - Hell\r\n\r\nThis phrase means to \"have a sinking heart\" or to \"fall from joy to misery\".\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发下来 - [pinyin]fa1 xia4 lai5[/pinyin] - To pass out (papers), hand back (homework)\r\n考卷 - [pinyin]kao3 juan4[/pinyin] - Exam paper\r\n沉重 - [pinyin]chen2 zhong4[/pinyin] - Hard, serious\r\n羡慕 - [pinyin]xian4 mu4[/pinyin] - To envy\r\n竟然 - [pinyin]jing4 ran2[/pinyin] - Unexpectedly\r\n松了一口气 - [pinyin]song1 le yi1 kou3 qi4[/pinyin] - Let out a sigh (usually of relief) \r\n顿 - [pinyin]dun4[/pinyin] - Classifier for a period of time when a beating, scolding or critique takes place\r\n到底 - [pinyin]dao4 di3[/pinyin] - When all is said and done\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我<strong>竟然</strong>忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要給我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻<strong>松了一口气</strong>。\r\n\r\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一<strong>顿</strong>。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？” 如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"<strong>到底</strong>怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\r\n\r\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\r\n\r\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\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\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\r\n\r\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said, \"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\r\n\r\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"dad of ten-thousand questions\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\r\n\r\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\r\n\r\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-06 04:37:53', '2013-05-06 08:37:53', '', 1348, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/06/1348-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1358, 1, '2013-05-13 05:28:46', '2013-05-13 09:28:46', '', 'Learning to Read Chinese Exercises: Chinese Rice Cooker Recipes with English Translations', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130513', '', '', '2013-05-13 05:28:46', '2013-05-13 09:28:46', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130513.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1359, 1, '2013-05-13 05:30:57', '2013-05-13 09:30:57', '', '20130513-INLINE', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130513-inline', '', '', '2013-05-13 05:30:57', '2013-05-13 09:30:57', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130513-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2464, 1, '2020-05-31 13:56:12', '2020-05-31 17:56:12', '[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 duper 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. \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\nAs you have probably guessed by now, this read is <em>not appropriate for children</em>. There is swearing and sexual content - you have been warned. \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, and it is referring to an unaffiliated prostitute.\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[/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朗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 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\"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, 　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朗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\"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: \"　\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。”\r\n\r\n\"I\'ve been sitting here all afternoon, look here you, at 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, an unbridled laugh, so amused. \r\n\r\n\"You laugh,\" I said, \"like a dumb chick.\"　　\r\n\r\nThe girl 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. “”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\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 　　我笑眯眯地在石台上坐了一会儿，也跳下石台走了。\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 13:56:12', '2020-05-31 17:56:12', '', 2453, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/31/2453-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1401, 1, '2013-06-16 08:00:14', '2013-06-16 12:00:14', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nEeps - bad medicine! In this story, the mischievous Monkey - always a trickster figure in Chinese stories - pulls the wool over Little Bear\'s eyes. If Little Bear was American, he\'d sue the hospital for negligence and rake in millions of baskets of peaches. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThough the majority of this text is very basic reading, there are three phrases which jump out at me as being difficult, or words I couldn\'t find in basic dictionaries. \r\n\r\n理所应当 - [pinyin]li3 suo3 ying1 dang1[/pinyin] This phrase means to feel something is well-deserved, that something has been earned through hard work, usually when it actually hasn\'t. So I guess that roughly translates to \'taking a reward for granted\'? In this story, Monkey feels that his payment is well-earned or well-deserved. But as readers, we know Monkey doesn\'t deserve anything at all - he\'s taking that payment for granted when he didn\'t really earn it. Consider this phrase in another context:\r\n\r\n别人帮助你那是义气，你不能当作是理所应当的。 - \"When other people help you it\'s in the spirit of self-sacrifice, you shouldn\'t consider this something you deserve as a matter of course.\"  \r\n\r\n甜头 - Though this looks like two words, the first meaning \"sweet\" and the second meaning \"head\" or \"brain\", it\'s actually a colloquialism that just means \"sweet flavor\" or \"pleasant taste\".  \r\n\r\n贪念 - These two characters also seem separate, they don\'t appear together in my dictionary, but they\'re actually one word. According to <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/view/3187101.htm\">Baidu Bai Ke</a>, the Baidu dictionary (a Chinese-language resource for word meanings and derivations), 贪念 [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] just means \"greedy\" (I presume the \"念\" probably adds the meaning \"idea\" or \"thoughts\" here, so 贪念 could be read as \"greedy thoughts\"). \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/yuyangushi/2012-10-06/26930.html\">You can read the original here.</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>医生与猴子</h4>\r\n猴子去医院<strong>玩耍</strong>,进了大夫的房间。正好大夫不在,衣服也落在了房间内。\r\n\r\n猴子觉得好玩,就穿上了大夫的衣服,也就是我们常见的那种<strong>白大褂子</strong>。这时候有一只小熊来医院<strong>看病</strong>。小熊是第一次上医院,并不了解医院的情况。它所知道的,就是大夫们都穿着白大褂子。\r\n\r\n小熊提着一篮桃子(这是它准备送给大夫的<strong>酬金</strong>)来到医院,正好走进猴子所在的房间。小熊不认识猴子,但是它认识那件白大褂子,于是就请猴子给它看病。\r\n\r\n猴子本来只是玩耍,并不会看病,但是它看到小熊的篮子后,就起了<strong>贪念</strong>。于是猴子便<strong>装模作样</strong>地给小熊看了病,并且<strong>理所应当地</strong>收下了那篮桃子。至于小熊的病是否给猴子看好了,这一点<strong>不得而知</strong>。\r\n\r\n但是猴子却尝到了甜头,以后常常<strong>潜入</strong>医院,趁大夫不在的时候,穿上大夫的衣服,给病人看病。到后来,猴子<strong>干脆</strong>给自己也做了一身那样的白大褂子。\r\n\r\n唉!我们不知道有多少人是在猴子那里看的病啊!\r\n\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\nMonkey went to the hospital on a lark, and entered the doctor\'s room. At that moment, the doctor wasn\'t in, and he\'d left his [doctor\'s] clothes in the room.\r\n\r\nMonkey thought this would be fun, so he put on the doctor\'s clothes, that white lab coat we see so often. Just then a little bear came to the hospital to see the doctor. This was the little bear\'s first time at the hospital, and he didn\'t know what hospitals were like [lit: didn\'t know the hospital situation]. All he knew was that doctors wear white lab coats. \r\n\r\nThe little bear had shown up at the hospital carrying a basket of peaches (this was the payment he had prepared to give to the doctor), and he happened to walk into the room where Monkey was. Little Bear didn\'t know Monkey, but he recognized the white lab coat, so he asked Monkey to examine him.\r\n\r\nMonkey originally just [intended to] have a bit of fun, but when he saw Little Bear\'s basket, he coveted it fiercely. So Monkey put on a big show of examining Little Bear, and accepted his well-earned basket of peaches. As to whether or not Monkey actually cured Little Bear, we will never know. \r\n\r\nHowever, after Monkey tasted that sweetness, he often stole into the hospital, taking advantage of the doctor\'s absence, and examined patients. Later, Monkey simply made himself one of those kind of white lab coats. \r\n\r\nAi! We don\'t know how many people were examined by Monkey!\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Children\'s Story: The Doctor and the Monkey', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'the-doctor-and-the-monkey', '', '', '2020-04-28 20:02:42', '2020-04-29 00:02:42', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1401', 0, 'post', '', 41),
(1741, 1, '2020-04-20 03:56:25', '2020-04-20 07:56:25', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nEeps - bad medicine! In this story, the mischievous Monkey - always a trickster figure in Chinese stories - pulls the wool over Little Bear\'s eyes. If Little Bear was American, he\'d sue the hospital for negligence and rake in millions of baskets of peaches. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThough the majority of this text is very basic reading, there are three phrases which jump out at me as being difficult, or words I couldn\'t find in basic dictionaries. \r\n\r\n理所应当 - [pinyin]li3 suo3 ying1 dang1[/pinyin] This phrase means to feel something is well-deserved, that something has been earned through hard work, usually when it actually hasn\'t. So I guess that roughly translates to \'taking a reward for granted\'? In this story, Monkey feels that his payment is well-earned or well-deserved. But as readers, we know Monkey doesn\'t deserve anything at all - he\'s taking that payment for granted when he didn\'t really earn it. Consider this phrase in another context:\r\n\r\n别人帮助你那是义气，你不能当作是理所应当的。 - \"When other people help you it\'s in the spirit of self-sacrifice, you shouldn\'t consider this something you deserve as a matter of course.\"  \r\n\r\n甜头 - Though this looks like two words, the first meaning \"sweet\" and the second meaning \"head\" or \"brain\", it\'s actually a colloquialism that just means \"sweet flavor\" or \"pleasant taste\".  \r\n\r\n贪念 - These two characters also seem separate, they don\'t appear together in my dictionary, but they\'re actually one word. According to <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/view/3187101.htm\">Baidu Bai Ke</a>, the Baidu dictionary (a Chinese-language resource for word meanings and derivations), 贪念 [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] just means \"greedy\" (I presume the \"念\" probably adds the meaning \"idea\" or \"thoughts\" here, so 贪念 could be read as \"greedy thoughts\"). \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/yuyangushi/2012-10-06/26930.html\">You can read the original here.</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>医生与猴子</h4>\r\n猴子去医院<strong>玩耍</strong>,进了大夫的房间。正好大夫不在,衣服也落在了房间内。\r\n\r\n猴子觉得好玩,就穿上了大夫的衣服,也就是我们常见的那种<strong>白大褂子</strong>。这时候有一只小熊来医院<strong>看病</strong>。小熊是第一次上医院,并不了解医院的情况。它所知道的,就是大夫们都穿着白大褂子。\r\n\r\n小熊提着一篮桃子(这是它准备送给大夫的<strong>酬金</strong>)来到医院,正好走进猴子所在的房间。小熊不认识猴子,但是它认识那件白大褂子,于是就请猴子给它看病。\r\n\r\n猴子本来只是玩耍,并不会看病,但是它看到小熊的篮子后,就起了<strong>贪念</strong>。于是猴子便<strong>装模作样</strong>地给小熊看了病,并且<strong>理所应当地</strong>收下了那篮桃子。至于小熊的病是否给猴子看好了,这一点<strong>不得而知</strong>。\r\n\r\n但是猴子却尝到了甜头,以后常常<strong>潜入</strong>医院,趁大夫不在的时候,穿上大夫的衣服,给病人看病。到后来,猴子<strong>干脆</strong>给自己也做了一身那样的白大褂子。\r\n\r\n唉!我们不知道有多少人是在猴子那里看的病啊!\r\n\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\nMonkey went to the hospital on a lark, and entered the doctor\'s room. At that moment, the doctor wasn\'t in, and he\'d left his [doctor\'s] clothes in the room.\r\n\r\nMonkey thought this would be fun, so he put on the doctor\'s clothes, that white lab coat we see so often. Just then a little bear came to the hospital to see the doctor. This was the little bear\'s first time at the hospital, and he didn\'t know what hospitals were like [lit: didn\'t know the hospital situation]. All he knew was that doctors wear white lab coats. \r\n\r\nThe little bear had shown up at the hospital carrying a basket of peaches (this was the payment he had prepared to give to the doctor), and he happened to walk into the room where Monkey was. Little Bear didn\'t know Monkey, but he recognized the white lab coat, so he asked Monkey to examine him.\r\n\r\nMonkey originally just [intended to] have a bit of fun, but when he saw Little Bear\'s basket, he coveted it fiercely. So Monkey put on a big show of examining Little Bear, and accepted his well-earned basket of peaches. As to whether or not Monkey actually cured Little Bear, we will never know. \r\n\r\nHowever, after Monkey tasted that sweetness, he often stole into the hospital, taking advantage of the doctor\'s absence, and examined patients. Later, Monkey simply made himself one of those kind of white lab coats. \r\n\r\nAi! We don\'t know how many people were examined by Monkey!\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'The Doctor and the Monkey', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1401-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 03:56:25', '2020-04-20 07:56:25', '', 1401, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1401-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1364, 1, '2013-05-21 11:09:51', '2013-05-21 15:09:51', '', 'Reading in Simplified Chinese: Easy Exercises for Language Study', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130521-inline', '', '', '2013-05-21 11:09:51', '2013-05-21 15:09:51', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130521-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1365, 1, '2013-05-21 11:09:52', '2013-05-21 15:09:52', '', 'Reading in Simplified Chinese: Easy Exercises for Language Study', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130521', '', '', '2013-05-21 11:09:52', '2013-05-21 15:09:52', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130521.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
(2467, 1, '2020-05-31 14:21:25', '2020-05-31 18:21:25', '[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 duper 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. \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\nAs you have probably guessed by now, this read is <em>not appropriate for children</em>. There is swearing and sexual content - you have been warned. \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, and it is referring to an unaffiliated prostitute.\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朗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, 　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朗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。This restaurant 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。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，他四胜三和五负，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\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。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: \"“就是学生，这会儿在公司看书也有点装模作样。”\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. “”又完了不是“我取笑她，”\r\n\r\n\"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 　　我笑眯眯地在石台上坐了一会儿，也跳下石台走了。\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 14:21:25', '2020-05-31 18:21:25', '', 2453, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/31/2453-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2465, 1, '2020-05-31 14:01:30', '2020-05-31 18:01:30', '[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 duper 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. \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\nAs you have probably guessed by now, this read is <em>not appropriate for children</em>. There is swearing and sexual content - you have been warned. \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, and it is referring to an unaffiliated prostitute.\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[/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朗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 plastic 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, 　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朗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\"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: \"　\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。”\r\n\r\n\"I\'ve been sitting here all afternoon, look here you, at 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, an unbridled laugh, so amused. \r\n\r\n\"You laugh,\" I said, \"like a dumb chick.\"　　\r\n\r\nThe girl 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. “”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\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 　　我笑眯眯地在石台上坐了一会儿，也跳下石台走了。\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 14:01:30', '2020-05-31 18:01:30', '', 2453, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/31/2453-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1371, 1, '2013-05-27 13:35:33', '2013-05-27 17:35:33', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130528', '', '', '2013-05-27 13:35:33', '2013-05-27 17:35:33', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1372, 1, '2013-05-27 13:35:35', '2013-05-27 17:35:35', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130528-inline', '', '', '2013-05-27 13:35:35', '2013-05-27 17:35:35', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1374, 1, '2012-08-22 22:56:59', '2012-08-23 02:56:59', '<h3>The Basics</h3>\r\nMy name is: <strong>Kendra</strong>\r\nI live in: <strong>Beijing</strong>\r\nAge: <strong>29</strong> \r\nFirst year in China: <strong>2002</strong>\r\nWhat this site is for: This site doesn\'t exist to teach you Chinese from scratch - there are plenty of sites and programs that do that. But this collection might help you keep your skills fresh, practice recognizing sentence structure, or pick up the occasional new vocabulary word.\r\n\r\n<h3>The Story</h3>\r\nAfter spending a few years China studying Mandarin and working, I took a several-year hiatus and returned to my native country. It was alarming how quickly my language skills began disintegrating. I searched online for Chinese reading materials, and though I found plenty of dictionaries and flash card sources, I had a very difficult time finding something that was at an appropriate reading level, was different than the typical textbook-y stuff available online, was presented in a way that was easy to read, and that I was sure I could get through. I ended up spending more time looking for something that was suitable than actually doing any reading.\r\n\r\nAs someone who organizes her thoughts into a series of domain names, it was inevitable I\'d eventually start a website about it, and here you are. I post whenever I get a chance.\r\n\r\n<h4>About the Translations</h4>\r\nMost (but not all) of the translations on this site are done by me, and I don\'t post anything unless I\'ve checked it several times, but that doesn\'t mean I haven\'t missed something. Do feel free to comment if you see anything that ought to have a better translation - it won\'t be taken amiss. \r\n\r\nIt\'s often quite difficult to do a word-for-word translation, as Chinese words that fit well into a particular Chinese sentence read very awkwardly after they\'ve been translated - sometimes a direct translation just sounds off. This is more and more true the higher your reading level.  \r\n\r\nI\'ll often change the order of wording in a sentence so that it makes sense or reads well in English. You\'ll also notice that I often remove commas, split long Chinese sentences into two or more English sentences, or rearrange the order of clauses, which is necessary to accommodate Chinese grammar.  The translation is meant as a guidepost to help point you in the right direction and keep you grounded in the text when needed - it\'s up to you to dissect sentence structure.\r\n<h4>How I Classify Reading Levels</h4>\r\nUltimately, my classifications are pretty arbitrary, but I\'ll try to lay out some of my basic reasoning here.\r\n\r\n<strong>Beginner</strong> - Very very few of these texts are actually beginner tests; at least I haven\'t been able to find any real beginner stuff yet (I\'m still looking for good sources of real beginner texts that aren\'t boring dialogs - if you know of any, please write!). This is because for any story, article or essay to really take shape, it usually must involve some intermediate grammar or intermediate vocabulary. This is why most truly beginner textbooks stick to dialogs as opposed to actual articles. In order to do any real reading, you\'ve got to at least know the basics of sentence structure. I will classify something as beginner if at least a couple of the following criteria are met:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>The sentence structure is easy throughout</li>\r\n	<li>It contains mostly simpler words that are in the dictionary</li>\r\n	<li>There is no modern slang</li>\r\n	<li>The subject matter is basic / or for children</li>\r\n	<li>It\'s not too long</li>\r\n	<li>It contains few or no idioms</li>\r\n<li>It contains intermediate vocabulary but the story structure is very repetitive, so you can pick up the thread more easily as you go along.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Intermediate</strong> - I classify something as intermediate if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It\'s a longer piece that you have to hold a narrative thread through.</li>\r\n<li>The language is intermediate or upper-intermediate.</li>\r\n<li>There are some light idioms.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Advanced</strong> - Most of what\'s out there online is advanced reading. That\'s why as of now, there are more advanced texts on here than anything else. I classify something as advanced if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It contains many specialized or technical words (technology, health, beauty, geography, etc.)</li>\r\n<li>It contains high-level structures, like newspaper-y or literary writing styles.</li>\r\n<li>It contains any archaic words.</li>\r\n<li>The sentence structure is very complicated.</li>\r\n<li>It contains a lot of modern slang.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\nEnjoy, and good luck with your studies.', 'About', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '2-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-22 22:56:59', '2012-08-23 02:56:59', '', 2, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/22/2-revision-23/', 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
(2466, 1, '2020-05-31 14:14:51', '2020-05-31 18:14:51', '[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 duper 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. \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\nAs you have probably guessed by now, this read is <em>not appropriate for children</em>. There is swearing and sexual content - you have been warned. \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, and it is referring to an unaffiliated prostitute.\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[/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朗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, 　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朗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。This restaurant 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。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，他四胜三和五负，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\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。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: \"　\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。”\r\n\r\n\"I\'ve been sitting here all afternoon, look here you, at 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. “”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\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 　　我笑眯眯地在石台上坐了一会儿，也跳下石台走了。\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 14:14:51', '2020-05-31 18:14:51', '', 2453, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/31/2453-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1382, 1, '2013-05-27 14:21:51', '2013-05-27 18:21:51', '<h3>The Basics</h3>\r\nMy name is: <strong>Kendra</strong>\r\nI live in: <strong>Beijing</strong>\r\nAge: <strong>30</strong> \r\nFirst year in China: <strong>2002</strong>\r\nWhat this site is for: This site doesn\'t exist to teach you Chinese from scratch - there are plenty of sites and programs that do that. But this collection might help you keep your skills fresh, practice recognizing sentence structure, or pick up the occasional new vocabulary word.\r\n\r\n<h3>The Story</h3>\r\nAfter spending a few years China studying Mandarin and working, I took a several-year hiatus and returned to my native country. It was alarming how quickly my language skills began disintegrating. I searched online for Chinese reading materials, and though I found plenty of dictionaries and flash card sources, I had a very difficult time finding something that was at an appropriate reading level, was different than the typical textbook-y stuff available online, was presented in a way that was easy to read, and that I was sure I could get through. I ended up spending more time looking for something that was suitable than actually doing any reading.\r\n\r\nAs someone who organizes her thoughts into a series of domain names, it was inevitable I\'d eventually start a website about it, and here you are. I post whenever I get a chance.\r\n\r\n<h4>About the Translations</h4>\r\nMost (but not all) of the translations on this site are done by me, and I don\'t post anything unless I\'ve checked it several times, but that doesn\'t mean I haven\'t missed something. Do feel free to comment if you see anything that ought to have a better translation - it won\'t be taken amiss. \r\n\r\nIt\'s often quite difficult to do a word-for-word translation, as Chinese words that fit well into a particular Chinese sentence read very awkwardly after they\'ve been translated - sometimes a direct translation just sounds off. This is more and more true the higher your reading level.  \r\n\r\nI\'ll often change the order of wording in a sentence so that it makes sense or reads well in English. You\'ll also notice that I often remove commas, split long Chinese sentences into two or more English sentences, or rearrange the order of clauses, which is necessary to accommodate Chinese grammar.  The translation is meant as a guidepost to help point you in the right direction and keep you grounded in the text when needed - it\'s up to you to dissect sentence structure.\r\n<h4>How I Classify Reading Levels</h4>\r\nUltimately, my classifications are pretty arbitrary, but I\'ll try to lay out some of my basic reasoning here.\r\n\r\n<strong>Beginner</strong> - Very very few of these texts are actually beginner tests; at least I haven\'t been able to find any real beginner stuff yet (I\'m still looking for good sources of real beginner texts that aren\'t boring dialogs - if you know of any, please write!). This is because for any story, article or essay to really take shape, it usually must involve some intermediate grammar or intermediate vocabulary. This is why most truly beginner textbooks stick to dialogs as opposed to actual articles. In order to do any real reading, you\'ve got to at least know the basics of sentence structure. I will classify something as beginner if at least a couple of the following criteria are met:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>The sentence structure is easy throughout</li>\r\n	<li>It contains mostly simpler words that are in the dictionary</li>\r\n	<li>There is no modern slang</li>\r\n	<li>The subject matter is basic / or for children</li>\r\n	<li>It\'s not too long</li>\r\n	<li>It contains few or no idioms</li>\r\n<li>It contains intermediate vocabulary but the story structure is very repetitive, so you can pick up the thread more easily as you go along.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Intermediate</strong> - I classify something as intermediate if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It\'s a longer piece that you have to hold a narrative thread through.</li>\r\n<li>The language is intermediate or upper-intermediate.</li>\r\n<li>There are some light idioms.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Advanced</strong> - Most of what\'s out there online is advanced reading. That\'s why as of now, there are more advanced texts on here than anything else. I classify something as advanced if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It contains many specialized or technical words (technology, health, beauty, geography, etc.)</li>\r\n<li>It contains high-level structures, like newspaper-y or literary writing styles.</li>\r\n<li>It contains any archaic words.</li>\r\n<li>The sentence structure is very complicated.</li>\r\n<li>It contains a lot of modern slang.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\nEnjoy, and good luck with your studies.', 'About', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '2-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 14:21:51', '2013-05-27 18:21:51', '', 2, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/2-revision-24/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1385, 1, '2013-06-03 10:54:13', '2013-06-03 14:54:13', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nCouple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \r\n\r\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (east and west / left and right / in all directions) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\r\n\r\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \r\n\r\nOriginal is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</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>爸爸请您别抽烟了</h4>\r\n爸爸，请您别<strong>抽烟</strong>了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我<strong>悄悄</strong>地把您的烟盒<strong>偷走</strong>，又偷偷地扔进<strong>垃圾桶</strong>里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还<strong>狠</strong>狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到<strong>莫大</strong>的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不<strong>理</strong>你。\r\n\r\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的<strong>肺</strong>已被<strong>尼古丁</strong>熏得<strong>千疮百孔</strong>。\r\n\r\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在<strong>吐痰</strong>。我担心您会离我们而去。那时<strong>丢下</strong>我们，那该怎么办呀。\r\n\r\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\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\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I see you you\'re surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \r\n\r\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Essay: Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke!', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'papa-please-dont-smoke', '', '', '2020-04-28 20:05:25', '2020-04-29 00:05:25', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1385', 0, 'post', '', 17),
(1746, 1, '2020-04-20 04:09:27', '2020-04-20 08:09:27', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nCouple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \r\n\r\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (east and west / left and right / in all directions) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\r\n\r\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \r\n\r\nOriginal is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</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>爸爸请您别抽烟了</h4>\r\n爸爸，请您别<strong>抽烟</strong>了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我<strong>悄悄</strong>地把您的烟盒<strong>偷走</strong>，又偷偷地扔进<strong>垃圾桶</strong>里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还<strong>狠</strong>狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到<strong>莫大</strong>的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不<strong>理</strong>你。\r\n\r\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的<strong>肺</strong>已被<strong>尼古丁</strong>熏得<strong>千疮百孔</strong>。\r\n\r\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在<strong>吐痰</strong>。我担心您会离我们而去。那时<strong>丢下</strong>我们，那该怎么办呀。\r\n\r\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\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\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I see you you\'re surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \r\n\r\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke!', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 04:09:27', '2020-04-20 08:09:27', '', 1385, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1385-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1386, 1, '2013-05-28 02:39:53', '2013-05-28 06:39:53', '[two_third]\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. \n\nCouple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \n\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (thing, stuff) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\n\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \n\nThe Chinese title is: 爸爸请您别抽烟了, and the original is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</a>. \n\n这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Erotic\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\n\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我悄悄地把您的烟盒偷走，又偷偷地扔进垃圾桶里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还狠狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不理你。\n\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的肺已被尼古丁熏得千疮百孔。\n\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在吐痰。我担心您会离我们而去。那时丢下我们，那该怎么办呀。\n\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\n\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I you surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \n\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \n\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke! ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-28 02:39:53', '2013-05-28 06:39:53', '', 1385, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/28/1385-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1387, 1, '2013-05-28 03:43:20', '2013-05-28 07:43:20', '[two_third]\r\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. \r\n\r\nCouple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \r\n\r\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (thing, stuff) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\r\n\r\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title is: 爸爸请您别抽烟了, and the original is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</a>. \r\n\r\n这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。\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荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\r\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\r\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\r\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\r\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\r\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\r\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\r\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\r\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\r\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Erotic\r\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\r\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\r\n\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爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我悄悄地把您的烟盒偷走，又偷偷地扔进垃圾桶里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还狠狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不理你。\r\n\r\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的肺已被尼古丁熏得千疮百孔。\r\n\r\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在吐痰。我担心您会离我们而去。那时丢下我们，那该怎么办呀。\r\n\r\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\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\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I you surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \r\n\r\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke! ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-28 03:43:20', '2013-05-28 07:43:20', '', 1385, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/28/1385-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1388, 1, '2013-05-28 10:54:40', '2013-05-28 14:54:40', '', 'Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Character Reading Comprehension', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130603-inline', '', '', '2013-05-28 10:54:40', '2013-05-28 14:54:40', '', 1385, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130603-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1389, 1, '2013-05-28 10:54:42', '2013-05-28 14:54:42', '', 'Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Character Reading Comprehension', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130603', '', '', '2013-05-28 10:54:42', '2013-05-28 14:54:42', '', 1385, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130603.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0);
