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(1067, 1, '2012-03-17 23:48:00', '2012-03-18 03:48:00', '[two_third]\r\nHoo boy, this song is an AWESOME find. Not only is it politically charged in the most amazing way, it\'s ultra-beginner reading. I know many of my readers are beginners, and I\'m trying to cater a little more in that directions. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nBut first, a little back story so we all know what we\'re reading here. The big campaign in Beijing right now is an expansion of the \"Harmonious Society\" campaign. It\'s on every political poster on the roadsides - there are 20 such signs on my street alone. The point, basically, is to do your job in your place and not make waves, or make life uncomfortable for those around you. Sounds nice, but you can kind of see a little ways down that road, and you can understand why \"harmony\" has become a euphemism for ce n z*or*sh p. For example, whenever something \"offensive\" is, erm, stricken from the internet, Chinese sarcastically say that it has been \"harmonized\".  The idea of a harmonious society goes right back to Confucius, whose big idea was that everyone has their duty and their place, and should follow a very strict set of rules governing what people in their position should and should not be able to do. \r\n\r\nSo the concept of harmony (和谐 - [pinyin]he2 xie2[/pinyin] has long been an integral part of Chinese culture, but it\'s also been a point of criticism. Sadly, this whole \"nail that sticks up gets hammered down\" mentality is now giving the honchos a headache, because while the Chinese now have the manpower and the money to take the world economy by storm, they can\'t get enough people to break away, be creative and innovate.\r\n\r\nAmusingly, the solution to this has apparently been to put signs up all over Beijing that say: \"Beijing Spirit: Patriotism, Innovation, Inclusiveness, Morality.\" So now, the message is \"Don\'t piss anyone off, but hurry the hell up and do something unique\".\r\n\r\nGuess that solves that problem. NEXT!\r\n\r\nAnyway, the below is a children\'s song that has probably been made up in the last few years, teaching children why harmony is so important. Early adoption! Let\'s hear it...\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n面 - [pinyin]mian4[/pinyin] - Face, surface\r\n脚 - [pinyin]jiao3[/pinyin] - Foot\r\n虽 - [pinyin]sui1[/pinyin] - Although\r\n只 - [pinyin]zhi3[/pinyin] - Measure word for \"feet\"\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n蓝蓝的天上鸟儿飞，\r\n清清的水里鱼儿游，\r\n密密的森林动物跑，\r\n空空的草地孩子忙，\r\n　　……\r\n啊！这一切多么美好！\r\n和谐的环境需要我们去创造。\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH AND ANSWER\"]\r\nIt has a face but no mouth, it has feet but no hands, though it has four feet, it can\'t walk by itself. \r\n<strong>Answer: 桌子　(A table) </strong>\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Harmonious Environment Song', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1065-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-03-17 23:48:00', '2012-03-18 03:48:00', '', 1065, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/03/17/1065-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1068, 1, '2012-03-18 01:00:30', '2012-03-18 05:00:30', '', 'Study Easy Chinese Childrens Reading: Chinese Children\'s Songs, Poems and Stories', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120405', '', '', '2012-03-18 01:00:30', '2012-03-18 05:00:30', '', 1065, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120405.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1069, 1, '2012-03-18 01:02:50', '2012-03-18 05:02:50', '', 'Study Easy Chinese Childrens Reading: Chinese Children\'s Songs, Poems and Stories', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120405-inline', '', '', '2012-03-18 01:02:50', '2012-03-18 05:02:50', '', 1065, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120405-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1070, 1, '2012-03-18 00:52:44', '2012-03-18 04:52:44', '[two_third]\r\nHoo boy, this song is an AWESOME find. Not only is it politically charged in the most amazing way, it\'s ultra-beginner reading. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nBut first, a little back story so we all know what we\'re reading here (and I do hope after this my blog stays available on the mainland - gonna use some weird spacing and spelling to avoid bots). The big campaign here right now is an expansion of the \"Ha rmoni ous S *ocie\\ ty\" campaign. It\'s on every political poster on the roadsides - there are 20 such signs on my street alone. The point, basically, is to do your job in your place and not make waves, or make life uncomfortable for those around you. Sounds nice, but you can kind of see a little ways down that road, and you can understand why \"harmo  ny\" has become a euphemism for ce n z*or*sh p. For example, whenever something \"offensive\" is, erm, stricken from the internet, Chinese sarcastically say that it has been \"h-a r m onisd\".  This concept goes right back to Confucius, whose big idea was that everyone has their duty and their place, and should follow a very strict set of rules governing what people in their position should and should not be able to do. \r\n\r\nSo the concept of har mony (和谐 - [pinyin]he2 xie2[/pinyin] has long been an integral part of Chinese culture, but it\'s also been a point of criticism. Sadly, this whole \"nail that sticks up gets hammered down\" mentality is now giving the honchos a headache, because while the Chinese now have the manpower and the money to take the world economy by storm, they can\'t get enough people to break away, be creative and innovate. \r\n\r\nAmusingly, the solution to this has apparently been to put signs up all over Beijing that say: \"Beijing Spirit: Patriotism, Innovation, Inclusiveness, Morality.\" So now, the message is \"Don\'t piss anyone off, but hurry up and do something unique\".\r\n\r\nGuess that solves that problem. NEXT!\r\n\r\nAnyway, the below is a children\'s song that has probably been made up in the last few years, teaching children why harmony is so important. There are a couple of intermediate words in the last sentence, but they\'re easy to figure out. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n清 - [pinyin]qing1[/pinyin] - Clear\r\n密 - [pinyin]mi4[/pinyin] - Dense, thick\r\n空 - [pinyin]kong4[/pinyin] - Open, empty, unoccupied\r\n忙 - [pinyin]mang2[/pinyin] - To rush around\r\n啊 - [pinyin]a1[/pinyin] - Ah!, Oh!\r\n和谐 - [pinyin]he2 xie2[/pinyin] - Harmony, harmonious\r\n环境 - [pinyin]huan2 jing4[/pinyin] - Environment\r\n创造 - [pinyin]chuang4 zao4[/pinyin] - to create, to bring about\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n蓝蓝的天上鸟儿飞，\r\n<strong>清</strong>清的水里鱼儿游，\r\n<strong>密</strong>密的森林动物跑，\r\n<strong>空</strong>空的草地孩子<strong>忙</strong>，\r\n　　……\r\n<strong>啊</strong>！这一切<strong>多么</strong>美好！\r\n<strong>和谐</strong>的<strong>环境</strong>需要我们去<strong>创造</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH AND ANSWER\"]\r\nBirds fly in a blue blue sky, \r\nFish swim in the clear clear water, \r\nAnimals run in the thick thick forest, \r\nChildren run around in the open open meadow, \r\n　　……\r\nOh, how wonderful everything is like this, \r\nA harmonious environment we all must create. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Harmonious Environment Song', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1065-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-03-18 00:52:44', '2012-03-18 04:52:44', '', 1065, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/03/18/1065-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1071, 1, '2012-03-18 01:03:08', '2012-03-18 05:03:08', '[two_third]\r\nHoo boy, this song is an AWESOME find. Not only is it politically charged in the most amazing way, it\'s ultra-beginner reading. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120405-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Study Easy Chinese Childrens Reading: Chinese Children&#039;s Songs, Poems and Stories\" title=\"Study Easy Chinese Childrens Reading: Chinese Children&#039;s Songs, Poems and Stories\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />But first, a little back story so we all know what we\'re reading here (and I do hope after this my blog stays available on the mainland - gonna use some weird spacing and spelling to avoid bots). The big campaign here right now is an expansion of the \"Ha rmoni ous S *ocie\\ ty\" campaign. It\'s on every political poster on the roadsides - there are 20 such signs on my street alone. The point, basically, is to do your job in your place and not make waves, or make life uncomfortable for those around you. Sounds nice, but you can kind of see a little ways down that road, and you can understand why \"harmo  ny\" has become a euphemism for ce n z*or*sh p. For example, whenever something \"offensive\" is, erm, stricken from the internet, Chinese sarcastically say that it has been \"h-a r m onisd\".  This concept goes right back to Confucius, whose big idea was that everyone has their duty and their place, and should follow a very strict set of rules governing what people in their position should and should not be able to do. \r\n\r\nSo the concept of har mony (和谐 - [pinyin]he2 xie2[/pinyin] has long been an integral part of Chinese culture, but it\'s also been a point of criticism. Sadly, this whole \"nail that sticks up gets hammered down\" mentality is now giving the honchos a headache, because while the Chinese now have the manpower and the money to take the world economy by storm, they can\'t get enough people to break away, be creative and innovate. \r\n\r\nAmusingly, the solution to this has apparently been to put signs up all over Beijing that say: \"Beijing Spirit: Patriotism, Innovation, Inclusiveness, Morality.\" So now, the message is \"Don\'t piss anyone off, but hurry up and do something unique\".\r\n\r\nGuess that solves that problem. NEXT!\r\n\r\nAnyway, the below is a children\'s song that has probably been made up in the last few years, teaching children why harmony is so important. There are a couple of intermediate words in the last sentence, but they\'re easy to figure out. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n清 - [pinyin]qing1[/pinyin] - Clear\r\n密 - [pinyin]mi4[/pinyin] - Dense, thick\r\n空 - [pinyin]kong4[/pinyin] - Open, empty, unoccupied\r\n忙 - [pinyin]mang2[/pinyin] - To rush around\r\n啊 - [pinyin]a1[/pinyin] - Ah!, Oh!\r\n和谐 - [pinyin]he2 xie2[/pinyin] - Harmony, harmonious\r\n环境 - [pinyin]huan2 jing4[/pinyin] - Environment\r\n创造 - [pinyin]chuang4 zao4[/pinyin] - to create, to bring about\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n蓝蓝的天上鸟儿飞，\r\n<strong>清</strong>清的水里鱼儿游，\r\n<strong>密</strong>密的森林动物跑，\r\n<strong>空</strong>空的草地孩子<strong>忙</strong>，\r\n　　……\r\n<strong>啊</strong>！这一切<strong>多么</strong>美好！\r\n<strong>和谐</strong>的<strong>环境</strong>需要我们去<strong>创造</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH AND ANSWER\"]\r\nBirds fly in a blue blue sky, \r\nFish swim in the clear clear water, \r\nAnimals run in the thick thick forest, \r\nChildren run around in the open open meadow, \r\n　　……\r\nOh, how wonderful everything is like this, \r\nA harmonious environment we all must create. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Harmonious Environment Song', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1065-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-03-18 01:03:08', '2012-03-18 05:03:08', '', 1065, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/03/18/1065-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2387, 1, '2020-05-24 00:31:26', '2020-05-24 04:31:26', '', 'Beginner Chinese Reading Practice Exercise: Communist Folk Stories Revolutionary Heroes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole', '', '', '2020-05-24 00:31:59', '2020-05-24 04:31:59', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole.jpeg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2388, 1, '2020-05-24 00:50:03', '2020-05-24 04:50:03', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments – positive, negative, or neutral – are not allowed, and will be deleted. Dinner table rules, please.\r\n\r\nZhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). He was applauded as a \"People\'s general\", and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned popular posters, like this one:\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole.jpeg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Practice Exercises: Communist Folk Stories Revolutionary Heroes\" width=\"425\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2387\" /> \r\n\r\nZhe De is a revolutionary from the early days of Chinese Communism. For those who don\'t know their CCP history: modern China was founded in 1949, but for the 20-odd years before that, the Red Army was fighting various wars for control of the country. Zhu De was instrumental in these wars, and after 1949, he became a key Party leader and politician. This story is set in the early days of the wars, in 1928. It\'s crazy to think that Zhu De, who was born in 1886 and died in 1976, lived to be 90 years old, but spent three or four decades of his life doing nothing but fighting battles. Whatever your opinions on Communism, that guy was one tough survivor. \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nThis is an example of a story where some of the vocab is intermediate, but the sentence structure is beginner. The intermediate vocab is also used repetitively, so once you look up the tougher words, you\'ll immediately have an opportunity to see them again in the text. The first two sentences are much rougher than the rest, so push through those and it\'ll be easier going from there.\r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here, namely 朱德同志, meaning \"Comrade Zhu De\", 红军, \"the Red Army\", and 井冈山, or \"Jinggang Mountain\". \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words, 队伍 \"troops\", 敌人 \"enemy\", and 战士们 \"soldier\", 打仗 and \"to fight a war\".\r\n\r\n争着去\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.rensheng5.com/xiaogushi/id-9965.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</a>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>朱德的扁担</h4>\r\n1928年，<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>带领一支<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>队伍到<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>。山上是<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>，山下不远就是<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上出产粮食不多，常常要抽出一些人到山下的田园去挑粮。从<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上到田园，来回有五六十里，山高路窄，非常难走。可是每次挑粮大家都<span class=\"highlightText\">争着去</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>也跟战士们一块儿去挑粮。他穿着草鞋，挑起满满的一担粮食，跟大家一块儿爬山。白天挑粮，晚上还常常整夜整夜地学习怎样跟敌人打仗。大家觉得他要做的工作太多，就把他那根扁担藏了起来。可是<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>又找到了一根扁担，写上“<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德</span>扁担，不要拿走”八个大字。大家见了，更敬爱<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>，不好意思再藏他的扁担了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nIn 1928, 1928年，朱德同志带领一支红军队伍到井冈山。山上是红军，山下不远就是敌人。\r\n \r\n井冈山上出产粮食不多，常常要抽出一些人到山下的田园去挑粮。从井冈山上到田园，来回有五六十里，山高路窄，非常难走。可是每次挑粮大家都争着去。\r\n \r\n朱德同志也跟战士们一块儿去挑粮。他穿着草鞋，挑起满满的一担粮食，跟大家一块儿爬山。白天挑粮，晚上还常常整夜整夜地学习怎样跟敌人打仗。大家觉得他要做的工作太多，就把他那根扁担藏了起来。可是朱德同志又找到了一根扁担，写上“朱德扁担，不要拿走”八个大字。大家见了，更敬爱朱德同志，不好意思再藏他的扁担了。\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De\'s Carrying Pole', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 00:50:03', '2020-05-24 04:50:03', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2459, 1, '2020-05-30 23:31:57', '2020-05-31 03:31:57', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis is definitely my favorite find so far, as it falls solidly within my favorite Chinese story genre with my favorite Chinese archetype: the clever government official who catches a crook. The official in this case is Bao Gong (包公) a historical figure from who lived from 999-1062 A.D. and who, like so many historical figures in Chinese history, somehow became a fictional story character. Bao Gong was known to be fair, just and smart. <!--more--> \r\n\r\nIn this story, you can also expect to learn a few Chinese onomatopoeia, words that sound like what they are, like the English word \"boom\". There\'s a ton of them in here. We find \"呜呜\" [pinyin]wu1 wu1[/pinyin], the Chinese equivalent of \"Boo Hoo!\". There\'s also 劈里啪啦 [pinyin]pi1 li5 pa1 la5[/pinyin], the sound of someone whacking something (in this case, with a stick). There\'s 扑通 [pinyin]pu1 tong1[/pinyin], the Chinese equivalent of the English word \"plunk\" - the sound of something falling into water. And there\'s 唧唧喳喳 [pinyin]ji1 ji1 zha1 zha1[/pinyin], the sound of a crowd of people chattering. \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>《包公审石头》</h4>\r\n从前有个小孩，爸爸死了，妈妈病了，日子可不好过了。小孩每天一早起来，提着一篮<strong>油条</strong>，一边跑，一边嚷:“卖油条咯，卖油条咯: 又香又脆的油条，两个<strong>铜钱</strong>买一根。” 有一天，他把油条全卖完了，坐在路边一块石头上，把篮子里的铜钱一个一个的数了一遍，正好一百个。他卖油条，把一双手弄得<strong>油乎乎</strong>的，用手数铜钱，把铜钱也弄得油乎乎的。他瞧着这些油乎乎亮闪闪的铜钱，可高兴了，心想: “今天卖了一百个钱，可以给妈妈买药了。”\r\n\r\n小孩跑了一个上午，可累坏了，他把头一歪，靠在石头上，就呼呼地睡着了，睡了好一会儿才醒来。“哎呀，我得赶快给妈妈买药去了。”小孩站起来一看，糟了，篮子里的铜钱一个也没有了。小孩又着急，又伤心，呜呜地哭了起来。这时候，正好包公带了<strong>人马</strong>到这儿走过。\r\n\r\n包公是什么人呀？包公是个<strong>官</strong>，黑脸黑胡子，人家叫他“包老黑”，又叫他“黑包公”，他办事公道，又很聪明。包公看见小孩哭得很伤心，就问他: “小孩，你为什么哭呀？”“我卖油条得的钱不见了，呜——呜。”“谁偷了你的钱？”“不知道。我靠在这块石头上睡着了，醒来一看，钱就不见了。呜——呜。” \r\n\r\n包公想了一想说: “我知道了，一定是这块石头偷了你的钱，我来<strong>审问</strong>这块石头，叫它把钱还给你。”人们听说包公要审问石头，觉得很奇怪，都跑来看热闹。包公对那块石头说: “石头，石头，小孩的铜钱，是不是你偷的？”石头会说话吗？不会。包公又问了: “石头，石头，小孩的铜钱，是不是你偷的？快说，快说！”石头还是一声不响，它不会说话呀。包公<strong>发火</strong>了: “石头，石头，你不说实话，打烂你的头。”<strong>手下</strong>的人听包公这么一说，就拿起<strong>棍子</strong>，劈里啪啦地打起石头来，一边打，一边喊: “快说，快说！” \r\n\r\n看热闹的人哄的笑起来了，唧唧喳喳地说: “石头怎么会偷钱？”“石头怎么会说话？”“人家都说包公聪明，原来是个<strong>胡涂蛋</strong>！”包公听了很生气，就说: “我在审问石头，你们怎么说我的坏话。哼! 你们每个人都得<strong>罚</strong>一个铜钱！”包公叫手下的人借来一只盆子，倒上水，让看热闹的人往盆子里丢一个铜钱。看热闹的人没办法，只好排着队每人往盆子里丢一个铜钱，“扑通，扑通，扑通……”\r\n\r\n有一个人刚把铜钱丢进盆子里去，就给包公叫手下的人<strong>抓住</strong>了。 包公指着这个人说: “你是小偷，你偷了小孩卖油条得来的铜钱！”大家都觉得很奇怪，这是怎么回事呀？包公说: “你们瞧，只有他丢下的铜钱，水面上<strong>浮</strong>起了一层油，他的铜钱一定是趁小孩睡觉的时候偷来的。” 那个小偷没办法，只好把一百个铜钱还给小孩。 大家都说，包公真聪明。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nLong ago, there was a little child whose father was dead, whose mother was sick, and who had a rough life in general. The child woke up early every day, and scooping up a basket of fried breadsticks, ran about shouting \"Buy breadsticks, buy breadsticks, they\'re fragrant and crispy, two coppers buys one!\" One day, after he\'d sold all his breadsticks, he sat on a rock by the side of the road and counted all the coppers in the basket one at a time - he had exactly 100.  Well, selling breadsticks had made his two hands greasy, and when he used hands to count the coppers, it had made the coppers greasy. Looking at these greasy, bright coppers, he was happy, and in his heart he thought, \"Today I sold 100-worth, I can buy mother some medicine.\" \r\n\r\nThe child had been running all morning, he was exhausted, so he let his head droop, leaned against a rock, and, snoring \"hu hu\" [sound of snoring], fell asleep - after he\'d slept a bit he finally woke up. \"Ai ya! I have to quickly run and buy medicine for mother!\" The child stood up but, oh no, there was not a single coin in the basket. The child was worried and broken-hearted, and began to cry \"wu wu\" [sounds like \'boo hoo\'].  It was just then that Bao Gong, with his men and horses, happened to walk past.\r\n\r\nNow, who was Bao Gong? Bao Gong was an official, black of face and black of beard, whom the people called \"Old Black Bao\" or \"Black Bao Gong\"; he handled matters fairly, and was very smart. Bao Gong saw the child crying so broken-heartedly, and he asked: \"Child, why are you crying?\" \"The money from selling bread sticks is gone, Boo Hoooo!\" \r\n\r\nBao Gong thought for a moment and said, \"I know, it was definitely this rock that stole your money, I\'ll question the rock, and tell it to give you your money back.\" The people nearby heard that Bao Gong was going to interrogate a rock, and they thought this was very strange, so they all ran over and watched excitedly. Bao Gong said to the rock: \"Rock, rock, was it you that stole the child\'s coppers?\" But can a rock speak? It cannot. Bao Gong asked again: \"Rock, rock, the child\'s coppers, wasn\'t it you who stole them? Speak up, speak up!\" The rock still said nothing, it couldn\'t speak. Bao Gong exploded, \"Rock, rock, tell the truth or I\'ll beat you over the head!\" Bao Gong\'s men heard him say this, and they found a stick for him, and he began to <em>pi li pa la</em> [sound of stick hitting rock] hit the rock, hitting and shouting \"Speak up! Speak up!\" \r\n\r\nThe people watching excitedly roared with laughter, and chattering \"ji ji zha zha\" [sound of many people chattering], said: \"How can a rock steal money?\" \"How can a rock speak?\" and \"Everyone said that Bao Gong is smart, actually he\'s a muddled idiot!\" Bao Gong heard all this and was very angry, so he said: \" I\'m interrogating this rock. How can you all say bad things about me? Huh! Each one of you will be fined one copper!” Bao Gong called his men to bring him a borrowed pot - he poured water into it, and made every spectator throw one copper in the pot. The spectators had no choice, they had to line up and each one had to put one copper in the pot. \"Pu tong, pu tong, pu tong...\" [the sound of metal coins plunking into a pot]\r\n\r\nWhen one man in particular put his copper in the pot, Bao Gong ordered his men to seize this man. Bao Gong pointed at the man and said, \"You\'re the thief, you took the coppers the child made from selling breadsticks!\" Everyone thought that was very strange, for how could it be? Bao Gong said: \"All of you look, it was only when this man dropped a copper in the pot that a film of oil floated to the surface, his copper is certainly one that he took advantage of a sleeping child to steal.\" The thief had no choice, he had to give the 100 coppers back to the child. Everyone said, Bao Gong sure is clever. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>\r\n', 'Folk tales of real people: Bao Gong Interrogates A Rock', 'This is definitely my favorite find so far, as it falls solidly within my favorite Chinese story genre with my favorite Chinese archetype: the clever government official who catches a crook.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '723-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-30 23:31:57', '2020-05-31 03:31:57', '', 723, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/30/723-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1276, 1, '2012-09-12 12:10:14', '2012-09-12 16:10:14', '[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 12:10:14', '2012-09-12 16:10:14', '', 1254, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/12/1254-revision-9/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1086, 1, '2012-04-25 04:45:58', '2012-04-25 08:45:58', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis is probably the longest text I\'ve ever posted. The first few sentences are much more intermediate as we learn new vocabulary words and set up the story, but after that the reading is mostly a dialogue which is very smooth and fairly simple, so press through the first paragraph or two if you can. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI kind of can\'t tell whether I should be offended by this or not - the protagonists are two \"lazy Uighurs\" (A Uighur 维吾尔族 [pinyin]wei2 wu2 er3 zu2[/pinyin] is a member of the ethnic minority hailing from the Uighur Autonomous Region of China, a politically touchy topic on the mainland). I\'ve never seen a folk story about heroic Uighurs or smart Uighurs, or really ever seen a story about Uighurs at all. So to run across this one first makes me wonder if the \"lazy Uighur\" thing is a mean stereotype or if I just haven\'t read widely enough. I\'ll have to go in search of some Uighur folk tales in Mandarin and see what I can dig up. \r\n\r\nI really know almost nothing about Uighur cultural history, but this story taught me something interesting: it looks like Uighurs have six-character names (as opposed to two and three character names for Chinese and 4 character names for Japanese). Our two protagonists here are rather lengthily called 哈山代吾来克 [pinyin]Ha1 shan1 dai4 wu2 lai2 ke4[/pinyin] and 沙吾提卡巴克 [pinyin]sha1 wu2 ti2 ka3 ba1 ke4[/pinyin]. \r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing: this story mentions a 大鹏鸟 [pinyin]da peng3 niao3[/pinyin] - called a \"Roc\" in English (though I\'d never heard that word before). Apparently, it\'s a legendary fictional bird of prey, like a giant eagle.\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>两个懒汉</h4>\r\n从前，维吾尔族有这么两个<strong>懒汉</strong>，一个叫哈山代吾来克，一个叫沙吾提卡巴克。他们都懒得<strong>要命</strong>，吃穿全靠父母，一点活儿也不干，一天到晚靠着<strong>墙根</strong>晒太阳。 这样，<strong>久而久之</strong>，弄得他们父母也<strong>讨厌</strong>他们了，<strong>不得不</strong>把他们从家里<strong>赶</strong>了出来。他们俩过着<strong>流浪</strong>的生活，饿了几天肚子，一块<strong>馕</strong>也没有吃到。\r\n\r\n这天，他俩<strong>蹲</strong>在馕坑上商量着今后该怎么办。哈山代吾来克说: “最好到一个有吃有穿，又不需要劳动的地方去，不知道有没有这么个地方？”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “世界上是没有这么个地方的，只天上有吧！听说天上的<strong>神仙</strong>最快活。”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克说: “那末，我们就上天去吧，<strong>干嘛</strong>要呆在这个必须劳动的地方受人<strong>鄙视</strong>呢？”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “<strong>好倒好</strong>，不过怎么上去呢？能找到这么个长<strong>梯子</strong>吗？”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克肯定地说: “这么长的梯子是找不到的。但是，没有梯子也可以上去。”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克惊奇地问道: “怎么上去？”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克说: “<strong>山谷</strong>里有一只大鹏鸟，小时候我跟父亲上去看见过。我们只要把这只大鹏<strong>抓住</strong>，它就会带我们上天去的。”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “好办法，我们就这样办好了。”\r\n\r\n两个朋友就这么决定了。第二天一早，他们就起身往山上走去，走到一个山谷里，找到了大鹏的<strong>窝</strong>，他们在附近<strong>躲藏</strong>起来，等到太阳落山的时候，大鹏飞回来刚落在窝里，就被哈山代吾来克紧紧地抓住了。他连忙招呼沙吾提卡巴克抓住自己的脚，大鹏受了惊，直往天空飞去。\r\n\r\n就这样，沙吾提卡巴克抓住哈山代吾来克的脚，哈山代吾来克抓住大鹏的爪子，<strong>飘飘荡荡</strong>地一直飞向七层云端里去了。\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “嘿！到了吗？我的手吃不消啦！”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克望着云层的空隙说: “快啦！连<strong>窟窿</strong>都已经看见了。”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “窟窿有多大？我们能不能钻进去呀？”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克回答: “有这么大。”哈山代吾来克一面答应着，一面用手来比划窟窿的大小。\r\n\r\n不料哈山代吾来克两手一<strong>松</strong>，这两个懒汉朋友都离开了大鹏鸟，<strong>摇摇晃晃</strong>地掉下来，摔成<strong>肉酱</strong>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\nLong ago, among the Uighur people there were two lazybones, one called Hashandaiwulaike, the other called Shawutikabake. They were both extremely lazy, depending on their parents for food and clothing, unwilling to do even a little work, from morning to night they sat at the base of a wall and sunned themselves. As time passed this way, their parents [began to] loathe them, and had no choice but to kick them out. The two of them lived a drifter\'s life, and went hungry for days at a time, with not even a piece of bread to eat.   \r\n\r\nOne day, they were squatting next to a bread pit discussing what to do. Hashandaiwulaike said: \"The best thing would be to go to a place where there\'s food and clothes, but you don\'t have to work - I don\'t know if there is such a place?\"\r\n\r\nShawutikabake said: \"There\'s no such place on this earth, only in heaven! I heard that the immortals in heaven are the happiest.\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In that case, we should go to heaven. Why on earth would we stay in this place where we have to work and suffer other people\'s disdain?\" \r\n\r\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s all very well and good, but how will we get up there? Can we find a ladder that long?\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"We could never find a ladder that long, but you can still get up there without a ladder.\" \r\n\r\nShawutikabake said: \"How?\"\r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In the valley there\'s a Roc bird, when I was little I saw it when I went up there with my father. All we have to do is grab onto the Roc, and he will take us up to heaven.\"\r\n\r\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s a great idea, we\'ll do it that way.\" \r\n\r\nSo the two friends decided thus. On the morning of the next day, they got us and walked to the mountain. When they got to the mountain valley, they found the Roc\'s nest, and they hid themselves next to it. They waited until the sun fell behind the mountain and the Roc flew back and had just landed in its nest, when Hashandaiwulaike grabbed it and held it tightly. He promptly called to Shawutikabake to grab his feet, and the Roc was frightened and flew into the sky.\r\n\r\nSo Shawutikabake  was holding on to Hashandaiwulaike\'s feet, and Hashandaiwulaike  was holding on to the Roc\'s claws, and they floated towards the seventh level of clouds [heaven]. \r\n\r\nShawutikabake asked,\" Hey! Are we there yet? I can\'t hold on much longer!\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike looked into a gap between the clouds and said, \"Almost! I can already see the opening!\" \r\n\r\nShawutikabake asked, \"How big is the opening? Can we fit into it?\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike answered, \"It\'s this big.\"   As Hashandaiwulaike answered, he used his hands to demonstrate how big the opening [to heaven] was. \r\n\r\nBut to his surprise, as soon as Hashandaiwulaike let go, the two lazy friends parted ways with the Roc, tumbled down, and were smashed into mincemeat. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Fable: The Two Lazybones', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'the-two-lazybones', '', '', '2020-04-28 19:47:46', '2020-04-28 23:47:46', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1086', 0, 'post', '', 6),
(1777, 1, '2020-04-20 05:20:09', '2020-04-20 09:20:09', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis is probably the longest text I\'ve ever posted. The first few sentences are much more intermediate as we learn new vocabulary words and set up the story, but after that the reading is mostly a dialogue which is very smooth and fairly simple, so press through the first paragraph or two if you can. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI kind of can\'t tell weather I should be offended by this or not - the protagonists are two \"lazy Uighurs\" (A Uighur 维吾尔族 [pinyin]wei2 wu2 er3 zu2[/pinyin] is a member of the ethnic minority hailing from the Uighur Autonomous Region of China, a politically touchy topic on the mainland). I\'ve never seen a folk story about heroic Uighurs or smart Uighurs, or really ever seen a story about Uighurs at all. So to run across this one first makes me wonder if the \"lazy Uighur\" thing is a mean stereotype or if I just haven\'t read widely enough. I\'ll have to go in search of some Uighur folk tales in Mandarin and see what I can dig up. \r\n\r\nI really know almost nothing about Uighur cultural history, but this story taught me something interesting: it looks like Uighurs have six-character names (as opposed to two and three character names for Chinese and 4 character names for Japanese). Our two protagonists here are rather lengthily called 哈山代吾来克 [pinyin]Ha1 shan1 dai4 wu2 lai2 ke4[/pinyin] and 沙吾提卡巴克 [pinyin]sha1 wu2 ti2 ka3 ba1 ke4[/pinyin]. \r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing: this story mentions a 大鹏鸟 [pinyin]da peng3 niao3[/pinyin] - called a \"Roc\" in English (though I\'d never heard that word before). Apparently, it\'s a legendary fictional bird of prey, like a giant eagle.\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>两个懒汉</h4>\r\n从前，维吾尔族有这么两个<strong>懒汉</strong>，一个叫哈山代吾来克，一个叫沙吾提卡巴克。他们都懒得<strong>要命</strong>，吃穿全靠父母，一点活儿也不干，一天到晚靠着<strong>墙根</strong>晒太阳。 这样，<strong>久而久之</strong>，弄得他们父母也<strong>讨厌</strong>他们了，<strong>不得不</strong>把他们从家里<strong>赶</strong>了出来。他们俩过着<strong>流浪</strong>的生活，饿了几天肚子，一块<strong>馕</strong>也没有吃到。\r\n\r\n这天，他俩<strong>蹲</strong>在馕坑上商量着今后该怎么办。哈山代吾来克说: “最好到一个有吃有穿，又不需要劳动的地方去，不知道有没有这么个地方？”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “世界上是没有这么个地方的，只天上有吧！听说天上的<strong>神仙</strong>最快活。”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克说: “那末，我们就上天去吧，<strong>干嘛</strong>要呆在这个必须劳动的地方受人<strong>鄙视</strong>呢？”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “<strong>好倒好</strong>，不过怎么上去呢？能找到这么个长<strong>梯子</strong>吗？”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克肯定地说: “这么长的梯子是找不到的。但是，没有梯子也可以上去。”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克惊奇地问道: “怎么上去？”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克说: “<strong>山谷</strong>里有一只大鹏鸟，小时候我跟父亲上去看见过。我们只要把这只大鹏<strong>抓住</strong>，它就会带我们上天去的。”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “好办法，我们就这样办好了。”\r\n\r\n两个朋友就这么决定了。第二天一早，他们就起身往山上走去，走到一个山谷里，找到了大鹏的<strong>窝</strong>，他们在附近<strong>躲藏</strong>起来，等到太阳落山的时候，大鹏飞回来刚落在窝里，就被哈山代吾来克紧紧地抓住了。他连忙招呼沙吾提卡巴克抓住自己的脚，大鹏受了惊，直往天空飞去。\r\n\r\n就这样，沙吾提卡巴克抓住哈山代吾来克的脚，哈山代吾来克抓住大鹏的爪子，<strong>飘飘荡荡</strong>地一直飞向七层云端里去了。\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “嘿！到了吗？我的手吃不消啦！”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克望着云层的空隙说: “快啦！连<strong>窟窿</strong>都已经看见了。”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “窟窿有多大？我们能不能钻进去呀？”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克回答: “有这么大。”哈山代吾来克一面答应着，一面用手来比划窟窿的大小。\r\n\r\n不料哈山代吾来克两手一<strong>松</strong>，这两个懒汉朋友都离开了大鹏鸟，<strong>摇摇晃晃</strong>地掉下来，摔成<strong>肉酱</strong>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\nLong ago, among the Uighur people there were two lazybones, one called Hashandaiwulaike, the other called Shawutikabake. They were both extremely lazy, depending on their parents for food and clothing, unwilling to do even a little work, from morning to night they sat at the base of a wall and sunned themselves. As time passed this way, their parents [began to] loathe them, and had no choice but to kick them out. The two of them lived a drifter\'s life, and went hungry for days at a time, with not even a piece of bread to eat.   \r\n\r\nOne day, they were squatting next to a bread pit discussing what to do. Hashandaiwulaike said: \"The best thing would be to go to a place where there\'s food and clothes, but you don\'t have to work - I don\'t know if there is such a place?\"\r\n\r\nShawutikabake said: \"There\'s no such place on this earth, only in heaven! I heard that the immortals in heaven are the happiest.\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In that case, we should go to heaven. Why on earth would we stay in this place where we have to work and suffer other people\'s disdain?\" \r\n\r\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s all very well and good, but how will we get up there? Can we find a ladder that long?\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"We could never find a ladder that long, but you can still get up there without a ladder.\" \r\n\r\nShawutikabake said: \"How?\"\r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In the valley there\'s a Roc bird, when I was little I saw it when I went up there with my father. All we have to do is grab onto the Roc, and he will take us up to heaven.\"\r\n\r\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s a great idea, we\'ll do it that way.\" \r\n\r\nSo the two friends decided thus. On the morning of the next day, they got us and walked to the mountain. When they got to the mountain valley, they found the Roc\'s nest, and they hid themselves next to it. They waited until the sun fell behind the mountain and the Roc flew back and had just landed in its nest, when Hashandaiwulaike grabbed it and held it tightly. He promptly called to Shawutikabake to grab his feet, and the Roc was frightened and flew into the sky.\r\n\r\nSo Shawutikabake  was holding on to Hashandaiwulaike\'s feet, and Hashandaiwulaike  was holding on to the Roc\'s claws, and they floated towards the seventh level of clouds [heaven]. \r\n\r\nShawutikabake asked,\" Hey! Are we there yet? I can\'t hold on much longer!\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike looked into a gap between the clouds and said, \"Almost! I can already see the opening!\" \r\n\r\nShawutikabake asked, \"How big is the opening? Can we fit into it?\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike answered, \"It\'s this big.\"   As Hashandaiwulaike answered, he used his hands to demonstrate how big the opening [to heaven] was. \r\n\r\nBut to his surprise, as soon as Hashandaiwulaike let go, the two lazy friends parted ways with the Roc, tumbled down, and were smashed into mincemeat. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'The Two Lazybones', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1086-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:20:09', '2020-04-20 09:20:09', '', 1086, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1086-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1078, 1, '2012-04-10 05:01:45', '2012-04-10 09:01:45', '', 'Practice Reading Mandarin Chinese: Simlified Chinese TV and Movie Vocabulary, Advanced', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120410', '', '', '2012-04-10 05:01:45', '2012-04-10 09:01:45', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120410.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1079, 1, '2012-04-10 05:11:19', '2012-04-10 09:11:19', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Advanced Exercises', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120410-inline', '', '', '2012-04-10 05:11:19', '2012-04-10 09:11:19', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120410-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0);
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(1081, 1, '2012-04-18 22:39:21', '2012-04-19 02:39:21', '[two_third]\nIn this essay you\'ll find a few specialized martial-arts words, but it\'s not really the vocabulary that places this in the \"advanced\" category. It\'s more that most of the text is full of wax-on, wax-off Karate Kid statements, as the martial arts master talks about how putting oneself in a position of inferiority allows you to attain superiority. \n\nThis kind of \"making logic out of illogical-sounding contradictions\" is very typical of martial arts and Eastern mysticism, and most of this type of stuff comes strait out of Taoist philosophy. \n\nYou\'ll enjoy this if you\'re an upper-intermediate or advanced reader, and are interested in some specialized vocabulary. \n\n<a href=\"http://gushi365.com/info/6017.html\">See the original</a>\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n马来西亚 - [pinyin]ma3 lai2 xi1 ya4[/pinyin] - Malaysia\n性骚扰 - [pinyin]xing4 sao1 rao3[/pinyin] - Sexual Harassment\n据 - [pinyin]ju4[/pinyin] - According to (reports, etc.)\n挡风玻璃 - [pinyin]dang3 feng1 bo1 li5[/pinyin] - Windshield\n吉隆坡 - [pinyin]ji2 long2 po1[/pinyin] - Kuala Lumpur\n妇女、家庭和社会发展部 - [pinyin]fu4 nv3 jia1 ting2 he2 she4 hui4 fa1 zhan3 bu4 [/pinyin] - Department of Women, Family and Community Development\n项 - [pinyin]xiang4[/pinyin] - Classifier for projects, actions, decisions and tasks\n举措 - [pinyin]ju3 cuo4[/pinyin] - Action, decision\n担忧 - [pinyin]dan1 you1[/pinyin] - To be concerned \n袭击 - [pinyin]xi2 ji1[/pinyin] - An attack, esp. by surprise\n埃及 - [pinyin]ai1 ji2[/pinyin] - Egypt\n伊朗 - [pinyin]yi1 lang3[/pinyin] - Iran\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n一名<strong>剑客</strong>去拜访一位<strong>武林泰斗</strong>，<strong>请教</strong>他是如何练就非凡武艺的。武林泰斗拿出一把只有一尺长的剑，说:“<strong>多亏</strong>了它，才让我有了今天的成就。”\n\n    剑客<strong>大为不解</strong>，问:“别人的剑都是三尺三寸长的，而你的剑为什么只有一尺长呢?<strong>兵器</strong><strong>谱</strong>上说:剑短一分，险增三分。拿着这么短的剑无疑是处于一种<strong>劣势</strong>，你怎么还说这剑好呢?”\n\n    武林泰斗说:“就因为在兵器上我处于劣势，所以我才会时时刻刻想到，如果与别人对阵，我会是多么的危险，所以我只有勤练剑招，以剑招之长补兵器之短，这样一来，我的剑招不断进步，劣势就转化为优势了。”\n\n    的确，优势和劣势有时候并不是绝对的。把自己放在劣势，就是给自己压力，为自己注入进取的动力，敢于把自己放在劣势的人，最终就有可能把劣势转化成为优势，从而取得胜利。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nA swordsman went to pay a visit to a martial arts master [literally: a leading figure in martial arts circles] to ask for guidance on how to train [so as to attain] exceptional martial skill. The martial arts master took out a sword that was only 1 foot long, and said: \"Thanks to this, I\'ve accomplished what I have today.\" \n\nBewildered, the swordsman asked, \"Other people\'s swords are all 3 feet 3 inches long, so why is yours only one foot long? The weapons chart says that: if your sword is one-fold shorter, the danger to you is threefold greater.  兵器谱上说:剑短一分，险增三分。拿着这么短的剑无疑是处于一种劣势，你怎么还说这剑好呢?”\n\n    武林泰斗说:“就因为在兵器上我处于劣势，所以我才会时时刻刻想到，如果与别人对阵，我会是多么的危险，所以我只有勤练剑招，以剑招之长补兵器之短，这样一来，我的剑招不断进步，劣势就转化为优势了。”\n\n    的确，优势和劣势有时候并不是绝对的。把自己放在劣势，就是给自己压力，为自己注入进取的动力，敢于把自己放在劣势的人，最终就有可能把劣势转化成为优势，从而取得胜利。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Martial Arts Mastery: Put Yourself at a Disadvantage', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '989-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-18 22:39:21', '2012-04-19 02:39:21', '', 989, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/18/989-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1082, 1, '2012-04-18 23:27:22', '2012-04-19 03:27:22', '[two_third]\nIn this essay you\'ll find a few specialized martial-arts words, but it\'s not really the vocabulary that places this in the \"advanced\" category. It\'s more that most of the text is full of wax-on, wax-off Karate Kid statements, as the martial arts master talks about how putting oneself in a position of inferiority allows you to attain superiority. <!--more-->\n\nThis kind of \"making logic out of illogical-sounding contradictions\" is very typical of martial arts and Eastern mysticism, and most of this type of stuff comes strait out of Taoist philosophy. \n\nThere are two phrases I found grammatically difficult to get past, the first being 处于劣势, or as the text has it, 处于一种劣势. \"处于\" [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] means to \"be in a state of...\", or \"to be in a position of...\". 劣势 [pinyin]lie4 shi4[/pinyin] means \"inferior\". Put together, this translates into English as \"to be at a disadvantage\", or in the case of 处于一种劣势, \"to be at some kind of disadvantage\".\n\nThe second and more difficult phrase is found in the third paragraph: 以剑招之长补兵器之短. The thing that makes this sentence difficult is all the accursed nebulous words that have many meanings - we\'ve got 以, 之, and 补 all smooshed together, and these words are the keys to unlocking the meaning of this sentence. So let\'s break this down word by word and see if all the definitions together don\'t give us a clue: \n\n以 - [pinyin]yi3[/pinyin] - The definition of 以 that\'s being used here is \"by means of\" or \"by way of\"\n剑招 - [pinyin]jian4 zhao1[/pinyin] - Swordsmanship maneuvers\n之 - [pinyin]zhi1[/pinyin] - of\n长 - [pinyin]chang2[/pinyin] - length\n补 - [pinyin]bu3[/pinyin] -   \"to make up for\"\n兵器 - [pinyin]bing1 qi4[/pinyin] -  Weapon\n之 - [pinyin]zhi1[/pinyin] - of\n短 - [pinyin]duan3[/pinyin] - shortness\n\nAh hah! Though this is still a little convoluted, once we know the meaning of 以 and 补 in this instance, this now becomes much simpler to read. It says: \"By means of the \'length\' of [my] swordsmanship maneuvers, [I] make up for the shortness of [my] weapon.\" We can see here that \"length\" doesn\'t really mean how \"long\" something is - \"length\" here means a high level of skill. The word \"length\" is just being used to juxtapose against the word \"short\". \n\nYou\'ll enjoy this if you\'re an upper-intermediate or advanced reader, and are interested in some specialized vocabulary. \n\n<a href=\"http://gushi365.com/info/6017.html\">See the original</a>\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n剑客 - [pinyin]jian4 ke4[/pinyin] - Swordsman, fencer\n武林泰斗 - [pinyin]wu3 lin2 tai4 dou3[/pinyin] - Martial arts master - lit: leading scholar in martial arts circles\n请教 - [pinyin]qing3 jiao4[/pinyin] - Ask for guidance\n多亏 - [pinyin]duo1 kui1[/pinyin] - Thanks to\n大为不解 - [pinyin]da4 wei4 bu4 jie3[/pinyin] - Bewildered\n兵器 - [pinyin]bing1 qi4[/pinyin] - Department of Women, Family and Community Development\n谱 - [pinyin]pu3[/pinyin] - Chart, table, register\n处于 - [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] - To be in a state of...\n劣势 - [pinyin]lie4 shi4[/pinyin] - Inferior, disadvantaged\n对阵 - [pinyin]dui4 zhen4[/pinyin] - Poised for battle\n招 - [pinyin]zhao1[/pinyin] - Square up for a fight\n补 - [pinyin]bu3[/pinyin] - To make up for\n优势 - [pinyin]you1 shi4[/pinyin] - Advantage, superior\n注入 - [pinyin]zhu4 ru4[/pinyin] - To pour into\n敢于 - [pinyin]gan3 yu2[/pinyin] - To dare to\n胜利 - [pinyin]sheng4 li4[/pinyin] - Victory\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n一名<strong>剑客</strong>去拜访一位<strong>武林泰斗</strong>，<strong>请教</strong>他是如何练就非凡武艺的。武林泰斗拿出一把只有一尺长的剑，说:“<strong>多亏</strong>了它，才让我有了今天的成就。”\n\n 剑客<strong>大为不解</strong>，问:“别人的剑都是三尺三寸长的，而你的剑为什么只有一尺长呢?<strong>兵器</strong><strong>谱</strong>上说:剑短一分，险增三分。拿着这么短的剑无疑是<strong>处于</strong>一种<strong>劣势</strong>，你怎么还说这剑好呢?”\n\n武林泰斗说:“就因为在兵器上我处于劣势，所以我才会时时刻刻想到，如果与别人<strong>对阵</strong>，我会是多么的危险，所以我只有勤练剑<strong>招</strong>，以剑招之长<strong>补</strong>兵器之短，这样一来，我的剑招不断进步，劣势就转化为<strong>优势</strong>了。”\n\n    的确，优势和劣势有时候并不是绝对的。把自己放在劣势，就是给自己压力，为自己<strong>注入</strong>进取的动力，<strong>敢于</strong>把自己放在劣势的人，最终就有可能把劣势转化成为优势，从而取得<strong>胜利</strong>。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nA swordsman went to pay a visit to a martial arts master [literally: a leading figure in martial arts circles] to ask for guidance on how to train [so as to attain] exceptional martial skill. The martial arts master took out a sword that was only 1 foot long, and said: \"Thanks to this, I\'ve accomplished what I have today.\" \n\nBewildered, the swordsman asked, \"Other people\'s swords are all 3 feet 3 inches long, so why is yours only one foot long? The weapons chart says that: if your sword is one-fold shorter, the danger to you is threefold greater. Using this short of a sword undoubtedly places you at a disadvantage, how can you say this is a good sword?\" \n\nThe martial arts master said: \"That\'s precisely it - my weapon puts me at a disadvantage, so I must always be thinking that if I\'m up against another person in a fight, the danger to me is greater, and all I have is my diligently practiced sword maneuvers, so the \"length\" of my maneuvers must make up for the shortness of my sword; thus, I\'m always improving, and a disadvantage is transformed into an advantage.    \n\nIndeed, \"advantage\" and \"disadvantage\" really isn\'t always set in stone. If you put yourself at a disadvantage, you put pressure on yourself, pouring into yourself the power to forge ahead; those who dare to place themselves in an inferior position, can perhaps in the end turn their disadvantage into an advantage, and thereby achieve victory. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Martial Arts Mastery: Put Yourself at a Disadvantage', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '989-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-18 23:27:22', '2012-04-19 03:27:22', '', 989, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/18/989-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1083, 1, '2012-04-18 23:50:14', '2012-04-19 03:50:14', '', 'Reading Chinese: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Chinese Practice Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120419', '', '', '2012-04-18 23:50:14', '2012-04-19 03:50:14', '', 989, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120419.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1084, 1, '2012-04-18 23:50:15', '2012-04-19 03:50:15', '', 'Reading Chinese: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Chinese Practice Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120419-inline', '', '', '2012-04-18 23:50:15', '2012-04-19 03:50:15', '', 989, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120419-inline.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1085, 1, '2012-04-18 23:32:06', '2012-04-19 03:32:06', '[two_third]\nIn this essay you\'ll learn to read Chinese martial arts words - well, a few, anyway - but it\'s not really the vocabulary that places this in the \"advanced\" category. It\'s more that most of the text is full of wax-on, wax-off Karate Kid statements, as the martial arts master talks about how putting oneself in a position of inferiority allows you to attain superiority. <!--more-->\n\nThis kind of \"making logic out of illogical-sounding contradictions\" is very typical of martial arts and Eastern mysticism, and most of this type of stuff comes strait out of Taoist philosophy. \n\nThere are two phrases I found grammatically difficult to get past, the first being 处于劣势, or as the text has it, 处于一种劣势. \"处于\" [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] means to \"be in a state of...\", or \"to be in a position of...\". 劣势 [pinyin]lie4 shi4[/pinyin] means \"inferior\". Put together, this translates into English as \"to be at a disadvantage\", or in the case of 处于一种劣势, \"to be at some kind of disadvantage\".\n\nThe second and more difficult phrase is found in the third paragraph: 以剑招之长补兵器之短. The thing that makes this sentence difficult is all the accursed nebulous words that have many meanings - we\'ve got 以, 之, and 补 all smooshed together, and these words are the keys to unlocking the meaning of this sentence. So let\'s break this down word by word and see if all the definitions together don\'t give us a clue: \n\n以 - [pinyin]yi3[/pinyin] - The definition of 以 that\'s being used here is \"by means of\" or \"by way of\"\n剑招 - [pinyin]jian4 zhao1[/pinyin] - Swordsmanship maneuvers\n之 - [pinyin]zhi1[/pinyin] - of\n长 - [pinyin]chang2[/pinyin] - length\n补 - [pinyin]bu3[/pinyin] -   \"to make up for\"\n兵器 - [pinyin]bing1 qi4[/pinyin] -  Weapon\n之 - [pinyin]zhi1[/pinyin] - of\n短 - [pinyin]duan3[/pinyin] - shortness\n\nAh hah! Though this is still a little convoluted, once we know the meaning of 以 and 补 in this instance, this now becomes much simpler to read. It says: \"By means of the \'length\' of [my] swordsmanship maneuvers, [I] make up for the shortness of [my] weapon.\" We can see here that \"length\" doesn\'t really mean how \"long\" something is - \"length\" here means a high level of skill. The word \"length\" is just being used to juxtapose against the word \"short\". \n\nYou\'ll enjoy this if you\'re an upper-intermediate or advanced reader, and are interested in some specialized vocabulary. \n\n<a href=\"http://gushi365.com/info/6017.html\">See the original</a>\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n剑客 - [pinyin]jian4 ke4[/pinyin] - Swordsman, fencer\n武林泰斗 - [pinyin]wu3 lin2 tai4 dou3[/pinyin] - Martial arts master - lit: leading scholar in martial arts circles\n请教 - [pinyin]qing3 jiao4[/pinyin] - Ask for guidance\n多亏 - [pinyin]duo1 kui1[/pinyin] - Thanks to\n大为不解 - [pinyin]da4 wei4 bu4 jie3[/pinyin] - Bewildered\n兵器 - [pinyin]bing1 qi4[/pinyin] - Department of Women, Family and Community Development\n谱 - [pinyin]pu3[/pinyin] - Chart, table, register\n处于 - [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] - To be in a state of...\n劣势 - [pinyin]lie4 shi4[/pinyin] - Inferior, disadvantaged\n对阵 - [pinyin]dui4 zhen4[/pinyin] - Poised for battle\n招 - [pinyin]zhao1[/pinyin] - Square up for a fight\n补 - [pinyin]bu3[/pinyin] - To make up for\n优势 - [pinyin]you1 shi4[/pinyin] - Advantage, superior\n注入 - [pinyin]zhu4 ru4[/pinyin] - To pour into\n敢于 - [pinyin]gan3 yu2[/pinyin] - To dare to\n胜利 - [pinyin]sheng4 li4[/pinyin] - Victory\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n一名<strong>剑客</strong>去拜访一位<strong>武林泰斗</strong>，<strong>请教</strong>他是如何练就非凡武艺的。武林泰斗拿出一把只有一尺长的剑，说:“<strong>多亏</strong>了它，才让我有了今天的成就。”\n\n 剑客<strong>大为不解</strong>，问:“别人的剑都是三尺三寸长的，而你的剑为什么只有一尺长呢?<strong>兵器</strong><strong>谱</strong>上说:剑短一分，险增三分。拿着这么短的剑无疑是<strong>处于</strong>一种<strong>劣势</strong>，你怎么还说这剑好呢?”\n\n武林泰斗说:“就因为在兵器上我处于劣势，所以我才会时时刻刻想到，如果与别人<strong>对阵</strong>，我会是多么的危险，所以我只有勤练剑<strong>招</strong>，以剑招之长<strong>补</strong>兵器之短，这样一来，我的剑招不断进步，劣势就转化为<strong>优势</strong>了。”\n\n    的确，优势和劣势有时候并不是绝对的。把自己放在劣势，就是给自己压力，为自己<strong>注入</strong>进取的动力，<strong>敢于</strong>把自己放在劣势的人，最终就有可能把劣势转化成为优势，从而取得<strong>胜利</strong>。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nA swordsman went to pay a visit to a martial arts master [literally: a leading figure in martial arts circles] to ask for guidance on how to train [so as to attain] exceptional martial skill. The martial arts master took out a sword that was only 1 foot long, and said: \"Thanks to this, I\'ve accomplished what I have today.\" \n\nBewildered, the swordsman asked, \"Other people\'s swords are all 3 feet 3 inches long, so why is yours only one foot long? The weapons chart says that: if your sword is one-fold shorter, the danger to you is threefold greater. Using this short of a sword undoubtedly places you at a disadvantage, how can you say this is a good sword?\" \n\nThe martial arts master said: \"That\'s precisely it - my weapon puts me at a disadvantage, so I must always be thinking that if I\'m up against another person in a fight, the danger to me is greater, and all I have is my diligently practiced sword maneuvers, so the \"length\" of my maneuvers must make up for the shortness of my sword; thus, I\'m always improving, and a disadvantage is transformed into an advantage.    \n\nIndeed, \"advantage\" and \"disadvantage\" really isn\'t always set in stone. If you put yourself at a disadvantage, you put pressure on yourself, pouring into yourself the power to forge ahead; those who dare to place themselves in an inferior position, can perhaps in the end turn their disadvantage into an advantage, and thereby achieve victory. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Martial Arts Mastery: Put Yourself at a Disadvantage', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '989-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-18 23:32:06', '2012-04-19 03:32:06', '', 989, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/18/989-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1087, 1, '2012-04-21 00:30:59', '2012-04-21 04:30:59', '[two_third]\nThis is probably the longest text I\'ve ever posted, but happily it\'s very beginner reading. The first few sentences are much more intermediate as we learn new vocabulary words and set up the story, but after that the reading is very smooth and very simple, so press through the first paragraph or two if you can. <!--more-->\n\nI kind of can\'t tell weather I should be offended by this or not - the protagonists are two \"lazy Uighurs\" (A Uighur 维吾尔族 [pinyin]wei2 wu2 er3 zu2[/pinyin] is a member of the ethnic minority hailing from the Uighur Autonomous Region of China, a politically touchy topic on the mainland). I guess I\'m a little iffy on that because I\'ve never seen a folk story about heroic Uighurs or smart Uighurs, or really ever seen a story about Uighurs at all. So to run across this one first makes me wonder if the \"lazy Uighur\" thing is a mean stereotype or if I just haven\'t read widely enough. I\'ll have to go in search of some Uighur folk tales in Mandarin and see what I can dig up. \n\nI really know almost nothing about Uighur cultural history, but this story taught me something interesting: it looks like Uighurs have six-character names. Our two protagonists here are rather lengthily called 哈山代吾来克 [pinyin]Ha1 shan1 dai4 wu2 lai2 ke4[/pinyin] and 沙吾提卡巴克 [pinyin]sha1 wu2 ti2 ka3 ba1 ke4[/pinyin]. \n\nAnother interesting thing: this story mentions a 大鹏鸟 [pinyin]da peng3 niao3[/pinyin] - called a \"Roc\" in English (though I\'d never heard that word before). Apparently, it\'s a legendary fictional bird of prey, like a giant Eagle.\n\nThe Chinese title of this post is 两个懒汉 - the two lazybones. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n众星捧月- [pinyin]zhong4 xing1 peng3 yue4[/pinyin] - Core figure in a group, group around a revered leader\n冷酷 - [pinyin]leng3 ku4[/pinyin] - Callous, unfeeling\n帅哥 - [pinyin]shuai4 ge1[/pinyin] - Hot guy, handsome man\n出色 - [pinyin]chu1 se4[/pinyin] - Remarkable, outstanding\n社交白痴 - [pinyin]she4 jiao1 bai2 chi1[/pinyin] - Social idiot, not know how to interact with others socially\n死党 - [pinyin]si3 dang3[/pinyin] - Inseparable sidekick\n一塌糊涂 - [pinyin]yi1 ta1 hu2 tu5[/pinyin] - Muddled and collapsing, in complete shambles\n出头 - [pinyin]chu1 tou2[/pinyin] - Get out of trouble\n亲密无间 - [pinyin]qin1 mi4 wu2 jian1[/pinyin] - Close relation\n独白 - [pinyin]du2 bai2[/pinyin] - A monologue\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n从前，维吾尔族有这么两个懒汉，一个叫哈山代吾来克，一个叫沙吾提卡巴克。他们都懒得要命，吃穿全靠父母，一点活儿也不干，一天到晚靠着墙根晒太阳。 这样，久而久之，弄得他们父母也讨厌他们了，不得不把他们从家里赶了出来。他们俩过着流浪的生活，饿了几天肚子，一块馕也没有吃到。\n\n这天，他俩蹲在馕坑上商量着今后该怎么办。哈山代吾来克说: “最好到一个有吃有穿，又不需要劳动的地方去，不知道有没有这么个地方？”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “世界上是没有这么个地方的，只伯天上有吧！听说天上的神仙最快活。”\n\n哈山代吾来克说: “那末，我们就上天去吧，干嘛要呆在这个必须劳动的地方受人鄙视呢？”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “好倒好，不过怎么上去呢？能找到这么个长梯子吗？”\n\n哈山代吾来克肯定地说: “这么长的梯子是找不到的。但是，没有梯子也可以上去。”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克惊奇地问道: “怎么上去？”\n\n哈山代吾来克说: “山谷里有一只大鹏鸟，小时候我跟父亲上去看见过。我们只要把这只大鹏抓住，它就会带我们上天去的。”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “好办法，我们就这样办好了。”\n\n两个朋友就这么决定了。第二天一早，他们就起身往山上走去，走到一个山谷里，找到了大鹏的窝，他们在附近躲藏起来，等到太阳落山的时候，大鹏飞回来刚落在窝里，就被哈山代吾来克紧紧地抓住了。他连忙招呼沙吾提卡巴克抓住自己的脚，大鹏受了惊，直往天空飞去。\n\n就这样，沙吾提卡巴克抓住哈山代吾来克的脚，哈山代吾来克抓住大鹏的爪子，飘飘荡荡地一直飞向七层云端里去了。\n\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “嘿！到了吗？我的手吃不消啦！”\n\n哈山代吾来克望着云层的空隙说: “快啦！连窟窿都已经看见了。”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “窟窿有多大？我们能不能钻进去呀？”\n\n哈山代吾来克回答: “有这么大。”哈山代吾来克一面答应着，一面用手来比划窟窿的大小。\n\n不料哈山代吾来克两手一松，这两个懒汉朋友都离开了大鹏鸟，摇摇晃晃地掉下来，摔成肉酱了。\n</div>\n\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH\"]\nLong ago, among the Uighur people there were two lazybones, one called Hashandaiwulaike, the other called Shawutikabake. They were both extremely lazy, depending on their parents for food and clothing, unwilling to do even a little work, from morning to night they sat at the base of a wall and sunned themselves. As time passed this way, their parents [began to] loathe them, and had no choice but to kick them out. The two of them lived a drifter\'s life, and went hungry for days at a time, with not even a piece of bread to eat.   \n\nOne day, they were squatting next to a bread pit discussing what to do. Hashandaiwulaike said: The ebst thing would be to go to a place where there\'s food and clothes, but you don\'t have to work - I don\'t know if there is such a place?\"\n\nShawutikabake said: \"There\'s no such place on this earth, only in heaven! I heard that the immortals in heaven are the happiest.\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In that case, we should go to heaven. Why on earth would we stay in this place where we have to work and suffer other people\'s disdain?\" \n\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s all very well and good, but how will we get up there? Can we find a ladder that long?\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"We could never find a ladder that long, but you can still get up there without a ladder.\" \n\nShawutikabake said: \"How?\"\n\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In the valley there\'s a Roc bird, when I was little I saw it when I went up there with my father. All we have to do is grab onto the Roc, and he will take us up to heaven.\"\n\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s a great idea, we\'ll do it that way.\" \n\nSo the two friends decided thus. On the morning of the next day, they got us and walked to the mountain. When they got to the mountain valley, they found the Roc\'s nest, and they hid themselves next to it. They waited until the sun fell behind the mountain and the Roc flew back and had just landed in its nest, when Hashandaiwulaike grabbed it and held it tightly. He promptly urged Shawutikabake to grab his feet, and the Roc was frightened and flew into the sky.\n\nSo Shawutikabake  was holding on to Hashandaiwulaike\'s feet, and Hashandaiwulaike  was holding on to the Roc\'s claws, and they floated towards the seventh level of clouds [heaven]. \n\nShawutikabake asked,\" Hey! Are we there yet? I can\'t hold on much longer!\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike looked into a gap between the clouds and said, \"Almost! I can already see the entrance [literally: the hole, the crack]!\"   \n\nShawutikabake asked, \"How big is the entrance? Can we fit into it?\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike answered, \"It\'s this big.\"   As Hashandaiwulaike answered, he used his hands to demonstrate how big the [entrance] hole was. \n\nBut to his surprise, as soon as Hashandaiwulaike let go, the two lazy friends parted ways with the Roc, tumbled down, and became mincemeat. 不料哈山代吾来克两手一松，这两个懒汉朋友都离开了大鹏鸟，摇摇晃晃地掉下来，摔成肉酱了。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Two Lazybones', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1086-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-21 00:30:59', '2012-04-21 04:30:59', '', 1086, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/21/1086-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1088, 1, '2012-04-21 00:55:32', '2012-04-21 04:55:32', '[two_third]\nThis is probably the longest text I\'ve ever posted, but this is upper beginner to mid-intermediate reading. I could probably toss this in the beginner category, but the length is possibly prohibitive. The first few sentences are much more intermediate as we learn new vocabulary words and set up the story, but after that the reading is mostly a dialogue which is very smooth and fairly simple, so press through the first paragraph or two if you can. <!--more-->\n\nI kind of can\'t tell weather I should be offended by this or not - the protagonists are two \"lazy Uighurs\" (A Uighur 维吾尔族 [pinyin]wei2 wu2 er3 zu2[/pinyin] is a member of the ethnic minority hailing from the Uighur Autonomous Region of China, a politically touchy topic on the mainland). I\'ve never seen a folk story about heroic Uighurs or smart Uighurs, or really ever seen a story about Uighurs at all. So to run across this one first makes me wonder if the \"lazy Uighur\" thing is a mean stereotype or if I just haven\'t read widely enough. I\'ll have to go in search of some Uighur folk tales in Mandarin and see what I can dig up. \n\nI really know almost nothing about Uighur cultural history, but this story taught me something interesting: it looks like Uighurs have six-character names. Our two protagonists here are rather lengthily called 哈山代吾来克 [pinyin]Ha1 shan1 dai4 wu2 lai2 ke4[/pinyin] and 沙吾提卡巴克 [pinyin]sha1 wu2 ti2 ka3 ba1 ke4[/pinyin]. \n\nAnother interesting thing: this story mentions a 大鹏鸟 [pinyin]da peng3 niao3[/pinyin] - called a \"Roc\" in English (though I\'d never heard that word before). Apparently, it\'s a legendary fictional bird of prey, like a giant Eagle.\n\nThe Chinese title of this post is 两个懒汉 - the two lazybones. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n懒汉- [pinyin]lan3 han4[/pinyin] - Lazybones\n要命 - [pinyin]yao4 ming4[/pinyin] - Extremely\n墙根 - [pinyin]qiang2 gen1[/pinyin] - Base of a wall\n久而久之 - [pinyin]jiu3 er2 jiu3 zhi1[/pinyin] - As time passed\n不得不 - [pinyin]bu4 de2 bu4[/pinyin] - have no choice but to... \n赶 - [pinyin]gan3[/pinyin] - To kick or drive [someone / something] out \n流浪 - [pinyin]liu2 lang4[/pinyin] - Drift aimlessly, wander\n馕 - [pinyin]nang2[/pinyin] - Flatbread\n蹲 - [pinyin]dun1[/pinyin] - To crouch, squat\n神仙 - [pinyin]shen2 xian1[/pinyin] - Immortals, dieties\n干嘛 - [pinyin]gan4 ma2[/pinyin] - Why on earth would...? Why should [I / you]...? Whatever for...?\n鄙视 - [pinyin]bi3 shi4[/pinyin] - Contempt, disdain \n好倒好 - [pinyin]hao3 dao3 hao3[/pinyin] - That\'s all very well and good, but...\n梯子 - [pinyin]ti1 zi[/pinyin] - A ladder\n山谷 - [pinyin]shan1 gu3[/pinyin] - A valley\n抓住 - [pinyin]zhua1 zhu4[/pinyin] - To grab onto, catch\n窝 - [pinyin]wo1[/pinyin] - A nest\n躲藏 - [pinyin]duo3 cang2[/pinyin] - To hide \n飘飘荡荡 - [pinyin]piao1 piao1 dang4 dang4[/pinyin] - To drift, float on waves or wind\n窟窿 - [pinyin]ku1 long5[/pinyin] - Hole, pocket, cavity, opening\n松 - [pinyin]song1[/pinyin] - To loosen or relax a hold\n摇摇晃晃 - [pinyin]yao2 yao2 huang4 huan4[/pinyin] - back and forth\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n从前，维吾尔族有这么两个<strong>懒汉</strong>，一个叫哈山代吾来克，一个叫沙吾提卡巴克。他们都懒得<strong>要命</strong>，吃穿全靠父母，一点活儿也不干，一天到晚靠着<strong>墙根</strong>晒太阳。 这样，<strong>久而久之</strong>，弄得他们父母也<strong>讨厌</strong>他们了，<strong>不得不</strong>把他们从家里<strong>赶</strong>了出来。他们俩过着<strong>流浪</strong>的生活，饿了几天肚子，一块<strong>馕</strong>也没有吃到。\n\n这天，他俩<strong>蹲</strong>在馕坑上商量着今后该怎么办。哈山代吾来克说: “最好到一个有吃有穿，又不需要劳动的地方去，不知道有没有这么个地方？”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “世界上是没有这么个地方的，只天上有吧！听说天上的<strong>神仙</strong>最快活。”\n\n哈山代吾来克说: “那末，我们就上天去吧，<strong>干嘛</strong>要呆在这个必须劳动的地方受人<strong>鄙视</strong>呢？”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “<strong>好倒好</strong>，不过怎么上去呢？能找到这么个长<strong>梯子</strong>吗？”\n\n哈山代吾来克肯定地说: “这么长的梯子是找不到的。但是，没有梯子也可以上去。”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克惊奇地问道: “怎么上去？”\n\n哈山代吾来克说: “<strong>山谷</strong>里有一只大鹏鸟，小时候我跟父亲上去看见过。我们只要把这只大鹏<strong>抓住</strong>，它就会带我们上天去的。”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “好办法，我们就这样办好了。”\n\n两个朋友就这么决定了。第二天一早，他们就起身往山上走去，走到一个山谷里，找到了大鹏的<strong>窝</strong>，他们在附近<strong>躲藏</strong>起来，等到太阳落山的时候，大鹏飞回来刚落在窝里，就被哈山代吾来克紧紧地抓住了。他连忙招呼沙吾提卡巴克抓住自己的脚，大鹏受了惊，直往天空飞去。\n\n就这样，沙吾提卡巴克抓住哈山代吾来克的脚，哈山代吾来克抓住大鹏的爪子，<strong>飘飘荡荡</strong>地一直飞向七层云端里去了。\n\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “嘿！到了吗？我的手吃不消啦！”\n\n哈山代吾来克望着云层的空隙说: “快啦！连<strong>窟窿</strong>都已经看见了。”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “窟窿有多大？我们能不能钻进去呀？”\n\n哈山代吾来克回答: “有这么大。”哈山代吾来克一面答应着，一面用手来比划窟窿的大小。\n\n不料哈山代吾来克两手一<strong>松</strong>，这两个懒汉朋友都离开了大鹏鸟，<strong>摇摇晃晃</strong>地掉下来，摔成肉酱了。\n</div>\n\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH\"]\nLong ago, among the Uighur people there were two lazybones, one called Hashandaiwulaike, the other called Shawutikabake. They were both extremely lazy, depending on their parents for food and clothing, unwilling to do even a little work, from morning to night they sat at the base of a wall and sunned themselves. As time passed this way, their parents [began to] loathe them, and had no choice but to kick them out. The two of them lived a drifter\'s life, and went hungry for days at a time, with not even a piece of bread to eat.   \n\nOne day, they were squatting next to a bread pit discussing what to do. Hashandaiwulaike said: The ebst thing would be to go to a place where there\'s food and clothes, but you don\'t have to work - I don\'t know if there is such a place?\"\n\nShawutikabake said: \"There\'s no such place on this earth, only in heaven! I heard that the immortals in heaven are the happiest.\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In that case, we should go to heaven. Why on earth would we stay in this place where we have to work and suffer other people\'s disdain?\" \n\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s all very well and good, but how will we get up there? Can we find a ladder that long?\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"We could never find a ladder that long, but you can still get up there without a ladder.\" \n\nShawutikabake said: \"How?\"\n\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In the valley there\'s a Roc bird, when I was little I saw it when I went up there with my father. All we have to do is grab onto the Roc, and he will take us up to heaven.\"\n\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s a great idea, we\'ll do it that way.\" \n\nSo the two friends decided thus. On the morning of the next day, they got us and walked to the mountain. When they got to the mountain valley, they found the Roc\'s nest, and they hid themselves next to it. They waited until the sun fell behind the mountain and the Roc flew back and had just landed in its nest, when Hashandaiwulaike grabbed it and held it tightly. He promptly called to Shawutikabake to grab his feet, and the Roc was frightened and flew into the sky.\n\nSo Shawutikabake  was holding on to Hashandaiwulaike\'s feet, and Hashandaiwulaike  was holding on to the Roc\'s claws, and they floated towards the seventh level of clouds [heaven]. \n\nShawutikabake asked,\" Hey! Are we there yet? I can\'t hold on much longer!\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike looked into a gap between the clouds and said, \"Almost! I can already see the opening!\" \n\nShawutikabake asked, \"How big is the opening? Can we fit into it?\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike answered, \"It\'s this big.\"   As Hashandaiwulaike answered, he used his hands to demonstrate how big the opening [to heaven] was. \n\nBut to his surprise, as soon as Hashandaiwulaike let go, the two lazy friends parted ways with the Roc, tumbled down, and were smashed into mincemeat. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Two Lazybones', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1086-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-21 00:55:32', '2012-04-21 04:55:32', '', 1086, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/21/1086-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1123, 1, '2012-06-15 06:32:05', '2012-06-15 10:32:05', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis is an upper-beginner or low-intermediate level text. It\'s good for beginner readers in the sense that a) it\'s short, and b) it\'s extremely repetitive - if you can puzzle out the first two or three sentences, the rest should be clear. To get you going, it might be worth noting there that the protagonist is a small blade of (or lump of, or field of - it\'s never really defined) grass named \"YinYin\" (小草银银), who keeps asking one particular favor of each season. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe seasons are personified as ladies - for example, \"The Lady of Spring\" (春姑娘) and \"the Lady of Summer\" (夏姑娘), etc. \r\n\r\nThere\'s so much metaphor going on in this I\'m not sure where to start. You could choose to interpret this as a statement about aging, about changing seasons, go nuts. \r\n\r\nAnd on a personal note, not 100% sure I\'m happy with the conclusion that\'s drawn here, considering I dye my hair all the time, but what the hell. \r\n\r\n[/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>小草银银</h4>\r\n小草银银喜欢银色。\r\n　　<strong>春天</strong>，小草银银让春姑娘把她的头发<strong>染</strong>成银色。春姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>青色</strong>”。银银非常<strong>伤心</strong>。\r\n　　<strong>夏天</strong>小草银银让夏姑娘把她的头发染成银色。夏姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>深绿</strong>色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>秋天</strong>小草银银让秋姑娘把她的头发染成银色。秋姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成金黄色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>冬天</strong>小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你<strong>可不要</strong><strong>后悔</strong>呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\r\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。<strong>忽然</strong>，银银的头发<strong>掉下来</strong>了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThe little grass YinYin liked the color silver. \r\n　　In spring time, little grass Yinyin asked the Lady of Spring to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Spring said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair blue/green [see explanation]. YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn summer time, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Summer to dye her hair silver. The lady of summer said, \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair green!\" YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn autumn, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Autumn to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Autumn said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair golden yellow.\" YinYin was very broken-hearted.\r\n\r\nIn winter, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Winter to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Winter said, \"Okay, but won\'t you regret it?\" YinYin said, \"I won\'t, if I had hair that beautiful I couldn\'t be happier!\" And so YinYin\'s hair turned silver. Suddenly, YinYin\'s hair fell out - how could this be? Of course, if you dye your hair too often, it\'s not good for you. And after this YinYin was indeed regretful. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Little Grass\' Silver Hair', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'little-grass-silver-hair', '', '', '2020-04-21 20:58:33', '2020-04-22 00:58:33', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1123', 0, 'post', '', 40),
(1992, 1, '2020-04-21 20:58:33', '2020-04-22 00:58:33', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nThis is an upper-beginner or low-intermediate level text. It\'s good for beginner readers in the sense that a) it\'s short, and b) it\'s extremely repetitive - if you can puzzle out the first two or three sentences, the rest should be clear. To get you going, it might be worth noting there that the protagonist is a small blade of (or lump of, or field of - it\'s never really defined) grass named \"YinYin\" (小草银银), who keeps asking one particular favor of each season. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe seasons are personified as ladies - for example, \"The Lady of Spring\" (春姑娘) and \"the Lady of Summer\" (夏姑娘), etc. \r\n\r\nThere\'s so much metaphor going on in this I\'m not sure where to start. You could choose to interpret this as a statement about aging, about changing seasons, go nuts. \r\n\r\nAnd on a personal note, not 100% sure I\'m happy with the conclusion that\'s drawn here, considering I dye my hair all the time, but what the hell. \r\n\r\n[/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>小草银银</h4>\r\n小草银银喜欢银色。\r\n　　<strong>春天</strong>，小草银银让春姑娘把她的头发<strong>染</strong>成银色。春姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>青色</strong>”。银银非常<strong>伤心</strong>。\r\n　　<strong>夏天</strong>小草银银让夏姑娘把她的头发染成银色。夏姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>深绿</strong>色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>秋天</strong>小草银银让秋姑娘把她的头发染成银色。秋姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成金黄色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>冬天</strong>小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你<strong>可不要</strong><strong>后悔</strong>呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\r\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。<strong>忽然</strong>，银银的头发<strong>掉下来</strong>了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThe little grass YinYin liked the color silver. \r\n　　In spring time, little grass Yinyin asked the Lady of Spring to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Spring said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair blue/green [see explanation]. YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn summer time, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Summer to dye her hair silver. The lady of summer said, \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair green!\" YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn autumn, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Autumn to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Autumn said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair golden yellow.\" YinYin was very broken-hearted.\r\n\r\nIn winter, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Winter to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Winter said, \"Okay, but won\'t you regret it?\" YinYin said, \"I won\'t, if I had hair that beautiful I couldn\'t be happier!\" And so YinYin\'s hair turned silver. Suddenly, YinYin\'s hair fell out - how could this be? Of course, if you dye your hair too often, it\'s not good for you. And after this YinYin was indeed regretful. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Little Grass\' Silver Hair', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1123-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-21 20:58:33', '2020-04-22 00:58:33', '', 1123, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/21/1123-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1090, 1, '2012-03-18 01:04:15', '2012-03-18 05:04:15', '[two_third]\r\nHoo boy, this song is an AWESOME find. Not only is it politically charged in the most amazing way, it\'s ultra-beginner reading. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120405-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Study Easy Chinese Childrens Reading: Chinese Children&#039;s Songs, Poems and Stories\" title=\"Study Easy Chinese Childrens Reading: Chinese Children&#039;s Songs, Poems and Stories\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />But first, a little back story so we all know what we\'re reading here (and I do hope after this my blog stays available on the mainland - gonna use some weird spacing and spelling to avoid bots). The big campaign here right now is an expansion of the \"Ha rmoni ous S *ocie\\ ty\" campaign. It\'s on every political poster on the roadsides - there are 20 such signs on my street alone. The point, basically, is to do your job in your place and not make waves, or make life uncomfortable for those around you. Sounds nice, but you can kind of see a little ways down that road, and you can understand why \"harmo  ny\" has become a euphemism for ce n z*or*sh p. For example, whenever something \"offensive\" is, erm, stricken from the internet, Chinese sarcastically say that it has been \"h-a r m onisd\".  This concept goes right back to Confucius, whose big idea was that everyone has their duty and their place, and should follow a very strict set of rules governing what people in their position should and should not be able to do. \r\n\r\nSo the concept of har mony (和谐 - [pinyin]he2 xie2[/pinyin] has long been an integral part of Chinese culture, but it\'s also been a point of criticism. Sadly, this whole \"nail that sticks up gets hammered down\" mentality is now giving the honchos a headache, because while the Chinese now have the manpower and the money to take the world economy by storm, they can\'t get enough people to break away, be creative and innovate. \r\n\r\nAmusingly, the solution to this has apparently been to put signs up all over Beijing that say: \"Beijing Spirit: Patriotism, Innovation, Inclusiveness, Morality.\" So now, the message is \"Don\'t piss anyone off, but hurry up and do something unique\".\r\n\r\nGuess that solves that problem. NEXT!\r\n\r\nAnyway, the below is a children\'s song that has probably been made up in the last few years, teaching children why harmony is so important. There are a couple of intermediate words in the last sentence, but they\'re easy to figure out. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n清 - [pinyin]qing1[/pinyin] - Clear\r\n密 - [pinyin]mi4[/pinyin] - Dense, thick\r\n空 - [pinyin]kong4[/pinyin] - Open, empty, unoccupied\r\n忙 - [pinyin]mang2[/pinyin] - To rush around\r\n啊 - [pinyin]a1[/pinyin] - Ah!, Oh!\r\n和谐 - [pinyin]he2 xie2[/pinyin] - Harmony, harmonious\r\n环境 - [pinyin]huan2 jing4[/pinyin] - Environment\r\n创造 - [pinyin]chuang4 zao4[/pinyin] - to create, to bring about\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n蓝蓝的天上鸟儿飞，\r\n<strong>清</strong>清的水里鱼儿游，\r\n<strong>密</strong>密的森林动物跑，\r\n<strong>空</strong>空的草地孩子<strong>忙</strong>，\r\n　　……\r\n<strong>啊</strong>！这一切<strong>多么</strong>美好！\r\n<strong>和谐</strong>的<strong>环境</strong>需要我们去<strong>创造</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH\"]\r\nBirds fly in a blue blue sky, \r\nFish swim in the clear clear water, \r\nAnimals run in the thick thick forest, \r\nChildren run around in the open open meadow, \r\n　　……\r\nOh, how wonderful everything is like this, \r\nA harmonious environment requires us to create it.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Harmonious Environment Song', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1065-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-03-18 01:04:15', '2012-03-18 05:04:15', '', 1065, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/03/18/1065-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1091, 1, '2012-04-25 04:43:53', '2012-04-25 08:43:53', '', 'Mandarin Chinese Characters: Learn to Read Simplified Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120425', '', '', '2012-04-25 04:43:53', '2012-04-25 08:43:53', '', 1086, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120425.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1092, 1, '2012-04-25 04:43:55', '2012-04-25 08:43:55', '', 'Mandarin Chinese Characters: Learn to Read Simplified Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120425-inline', '', '', '2012-04-25 04:43:55', '2012-04-25 08:43:55', '', 1086, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120425-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0);
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(1093, 1, '2012-04-25 04:41:08', '2012-04-25 08:41:08', '[two_third]\nThis is probably the longest text I\'ve ever posted, but this is upper-beginner to mid-intermediate reading. I could probably toss this in the beginner category, but the length is prohibitive. The first few sentences are much more intermediate as we learn new vocabulary words and set up the story, but after that the reading is mostly a dialogue which is very smooth and fairly simple, so press through the first paragraph or two if you can. <!--more-->\n\nI kind of can\'t tell weather I should be offended by this or not - the protagonists are two \"lazy Uighurs\" (A Uighur 维吾尔族 [pinyin]wei2 wu2 er3 zu2[/pinyin] is a member of the ethnic minority hailing from the Uighur Autonomous Region of China, a politically touchy topic on the mainland). I\'ve never seen a folk story about heroic Uighurs or smart Uighurs, or really ever seen a story about Uighurs at all. So to run across this one first makes me wonder if the \"lazy Uighur\" thing is a mean stereotype or if I just haven\'t read widely enough. I\'ll have to go in search of some Uighur folk tales in Mandarin and see what I can dig up. \n\nI really know almost nothing about Uighur cultural history, but this story taught me something interesting: it looks like Uighurs have six-character names (as opposed to two and three character names for Chinese and 4 character names for Japanese). Our two protagonists here are rather lengthily called 哈山代吾来克 [pinyin]Ha1 shan1 dai4 wu2 lai2 ke4[/pinyin] and 沙吾提卡巴克 [pinyin]sha1 wu2 ti2 ka3 ba1 ke4[/pinyin]. \n\nAnother interesting thing: this story mentions a 大鹏鸟 [pinyin]da peng3 niao3[/pinyin] - called a \"Roc\" in English (though I\'d never heard that word before). Apparently, it\'s a legendary fictional bird of prey, like a giant eagle.\n\nThe Chinese title of this post is 两个懒汉 - the two lazybones. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n懒汉- [pinyin]lan3 han4[/pinyin] - Lazybones\n要命 - [pinyin]yao4 ming4[/pinyin] - Extremely\n墙根 - [pinyin]qiang2 gen1[/pinyin] - Base of a wall\n久而久之 - [pinyin]jiu3 er2 jiu3 zhi1[/pinyin] - As time passed\n不得不 - [pinyin]bu4 de2 bu4[/pinyin] - have no choice but to... \n赶 - [pinyin]gan3[/pinyin] - To kick or drive [someone / something] out \n流浪 - [pinyin]liu2 lang4[/pinyin] - Drift aimlessly, wander\n馕 - [pinyin]nang2[/pinyin] - Flatbread\n蹲 - [pinyin]dun1[/pinyin] - To crouch, squat\n神仙 - [pinyin]shen2 xian1[/pinyin] - Immortals, dieties\n干嘛 - [pinyin]gan4 ma2[/pinyin] - Why on earth would...? Why should [I / you]...? Whatever for...?\n鄙视 - [pinyin]bi3 shi4[/pinyin] - Contempt, disdain \n好倒好 - [pinyin]hao3 dao3 hao3[/pinyin] - That\'s all very well and good, but...\n梯子 - [pinyin]ti1 zi[/pinyin] - A ladder\n山谷 - [pinyin]shan1 gu3[/pinyin] - A valley\n抓住 - [pinyin]zhua1 zhu4[/pinyin] - To grab onto, catch\n窝 - [pinyin]wo1[/pinyin] - A nest\n躲藏 - [pinyin]duo3 cang2[/pinyin] - To hide \n飘飘荡荡 - [pinyin]piao1 piao1 dang4 dang4[/pinyin] - To drift, float on waves or wind\n窟窿 - [pinyin]ku1 long5[/pinyin] - Hole, pocket, cavity, opening\n松 - [pinyin]song1[/pinyin] - To loosen or relax a hold\n摇摇晃晃 - [pinyin]yao2 yao2 huang4 huan4[/pinyin] - back and forth\n肉酱 - [pinyin]rou4 jiang4[/pinyin] - Mincemeat\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n从前，维吾尔族有这么两个<strong>懒汉</strong>，一个叫哈山代吾来克，一个叫沙吾提卡巴克。他们都懒得<strong>要命</strong>，吃穿全靠父母，一点活儿也不干，一天到晚靠着<strong>墙根</strong>晒太阳。 这样，<strong>久而久之</strong>，弄得他们父母也<strong>讨厌</strong>他们了，<strong>不得不</strong>把他们从家里<strong>赶</strong>了出来。他们俩过着<strong>流浪</strong>的生活，饿了几天肚子，一块<strong>馕</strong>也没有吃到。\n\n这天，他俩<strong>蹲</strong>在馕坑上商量着今后该怎么办。哈山代吾来克说: “最好到一个有吃有穿，又不需要劳动的地方去，不知道有没有这么个地方？”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “世界上是没有这么个地方的，只天上有吧！听说天上的<strong>神仙</strong>最快活。”\n\n哈山代吾来克说: “那末，我们就上天去吧，<strong>干嘛</strong>要呆在这个必须劳动的地方受人<strong>鄙视</strong>呢？”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “<strong>好倒好</strong>，不过怎么上去呢？能找到这么个长<strong>梯子</strong>吗？”\n\n哈山代吾来克肯定地说: “这么长的梯子是找不到的。但是，没有梯子也可以上去。”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克惊奇地问道: “怎么上去？”\n\n哈山代吾来克说: “<strong>山谷</strong>里有一只大鹏鸟，小时候我跟父亲上去看见过。我们只要把这只大鹏<strong>抓住</strong>，它就会带我们上天去的。”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “好办法，我们就这样办好了。”\n\n两个朋友就这么决定了。第二天一早，他们就起身往山上走去，走到一个山谷里，找到了大鹏的<strong>窝</strong>，他们在附近<strong>躲藏</strong>起来，等到太阳落山的时候，大鹏飞回来刚落在窝里，就被哈山代吾来克紧紧地抓住了。他连忙招呼沙吾提卡巴克抓住自己的脚，大鹏受了惊，直往天空飞去。\n\n就这样，沙吾提卡巴克抓住哈山代吾来克的脚，哈山代吾来克抓住大鹏的爪子，<strong>飘飘荡荡</strong>地一直飞向七层云端里去了。\n\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “嘿！到了吗？我的手吃不消啦！”\n\n哈山代吾来克望着云层的空隙说: “快啦！连<strong>窟窿</strong>都已经看见了。”\n\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “窟窿有多大？我们能不能钻进去呀？”\n\n哈山代吾来克回答: “有这么大。”哈山代吾来克一面答应着，一面用手来比划窟窿的大小。\n\n不料哈山代吾来克两手一<strong>松</strong>，这两个懒汉朋友都离开了大鹏鸟，<strong>摇摇晃晃</strong>地掉下来，摔成<strong>肉酱</strong>了。\n</div>\n\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH\"]\nLong ago, among the Uighur people there were two lazybones, one called Hashandaiwulaike, the other called Shawutikabake. They were both extremely lazy, depending on their parents for food and clothing, unwilling to do even a little work, from morning to night they sat at the base of a wall and sunned themselves. As time passed this way, their parents [began to] loathe them, and had no choice but to kick them out. The two of them lived a drifter\'s life, and went hungry for days at a time, with not even a piece of bread to eat.   \n\nOne day, they were squatting next to a bread pit discussing what to do. Hashandaiwulaike said: The ebst thing would be to go to a place where there\'s food and clothes, but you don\'t have to work - I don\'t know if there is such a place?\"\n\nShawutikabake said: \"There\'s no such place on this earth, only in heaven! I heard that the immortals in heaven are the happiest.\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In that case, we should go to heaven. Why on earth would we stay in this place where we have to work and suffer other people\'s disdain?\" \n\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s all very well and good, but how will we get up there? Can we find a ladder that long?\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"We could never find a ladder that long, but you can still get up there without a ladder.\" \n\nShawutikabake said: \"How?\"\n\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In the valley there\'s a Roc bird, when I was little I saw it when I went up there with my father. All we have to do is grab onto the Roc, and he will take us up to heaven.\"\n\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s a great idea, we\'ll do it that way.\" \n\nSo the two friends decided thus. On the morning of the next day, they got us and walked to the mountain. When they got to the mountain valley, they found the Roc\'s nest, and they hid themselves next to it. They waited until the sun fell behind the mountain and the Roc flew back and had just landed in its nest, when Hashandaiwulaike grabbed it and held it tightly. He promptly called to Shawutikabake to grab his feet, and the Roc was frightened and flew into the sky.\n\nSo Shawutikabake  was holding on to Hashandaiwulaike\'s feet, and Hashandaiwulaike  was holding on to the Roc\'s claws, and they floated towards the seventh level of clouds [heaven]. \n\nShawutikabake asked,\" Hey! Are we there yet? I can\'t hold on much longer!\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike looked into a gap between the clouds and said, \"Almost! I can already see the opening!\" \n\nShawutikabake asked, \"How big is the opening? Can we fit into it?\" \n\nHashandaiwulaike answered, \"It\'s this big.\"   As Hashandaiwulaike answered, he used his hands to demonstrate how big the opening [to heaven] was. \n\nBut to his surprise, as soon as Hashandaiwulaike let go, the two lazy friends parted ways with the Roc, tumbled down, and were smashed into mincemeat. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Two Lazybones', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1086-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-25 04:41:08', '2012-04-25 08:41:08', '', 1086, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/25/1086-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1094, 1, '2012-04-25 04:45:58', '2012-04-25 08:45:58', '[two_third]\r\nThis is probably the longest text I\'ve ever posted, but this is upper-beginner to mid-intermediate reading. I could probably toss this in the beginner category, but the length is prohibitive. The first few sentences are much more intermediate as we learn new vocabulary words and set up the story, but after that the reading is mostly a dialogue which is very smooth and fairly simple, so press through the first paragraph or two if you can. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120425-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese for Free\" title=\"Mandarin Chinese Characters: Learn to Read Simplified Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I kind of can\'t tell weather I should be offended by this or not - the protagonists are two \"lazy Uighurs\" (A Uighur 维吾尔族 [pinyin]wei2 wu2 er3 zu2[/pinyin] is a member of the ethnic minority hailing from the Uighur Autonomous Region of China, a politically touchy topic on the mainland). I\'ve never seen a folk story about heroic Uighurs or smart Uighurs, or really ever seen a story about Uighurs at all. So to run across this one first makes me wonder if the \"lazy Uighur\" thing is a mean stereotype or if I just haven\'t read widely enough. I\'ll have to go in search of some Uighur folk tales in Mandarin and see what I can dig up. \r\n\r\nI really know almost nothing about Uighur cultural history, but this story taught me something interesting: it looks like Uighurs have six-character names (as opposed to two and three character names for Chinese and 4 character names for Japanese). Our two protagonists here are rather lengthily called 哈山代吾来克 [pinyin]Ha1 shan1 dai4 wu2 lai2 ke4[/pinyin] and 沙吾提卡巴克 [pinyin]sha1 wu2 ti2 ka3 ba1 ke4[/pinyin]. \r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing: this story mentions a 大鹏鸟 [pinyin]da peng3 niao3[/pinyin] - called a \"Roc\" in English (though I\'d never heard that word before). Apparently, it\'s a legendary fictional bird of prey, like a giant eagle.\r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this post is 两个懒汉 - the two lazybones. \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懒汉- [pinyin]lan3 han4[/pinyin] - Lazybones\r\n要命 - [pinyin]yao4 ming4[/pinyin] - Extremely\r\n墙根 - [pinyin]qiang2 gen1[/pinyin] - Base of a wall\r\n久而久之 - [pinyin]jiu3 er2 jiu3 zhi1[/pinyin] - As time passed\r\n不得不 - [pinyin]bu4 de2 bu4[/pinyin] - have no choice but to... \r\n赶 - [pinyin]gan3[/pinyin] - To kick or drive [someone / something] out \r\n流浪 - [pinyin]liu2 lang4[/pinyin] - Drift aimlessly, wander\r\n馕 - [pinyin]nang2[/pinyin] - Flatbread\r\n蹲 - [pinyin]dun1[/pinyin] - To crouch, squat\r\n神仙 - [pinyin]shen2 xian1[/pinyin] - Immortals, dieties\r\n干嘛 - [pinyin]gan4 ma2[/pinyin] - Why on earth would...? Why should [I / you]...? Whatever for...?\r\n鄙视 - [pinyin]bi3 shi4[/pinyin] - Contempt, disdain \r\n好倒好 - [pinyin]hao3 dao3 hao3[/pinyin] - That\'s all very well and good, but...\r\n梯子 - [pinyin]ti1 zi[/pinyin] - A ladder\r\n山谷 - [pinyin]shan1 gu3[/pinyin] - A valley\r\n抓住 - [pinyin]zhua1 zhu4[/pinyin] - To grab onto, catch\r\n窝 - [pinyin]wo1[/pinyin] - A nest\r\n躲藏 - [pinyin]duo3 cang2[/pinyin] - To hide \r\n飘飘荡荡 - [pinyin]piao1 piao1 dang4 dang4[/pinyin] - To drift, float on waves or wind\r\n窟窿 - [pinyin]ku1 long5[/pinyin] - Hole, pocket, cavity, opening\r\n松 - [pinyin]song1[/pinyin] - To loosen or relax a hold\r\n摇摇晃晃 - [pinyin]yao2 yao2 huang4 huan4[/pinyin] - back and forth\r\n肉酱 - [pinyin]rou4 jiang4[/pinyin] - Mincemeat\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从前，维吾尔族有这么两个<strong>懒汉</strong>，一个叫哈山代吾来克，一个叫沙吾提卡巴克。他们都懒得<strong>要命</strong>，吃穿全靠父母，一点活儿也不干，一天到晚靠着<strong>墙根</strong>晒太阳。 这样，<strong>久而久之</strong>，弄得他们父母也<strong>讨厌</strong>他们了，<strong>不得不</strong>把他们从家里<strong>赶</strong>了出来。他们俩过着<strong>流浪</strong>的生活，饿了几天肚子，一块<strong>馕</strong>也没有吃到。\r\n\r\n这天，他俩<strong>蹲</strong>在馕坑上商量着今后该怎么办。哈山代吾来克说: “最好到一个有吃有穿，又不需要劳动的地方去，不知道有没有这么个地方？”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “世界上是没有这么个地方的，只天上有吧！听说天上的<strong>神仙</strong>最快活。”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克说: “那末，我们就上天去吧，<strong>干嘛</strong>要呆在这个必须劳动的地方受人<strong>鄙视</strong>呢？”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “<strong>好倒好</strong>，不过怎么上去呢？能找到这么个长<strong>梯子</strong>吗？”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克肯定地说: “这么长的梯子是找不到的。但是，没有梯子也可以上去。”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克惊奇地问道: “怎么上去？”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克说: “<strong>山谷</strong>里有一只大鹏鸟，小时候我跟父亲上去看见过。我们只要把这只大鹏<strong>抓住</strong>，它就会带我们上天去的。”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克说: “好办法，我们就这样办好了。”\r\n\r\n两个朋友就这么决定了。第二天一早，他们就起身往山上走去，走到一个山谷里，找到了大鹏的<strong>窝</strong>，他们在附近<strong>躲藏</strong>起来，等到太阳落山的时候，大鹏飞回来刚落在窝里，就被哈山代吾来克紧紧地抓住了。他连忙招呼沙吾提卡巴克抓住自己的脚，大鹏受了惊，直往天空飞去。\r\n\r\n就这样，沙吾提卡巴克抓住哈山代吾来克的脚，哈山代吾来克抓住大鹏的爪子，<strong>飘飘荡荡</strong>地一直飞向七层云端里去了。\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “嘿！到了吗？我的手吃不消啦！”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克望着云层的空隙说: “快啦！连<strong>窟窿</strong>都已经看见了。”\r\n\r\n沙吾提卡巴克问道: “窟窿有多大？我们能不能钻进去呀？”\r\n\r\n哈山代吾来克回答: “有这么大。”哈山代吾来克一面答应着，一面用手来比划窟窿的大小。\r\n\r\n不料哈山代吾来克两手一<strong>松</strong>，这两个懒汉朋友都离开了大鹏鸟，<strong>摇摇晃晃</strong>地掉下来，摔成<strong>肉酱</strong>了。\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH\"]\r\nLong ago, among the Uighur people there were two lazybones, one called Hashandaiwulaike, the other called Shawutikabake. They were both extremely lazy, depending on their parents for food and clothing, unwilling to do even a little work, from morning to night they sat at the base of a wall and sunned themselves. As time passed this way, their parents [began to] loathe them, and had no choice but to kick them out. The two of them lived a drifter\'s life, and went hungry for days at a time, with not even a piece of bread to eat.   \r\n\r\nOne day, they were squatting next to a bread pit discussing what to do. Hashandaiwulaike said: The ebst thing would be to go to a place where there\'s food and clothes, but you don\'t have to work - I don\'t know if there is such a place?\"\r\n\r\nShawutikabake said: \"There\'s no such place on this earth, only in heaven! I heard that the immortals in heaven are the happiest.\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In that case, we should go to heaven. Why on earth would we stay in this place where we have to work and suffer other people\'s disdain?\" \r\n\r\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s all very well and good, but how will we get up there? Can we find a ladder that long?\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"We could never find a ladder that long, but you can still get up there without a ladder.\" \r\n\r\nShawutikabake said: \"How?\"\r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike said: \"In the valley there\'s a Roc bird, when I was little I saw it when I went up there with my father. All we have to do is grab onto the Roc, and he will take us up to heaven.\"\r\n\r\nShawutikabake said:  \"That\'s a great idea, we\'ll do it that way.\" \r\n\r\nSo the two friends decided thus. On the morning of the next day, they got us and walked to the mountain. When they got to the mountain valley, they found the Roc\'s nest, and they hid themselves next to it. They waited until the sun fell behind the mountain and the Roc flew back and had just landed in its nest, when Hashandaiwulaike grabbed it and held it tightly. He promptly called to Shawutikabake to grab his feet, and the Roc was frightened and flew into the sky.\r\n\r\nSo Shawutikabake  was holding on to Hashandaiwulaike\'s feet, and Hashandaiwulaike  was holding on to the Roc\'s claws, and they floated towards the seventh level of clouds [heaven]. \r\n\r\nShawutikabake asked,\" Hey! Are we there yet? I can\'t hold on much longer!\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike looked into a gap between the clouds and said, \"Almost! I can already see the opening!\" \r\n\r\nShawutikabake asked, \"How big is the opening? Can we fit into it?\" \r\n\r\nHashandaiwulaike answered, \"It\'s this big.\"   As Hashandaiwulaike answered, he used his hands to demonstrate how big the opening [to heaven] was. \r\n\r\nBut to his surprise, as soon as Hashandaiwulaike let go, the two lazy friends parted ways with the Roc, tumbled down, and were smashed into mincemeat. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Two Lazybones', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1086-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-25 04:45:58', '2012-04-25 08:45:58', '', 1086, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/25/1086-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1095, 1, '2012-04-26 01:52:18', '2012-04-26 05:52:18', '', 'Contact form 1', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'open', '', 'contact-form-1', '', '', '2012-04-26 01:52:18', '2012-04-26 05:52:18', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wpcf7_contact_form/contact-form-1/', 0, 'wpcf7_contact_form', '', 0),
(1103, 1, '2012-04-27 01:14:07', '2012-04-27 05:14:07', 'I know, I know, I\'ve never posted a video before, but this one is particularly fun. It highlights an interesting point of Chinese culture, all the words are written out in Chinese as they are said in Chinese (so it\'s kinda like a trendy read-along), it uses modern slang in a way that\'s easy to grasp, and the song itself includes a translation of each line in English as its played.\r\n\r\nPlus, I feel for artistic Chinese girls - like artsy girls everywhere, they deal with their fair share of mouth-breathing jerks. \r\n\r\n<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/v6Cs8HqY1dg?feature=player_embedded\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\r\n\r\n', 'Chinese Internet Video Meme: A song for artistic girls', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', 'chinese-internet-video-meme-a-song-for-artistic-girls', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:23:25', '2020-04-20 09:23:25', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1103', 0, 'post', '', 0),
(1104, 1, '2012-04-27 01:13:47', '2012-04-27 05:13:47', 'I know, I know, I\'ve never posted a video before, but this one is particularly fun. It highlights an interesting point of Chinese culture, all the words are written out in Chinese as they are said in Chinese, it uses modern slang in a way that\'s easy to grasp, and the song itself includes a translation of each line in English as its played.\n\nPlus, I feel for artistic Chinese girls - they do deal with their fair share of mouthbreathing assholes. \n\n<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/v6Cs8HqY1dg?feature=player_embedded\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n\n', 'Chinese Internet Video Meme: A song for artistic girls', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1103-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-27 01:13:47', '2012-04-27 05:13:47', '', 1103, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/27/1103-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1105, 1, '2012-04-27 01:14:07', '2012-04-27 05:14:07', 'I know, I know, I\'ve never posted a video before, but this one is particularly fun. It highlights an interesting point of Chinese culture, all the words are written out in Chinese as they are said in Chinese, it uses modern slang in a way that\'s easy to grasp, and the song itself includes a translation of each line in English as its played.\r\n\r\nPlus, I feel for artistic Chinese girls - like artsy girls everywhere, they deal with their fair share of mouth-breathing jerks. \r\n\r\n<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/v6Cs8HqY1dg?feature=player_embedded\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\r\n\r\n', 'Chinese Internet Video Meme: A song for artistic girls', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1103-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-27 01:14:07', '2012-04-27 05:14:07', '', 1103, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/27/1103-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1106, 1, '2012-04-27 01:14:40', '2012-04-27 05:14:40', 'I know, I know, I\'ve never posted a video before, but this one is particularly fun. It highlights an interesting point of Chinese culture, all the words are written out in Chinese as they are said in Chinese (so it\'s kinda like a trendy read-along), it uses modern slang in a way that\'s easy to grasp, and the song itself includes a translation of each line in English as its played.\r\n\r\nPlus, I feel for artistic Chinese girls - like artsy girls everywhere, they deal with their fair share of mouth-breathing jerks. \r\n\r\n<iframe width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"http://www.youtube.com/embed/v6Cs8HqY1dg?feature=player_embedded\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\r\n\r\n', 'Chinese Internet Video Meme: A song for artistic girls', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1103-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-27 01:14:40', '2012-04-27 05:14:40', '', 1103, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/27/1103-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1107, 1, '2012-05-10 07:00:06', '2012-05-10 11:00:06', '[two_third]\r\nI got the most ah-mayzing canned message from Sina Weibo\'s glorious legality enforcers a couple of days ago, informing me that some people who had been saying too much online had been, erm, prevented from continuing to do so, and warning me not to follow the same path.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120428-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Reading Material: Free Advanced Chinese Lessons\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Read Advanced Chinese Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In this note, which I presume everyone on Sina Weibo got, I was warned not to listen to all the \"political rumors\" that are being spread - rumors which I hadn\'t heard about until I got the warning and will now trot off to Google. We often hear about how this kind of thing happens in China - now\'s your chance to read it straight from the horse\'s mouth. \r\n\r\nFor those of you just tuning in, Sina Weibo (新浪微博 - you\'ll see those words a couple of times in the post) is China\'s most popular Twitter-esque microblog platform. 微博 [pinyin]wei1 bo2[/pinyin] means \"microblog\", 新浪 is the particular microblog platform (China has several competing microblogs, as opposed to just the one Twitter).\r\n\r\nAs you read through this, bear in mind that the words in \"quotes\" are usernames, hence the strange collection of characters.\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]', 'Public Security Notice: Report Malicious Rumors', '', 'draft', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'public-security-notice-report-malicious-rumors', '', '', '2012-05-11 22:16:42', '2012-05-12 02:16:42', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1107', 0, 'post', '', 0),
(1120, 1, '2012-04-28 03:54:42', '2012-04-28 07:54:42', '[two_third]\nAnd now a break', 'Dear Diary: Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1113-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-28 03:54:42', '2012-04-28 07:54:42', '', 1113, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/28/1113-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1108, 1, '2012-04-27 22:36:27', '2012-04-28 02:36:27', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Read Advanced Chinese Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120428-inline', '', '', '2012-04-27 22:36:27', '2012-04-28 02:36:27', '', 1107, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120428-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1109, 1, '2012-04-27 22:36:29', '2012-04-28 02:36:29', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Read Advanced Chinese Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120428', '', '', '2012-04-27 22:36:29', '2012-04-28 02:36:29', '', 1107, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120428.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1110, 1, '2012-04-27 22:43:12', '2012-04-28 02:43:12', '[two_third]\nI got the most ah-mayzing canned message from Sina Weibo\'s glorious legality enforcers a couple of days ago, informing me that some people who had been saying too much online had been, erm, prevented from continuing to do so, and warning me not to follow the same path.  <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120428-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Reading Material: Free Advanced Chinese Lessons\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Read Advanced Chinese Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In this note, which I presume everyone on Sina Weibo got, I was warned not to listen to all the \"political rumors\" that are being spread - rumors which I hadn\'t heard about until I got the warning and will now trot off to Google. We often hear about how this kind of thing happens in China - now\'s your chance to read it straight from the horse\'s mouth. \n\nFor those of you just tuning in, Sina Weibo (新浪微博 - you\'ll see those words a couple of times in the post) is China\'s most popular Twitter-esque microblog platform. 微博 [pinyin]wei1 bo2[/pinyin] means \"microblog\", 新浪 is the particular microblog platform (China has several competing microblogs, as opposed to just the one Twitter).\n\nAs you read through this, bear in mind that the words in \"quotes\" are usernames, hence the strange collection of characters.\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n不法分子 - [pinyin]bu4 fa3 fen4 zi3[/pinyin] - Lawbreaker\n编造 - [pinyin]bian1 zao4[/pinyin] - Fabricate, make up\n谣言 - [pinyin]yao2 yan2[/pinyin] - Rumors\n恶劣 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\n公安 - [pinyin]gong1 an1[/pinyin] - Public Security\n依法 - [pinyin]yi1 fa3[/pinyin] - According to the law\n处理 - [pinyin]chu3 li3[/pinyin] -  To deal with, to handle\n处于 - [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] - To be in a state of...\n呼吁 - [pinyin]hu1 yu4[/pinyin] - To call on (someone to do sthg)\n网民 - [pinyin]wang3 min2[/pinyin] - Netizens\n维护 - [pinyin]wei2 hu4[/pinyin] - Safeguard, protect\n社会秩序 - [pinyin]she4 hui4 zhi4 xu4[/pinyin] - social order\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n近期，一些<strong>不法分子</strong>利用新浪微博在互联网上无端<strong>编造</strong>、传播恶性政治<strong>谣言</strong>，产生了<strong>恶劣</strong>的社会影响，现已被<strong>公安</strong>机关<strong>依法</strong>予以<strong>处理</strong>，传播谣言的微博账号\"李德林\"、\"阳光的元士\"、\"广州巫冠聪\"和\"龙逸天-945\"已被关闭。在此，新浪微博<strong>呼吁</strong>广大<strong>网民</strong>自觉遵守法律法规，不传谣，不信谣，发现谣言及时举报，共同<strong>维护</strong>健康的网络环境和良好的<strong>社会秩序</strong>。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nRecently, a few legal offenders used Sina Weibo to, for no reason at all, fabricate and disseminate malicious political rumors, giving rise to a nasty social influence. The Public Security Bureau has already dealt with them according to the law, and the rumor-spreading weibo accounts \"Li De Lin\", \"Yuan Shi\'s Sunshine\", \"Clever Wizard\'s Hat in Guangzhou\", and \"Long Yi Tian - 945\" have been shut down. Now, Sina Weibo calls on all netizens to be aware of complying with legal statutes, and not to spread or believe rumors, report rumors immediately, and together we will safeguard our healthy internet environment and good social order. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Public Security Notice: Report Malicious Rumors', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1107-revision', '', '', '2012-04-27 22:43:12', '2012-04-28 02:43:12', '', 1107, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/27/1107-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1111, 1, '2012-06-15 08:56:51', '0000-00-00 00:00:00', '[two_third]\r\nThe sentence structure and subject matter is really basic, but there are a lot of descriptive words, <!--more-->\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不法分子 - [pinyin]bu4 fa3 fen4 zi3[/pinyin] - Lawbreaker\r\n编造 - [pinyin]bian1 zao4[/pinyin] - Fabricate, make up\r\n谣言 - [pinyin]yao2 yan2[/pinyin] - Rumors\r\n恶劣 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n公安 - [pinyin]gong1 an1[/pinyin] - Public Security\r\n依法 - [pinyin]yi1 fa3[/pinyin] - According to the law\r\n处理 - [pinyin]chu3 li3[/pinyin] -  To deal with, to handle\r\n处于 - [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] - To be in a state of...\r\n呼吁 - [pinyin]hu1 yu4[/pinyin] - To call on (someone to do sthg)\r\n网民 - [pinyin]wang3 min2[/pinyin] - Netizens\r\n维护 - [pinyin]wei2 hu4[/pinyin] - Safeguard, protect\r\n社会秩序 - [pinyin]she4 hui4 zhi4 xu4[/pinyin] - social order\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树，有很多很多的树，每一种树都有着自己的风格。松树像铁塔一样，不管风吹雨打，仍然坚强屹立在山岗上，一动也不动。柳树像一把扇，在微风中都可以自由摆动，给人们带来清凉。枫树到了秋天，就像火一样红彤彤的，染红了半边天，给人们温暖的感觉。榕树就像慈祥的奶奶，用她宽广的胸膛，夏天可以在下面乘凉，冬天可以给我们挡风，下雨天可以给我们遮雨。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nTrees, there are so so many trees, and every kind of tree has its own style. Pine trees are like iron towers, it doesn\'t matter if they\'re buffeted by the wind or pelted by rain, they remain standing straight and strong on the mountain, unmoving. Willow trees are like a fan, in mild wind they sway freely, bringing a cool [breeze]. When it becomes autumn, maple trees are bright red like fire, dying half the sky red, and give people a feeling of warmth. Banyan trees resemble kindly grandmothers, and using \"her\" broad chest, people can cool off in the shade in summer, and shelter from the winds in winter, and hide out from any rain. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Different Kinds of Trees', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', '', '', '', '2012-06-15 08:56:51', '2012-06-15 12:56:51', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1111', 0, 'post', '', 0),
(1112, 1, '2012-04-27 23:23:45', '2012-04-28 03:23:45', '[two_third]\nThe sentence structure and subject matter is really basic, but there are a lot of descriptive words, <!--more-->\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n不法分子 - [pinyin]bu4 fa3 fen4 zi3[/pinyin] - Lawbreaker\n编造 - [pinyin]bian1 zao4[/pinyin] - Fabricate, make up\n谣言 - [pinyin]yao2 yan2[/pinyin] - Rumors\n恶劣 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\n公安 - [pinyin]gong1 an1[/pinyin] - Public Security\n依法 - [pinyin]yi1 fa3[/pinyin] - According to the law\n处理 - [pinyin]chu3 li3[/pinyin] -  To deal with, to handle\n处于 - [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] - To be in a state of...\n呼吁 - [pinyin]hu1 yu4[/pinyin] - To call on (someone to do sthg)\n网民 - [pinyin]wang3 min2[/pinyin] - Netizens\n维护 - [pinyin]wei2 hu4[/pinyin] - Safeguard, protect\n社会秩序 - [pinyin]she4 hui4 zhi4 xu4[/pinyin] - social order\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n树，有很多很多的树，每一种树都有着自己的风格。松树像铁塔一样，不管风吹雨打，仍然坚强屹立在山岗上，一动也不动。柳树像一把扇，在微风中都可以自由摆动，给人们带来清凉。枫树到了秋天，就像火一样红彤彤的，染红了半边天，给人们温暖的感觉。榕树就像慈祥的奶奶，用她宽广的胸膛，夏天可以在下面乘凉，冬天可以给我们挡风，下雨天可以给我们遮雨。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n树，有很多很多的树，每一种树都有着自己的风格。松树像铁塔一样，不管风吹雨打，仍然坚强屹立在山岗上，一动也不动。柳树像一把扇，在微风中都可以自由摆动，给人们带来清凉。枫树到了秋天，就像火一样红彤彤的，染红了半边天，给人们温暖的感觉。榕树就像慈祥的奶奶，用她宽广的胸膛，夏天可以在下面乘凉，冬天可以给我们挡风，下雨天可以给我们遮雨。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Different Kinds of Trees', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1111-revision', '', '', '2012-04-27 23:23:45', '2012-04-28 03:23:45', '', 1111, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/27/1111-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1113, 1, '2012-05-03 07:00:25', '2012-05-03 11:00:25', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nAnd now a break from all the intermediate and advanced exercises I\'ve been posting lately. This one is a straightforward beginner Chinese diary-style essay about a student whose mother is displeased with his (or her, it\'s never clarified) homework. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThere\'s only one thing that particularly stands out to me as confusing here, which is when the mother says: 可能是<strong>有了</strong>小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。 Literally, this translates as \"Maybe it\'s have small sister, I during this time towards you care little.\" The last clause we can translate into less literal and more readable English as \"I haven\'t looked after you much during this time,\" but the first bit, \"<strong><em>have </em></strong>small sister\" (有了), is confusing. Why \"have\" 有了? \r\n\r\nIn this case, that could be translated as, \"Maybe it\'s because we have your little sister,\" or \"It\'s because I had your little sister [to look after]\", though \"because\" is never actually used in the sentence, it becomes that much harder to read. \r\n\r\n[/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>妈妈，相信我了！</h4>\r\n9月24日星期六\r\n\r\n今天，开完家长会，妈妈<strong>闷闷不乐</strong>，我小心地问：“妈妈，您<strong>怎么了</strong>？”妈妈看着我，<strong>叹</strong>了口气说：“你<strong>暑假</strong>作业完成的不好，字也写的不好。我想，可能是有了小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。”我听了，不好意思地低下了头。\r\n\r\n看着妈妈<strong>自责</strong>的样子，我心里特别难过，我对妈妈说：“妈妈，您不要自责了，这<strong>根本</strong>就不是你的错，而是我自己不<strong>努力</strong>，请您不要生气了，从现在开始，我一定认真完成老师交给的每项作业，争取取得好成绩。请您相信我！”妈妈<strong>盯</strong>着我的眼睛，<strong>攥</strong>着我的手说：“好孩子，妈妈相信你，让我们<strong>共同</strong>努力！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nSeptember 24, Saturday\r\n\r\nToday, after my parent-teacher conference, mama looked moody, and I carefully asked her, \"Mama, what\'s wrong?\" Looking at me, mother sighed and said: \"Your summer vacation homework is not close to being done, and your writing is poor. I think, because [I\'ve been spending so much time with] your little sister, I haven\'t been paying as much attention to you during this time.\" As I listened, I hung my head in embarrassment. \r\n\r\nWhen I saw the self-blame on mama\'s face, I was very sad, and I said to mama: \"Mama, don\'t blame yourself, is isn\'t your fault at all, it\'s that I haven\'t worked hard enough, so please don\'t be angry, starting now, I\'ll earnestly finish all the homework teacher gave me, and I\'ll fight to get good grades. Please believe me!\" Mama stared into my eyes, grasped my hand and said, \"Good child, mother believes you, let us work hard together.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Dear Diary: Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'publish', 'open', 'closed', '', 'dear-diary-mama-please-believe-me', '', '', '2020-04-20 07:44:36', '2020-04-20 11:44:36', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1113', 0, 'post', '', 18),
(1778, 1, '2020-04-20 05:23:52', '2020-04-20 09:23:52', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nAnd now a break from all the intermediate and advanced exercises I\'ve been posting lately. This one is a straightforward beginner Chinese diary-style essay about a student whose mother is displeased with his (or her, it\'s never clarified) homework. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThere\'s only one thing that particularly stands out to me as confusing here, which is when the mother says: 可能是<strong>有了</strong>小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。 Literally, this translates as \"Maybe it\'s have small sister, I during this time towards you care little.\" The last clause we can translate into less literal and more readable English as \"I haven\'t looked after you much during this time,\" but the first bit, \"<strong><em>have </em></strong>small sister\" (有了), is confusing. Why \"have\" 有了? \r\n\r\nIn this case, that could be translated as, \"Maybe it\'s because we have your little sister,\" or \"It\'s because I had your little sister [to look after]\", though \"because\" is never actually used in the sentence, it becomes that much harder to read. \r\n\r\n[/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>妈妈，相信我了！</h4>\r\n9月24日星期六\r\n\r\n今天，开完家长会，妈妈<strong>闷闷不乐</strong>，我小心地问：“妈妈，您<strong>怎么了</strong>？”妈妈看着我，<strong>叹</strong>了口气说：“你<strong>暑假</strong>作业完成的不好，字也写的不好。我想，可能是有了小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。”我听了，不好意思地低下了头。\r\n\r\n看着妈妈<strong>自责</strong>的样子，我心里特别难过，我对妈妈说：“妈妈，您不要自责了，这<strong>根本</strong>就不是你的错，而是我自己不<strong>努力</strong>，请您不要生气了，从现在开始，我一定认真完成老师交给的每项作业，争取取得好成绩。请您相信我！”妈妈<strong>盯</strong>着我的眼睛，<strong>攥</strong>着我的手说：“好孩子，妈妈相信你，让我们<strong>共同</strong>努力！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nSeptember 24, Saturday\r\n\r\nToday, after my parent-teacher conference, mama looked moody, and I carefully asked her, \"Mama, what\'s wrong?\" Looking at me, mother sighed and said: \"Your summer vacation homework is not close to being done, and your writing is poor. I think, because [I\'ve been spending so much time with] your little sister, I haven\'t been paying as much attention to you during this time.\" As I listened, I hung my head in embarrassment. \r\n\r\nWhen I saw the self-blame on mama\'s face, I was very sad, and I said to mama: \"Mama, don\'t blame yourself, is isn\'t your fault at all, it\'s that I haven\'t worked hard enough, so please don\'t be angry, starting now, I\'ll earnestly finish all the homework teacher gave me, and I\'ll fight to get good grades. Please believe me!\" Mama stared into my eyes, grasped my hand and said, \"Good child, mother believes you, let us work hard together.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Dear Diary: Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1113-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:23:52', '2020-04-20 09:23:52', '', 1113, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1113-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1119, 1, '2012-04-28 03:44:39', '2012-04-28 07:44:39', '[two_third]\r\nI got the most ah-mayzing canned message from Sina Weibo\'s glorious legality enforcers a couple of days ago, informing me that some people who had been saying too much online had been, erm, prevented from continuing to do so, and warning me not to follow the same path.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120428-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Reading Material: Free Advanced Chinese Lessons\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Read Advanced Chinese Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In this note, which I presume everyone on Sina Weibo got, I was warned not to listen to all the \"political rumors\" that are being spread - rumors which I hadn\'t heard about until I got the warning and will now trot off to Google. We often hear about how this kind of thing happens in China - now\'s your chance to read it straight from the horse\'s mouth. \r\n\r\nFor those of you just tuning in, Sina Weibo (新浪微博 - you\'ll see those words a couple of times in the post) is China\'s most popular Twitter-esque microblog platform. 微博 [pinyin]wei1 bo2[/pinyin] means \"microblog\", 新浪 is the particular microblog platform (China has several competing microblogs, as opposed to just the one Twitter).\r\n\r\nAs you read through this, bear in mind that the words in \"quotes\" are usernames, hence the strange collection of characters.\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不法分子 - [pinyin]bu4 fa3 fen4 zi3[/pinyin] - Lawbreaker\r\n编造 - [pinyin]bian1 zao4[/pinyin] - Fabricate, make up\r\n谣言 - [pinyin]yao2 yan2[/pinyin] - Rumors\r\n恶劣 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n公安 - [pinyin]gong1 an1[/pinyin] - Public Security\r\n依法 - [pinyin]yi1 fa3[/pinyin] - According to the law\r\n处理 - [pinyin]chu3 li3[/pinyin] -  To deal with, to handle\r\n处于 - [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] - To be in a state of...\r\n呼吁 - [pinyin]hu1 yu4[/pinyin] - To call on (someone to do sthg)\r\n网民 - [pinyin]wang3 min2[/pinyin] - Netizens\r\n维护 - [pinyin]wei2 hu4[/pinyin] - Safeguard, protect\r\n社会秩序 - [pinyin]she4 hui4 zhi4 xu4[/pinyin] - social order\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近期，一些<strong>不法分子</strong>利用新浪微博在互联网上无端<strong>编造</strong>、传播恶性政治<strong>谣言</strong>，产生了<strong>恶劣</strong>的社会影响，现已被<strong>公安</strong>机关<strong>依法</strong>予以<strong>处理</strong>，传播谣言的微博账号\"李德林\"、\"阳光的元士\"、\"广州巫冠聪\"和\"龙逸天-945\"已被关闭。在此，新浪微博<strong>呼吁</strong>广大<strong>网民</strong>自觉遵守法律法规，不传谣，不信谣，发现谣言及时举报，共同<strong>维护</strong>健康的网络环境和良好的<strong>社会秩序</strong>。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nRecently, a few legal offenders used Sina Weibo to, for no reason at all, fabricate and disseminate malicious political rumors, giving rise to a nasty social influence. The Public Security Bureau has already dealt with them according to the law, and the rumor-spreading weibo accounts \"Li De Lin\", \"Yuan Shi\'s Sunshine\", \"Clever Wizard\'s Hat in Guangzhou\", and \"Long Yi Tian - 945\" have been shut down. Now, Sina Weibo calls on all netizens to be aware of complying with legal statutes, and not to spread or believe rumors, report rumors immediately, and together we will safeguard our healthy internet environment and good social order. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Public Security Notice: Report Malicious Rumors', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1107-revision-3', '', '', '2012-04-28 03:44:39', '2012-04-28 07:44:39', '', 1107, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/28/1107-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1117, 1, '2012-04-28 03:21:29', '2012-04-28 07:21:29', '[two_third]\n\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n闷闷不乐 - [pinyin]men4 men4 bu4 le4[/pinyin] - Sulky, moody, unhappy\n怎么了 - [pinyin]zen3 me5 le4[/pinyin] - What\'s wrong?\n叹 - [pinyin]tan4[/pinyin] - Sigh\n暑假 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Summer vacation\n自责 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - To blame oneself\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - absolutely (not)\n努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  To strive, work hard\n盯 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Stare at\n攥 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - To grasp\n共同 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Together\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n9月24日星期六\n\n今天，开完家长会，妈妈<strong>闷闷不乐</strong>，我小心地问：“妈妈，您<strong>怎么了</strong>？”妈妈看着我，<strong>叹</strong>了口气说：“你<strong>暑假</strong>作业完成的不好，字也写的不好。我想，可能是有了小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。”我听了，不好意思地低下了头。\n\n看着妈妈<strong>自责</strong>的样子，我心里特别难过，我对妈妈说：“妈妈，您不要自责了，这<strong>根本</strong>就不是你的错，而是我自己不<strong>努力</strong>，请您不要生气了，从现在开始，我一定认真完成老师交给的每项作业，争取取得好成绩。请您相信我！”妈妈<strong>盯</strong>着我的眼睛，<strong>攥</strong>着我的手说：“好孩子，妈妈相信你，让我们<strong>共同</strong>努力！”\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nSeptember 24, Saturday\n\nToday, as we were finishing our family meeting, mama looked moody, and I carefully asked her, \"Mama, what\'s wrong?\" Looking at me, mother sighed and said: \"Your summer vacation homework is not close to being done, and your writing is poor. I think, because [I\'ve been spending so much time with] your little sister, I haven\'t been paying as much attention to you during this time.\" As I listened, I hung my head in embarrassment. \n\nWhen I saw the self-blame on mama\'s face, I was very sad, and I said to mama: \"Mama, don\'t blame yourself, is isn\'t your fault at all, it\'s that I haven\'t worked hard enough, so please don\'t be angry, starting now, I\'ll earnestly finish all the homework teacher gave me, and I\'ll fight to get good grades. Please believe me!\" Mama stared into my eyes, grasped my hand and said, \"Good child, mother believes you, let us work hard together.\" \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Dear Diary: Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1113-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-28 03:21:29', '2012-04-28 07:21:29', '', 1113, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/28/1113-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1115, 1, '2012-04-28 03:17:42', '2012-04-28 07:17:42', '', 'Easy Chinese Passages: Easy Chinese Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120503', '', '', '2012-04-28 03:17:42', '2012-04-28 07:17:42', '', 1113, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120503.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1116, 1, '2012-04-28 03:17:47', '2012-04-28 07:17:47', '', 'Easy Chinese Passages: Easy Chinese Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120503-inline', '', '', '2012-04-28 03:17:47', '2012-04-28 07:17:47', '', 1113, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120503-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1114, 1, '2012-04-28 02:57:43', '2012-04-28 06:57:43', '[two_third]\nI got the most ah-mayzing canned message from Sina Weibo\'s glorious legality enforcers a couple of days ago, informing me that some people who had been saying too much online had been, erm, prevented from continuing to do so, and warning me not to follow the same path.  <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120428-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Reading Material: Free Advanced Chinese Lessons\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Read Advanced Chinese Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In this note, which I presume everyone on Sina Weibo got, I was warned not to listen to all the \"political rumors\" that are being spread - rumors which I hadn\'t heard about until I got the warning and will now trot off to Google. We often hear about how this kind of thing happens in China - now\'s your chance to read it straight from the horse\'s mouth. \n\nFor those of you just tuning in, Sina Weibo (新浪微博 - you\'ll see those words a couple of times in the post) is China\'s most popular Twitter-esque microblog platform. 微博 [pinyin]wei1 bo2[/pinyin] means \"microblog\", 新浪 is the particular microblog platform (China has several competing microblogs, as opposed to just the one Twitter).\n\nAs you read through this, bear in mind that the words in \"quotes\" are usernames, hence the strange collection of characters.\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n闷闷不乐 - [pinyin]men4 men4 bu4 le4[/pinyin] - Sulky, moody, unhappy\n怎么了 - [pinyin]zen3 me5 le4[/pinyin] - What\'s wrong?\n叹 - [pinyin]tan4[/pinyin] - Sigh\n暑假 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Summer vacation\n自责 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - To blame oneself\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - absolutely (not)\n努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  To strive, work hard\n盯 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Stare at\n攥 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - To grasp\n共同 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Together\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n9月24日星期六\n\n今天，开完家长会，妈妈<strong>闷闷不乐</strong>，我小心地问：“妈妈，您<strong>怎么了</strong>？”妈妈看着我，<strong>叹</strong>了口气说：“你<strong>暑假</strong>作业完成的不好，字也写的不好。我想，可能是有了小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。”我听了，不好意思地低下了头。\n\n看着妈妈<strong>自责</strong>的样子，我心里特别难过，我对妈妈说：“妈妈，您不要自责了，这<strong>根本</strong>就不是你的错，而是我自己不<strong>努力</strong>，请您不要生气了，从现在开始，我一定认真完成老师交给的每项作业，争取取得好成绩。请您相信我！”妈妈<strong>盯</strong>着我的眼睛，<strong>攥</strong>着我的手说：“好孩子，妈妈相信你，让我们<strong>共同</strong>努力！”\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nSeptember 24, Saturday\n\nToday, as we were finishing our family meeting, mama looked moody, and I carefully asked her, \"Mama, what\'s wrong?\" Looking at me, mother sighed and said: \"Your summer vacation homework is not close to being done, and your writing is poor. I think, because [I\'ve been spending so much time with] your little sister, I haven\'t been paying as much attention to you during this time.\" As I listened, I hung my head in embarrassment. \n\nWhen I saw the self-blame on mama\'s face, I was very sad, and I said to mama: \"Mama, don\'t blame yourself, is isn\'t your fault at all, it\'s that I haven\'t worked hard enough, so please don\'t be angry, starting now, I\'ll earnestly finish all the homework teacher gave me, and I\'ll fight to get good grades. Please believe me!\" Mama stared into my eyes, grasped my hand and said, \"Good child, mother believes you, let us work hard together.\" \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Dear Diary: Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1113-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-28 02:57:43', '2012-04-28 06:57:43', '', 1113, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/28/1113-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1118, 1, '2012-04-27 22:44:01', '2012-04-28 02:44:01', '[two_third]\r\nI got the most ah-mayzing canned message from Sina Weibo\'s glorious legality enforcers a couple of days ago, informing me that some people who had been saying too much online had been, erm, prevented from continuing to do so, and warning me not to follow the same path.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120428-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Reading Material: Free Advanced Chinese Lessons\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Read Advanced Chinese Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In this note, which I presume everyone on Sina Weibo got, I was warned not to listen to all the \"political rumors\" that are being spread - rumors which I hadn\'t heard about until I got the warning and will now trot off to Google. We often hear about how this kind of thing happens in China - now\'s your chance to read it straight from the horse\'s mouth. \r\n\r\nFor those of you just tuning in, Sina Weibo (新浪微博 - you\'ll see those words a couple of times in the post) is China\'s most popular Twitter-esque microblog platform. 微博 [pinyin]wei1 bo2[/pinyin] means \"microblog\", 新浪 is the particular microblog platform (China has several competing microblogs, as opposed to just the one Twitter).\r\n\r\nAs you read through this, bear in mind that the words in \"quotes\" are usernames, hence the strange collection of characters.\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不法分子 - [pinyin]bu4 fa3 fen4 zi3[/pinyin] - Lawbreaker\r\n编造 - [pinyin]bian1 zao4[/pinyin] - Fabricate, make up\r\n谣言 - [pinyin]yao2 yan2[/pinyin] - Rumors\r\n恶劣 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n公安 - [pinyin]gong1 an1[/pinyin] - Public Security\r\n依法 - [pinyin]yi1 fa3[/pinyin] - According to the law\r\n处理 - [pinyin]chu3 li3[/pinyin] -  To deal with, to handle\r\n处于 - [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] - To be in a state of...\r\n呼吁 - [pinyin]hu1 yu4[/pinyin] - To call on (someone to do sthg)\r\n网民 - [pinyin]wang3 min2[/pinyin] - Netizens\r\n维护 - [pinyin]wei2 hu4[/pinyin] - Safeguard, protect\r\n社会秩序 - [pinyin]she4 hui4 zhi4 xu4[/pinyin] - social order\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近期，一些<strong>不法分子</strong>利用新浪微博在互联网上无端<strong>编造</strong>、传播恶性政治<strong>谣言</strong>，产生了<strong>恶劣</strong>的社会影响，现已被<strong>公安</strong>机关<strong>依法</strong>予以<strong>处理</strong>，传播谣言的微博账号\"李德林\"、\"阳光的元士\"、\"广州巫冠聪\"和\"龙逸天-945\"已被关闭。在此，新浪微博<strong>呼吁</strong>广大<strong>网民</strong>自觉遵守法律法规，不传谣，不信谣，发现谣言及时举报，共同<strong>维护</strong>健康的网络环境和良好的<strong>社会秩序</strong>。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nRecently, a few legal offenders used Sina Weibo to, for no reason at all, fabricate and disseminate malicious political rumors, giving rise to a nasty social influence. The Public Security Bureau has already dealt with them according to the law, and the rumor-spreading weibo accounts \"Li De Lin\", \"Yuan Shi\'s Sunshine\", \"Clever Wizard\'s Hat in Guangzhou\", and \"Long Yi Tian - 945\" have been shut down. Now, Sina Weibo calls on all netizens to be aware of complying with legal statutes, and not to spread or believe rumors, report rumors immediately, and together we will safeguard our healthy internet environment and good social order. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Public Security Notice: Report Malicious Rumors', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1107-revision-2', '', '', '2012-04-27 22:44:01', '2012-04-28 02:44:01', '', 1107, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/27/1107-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1121, 1, '2012-04-28 03:55:05', '2012-04-28 07:55:05', '[two_third]\r\nAnd now a break from all the intermediate and advanced exercises I\'ve been posting lately. This one is a straightforward beginner Chinese diary-style essay about a student whose mother is displeased with his (or her, it\'s never clarified) homework. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120503-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Materials: Learn Chinese Reading for Beginners\" title=\"Easy Chinese Passages: Easy Chinese Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> There\'s only one thing that particularly stands out to me as confusing here, which is when the mother says: 可能是<strong>有了</strong>小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。 Literally, this translates as \"Maybe it\'s have small sister, I during this time towards you care little.\" The last clause we can translate into less literal and more readable English as \"I haven\'t looked after you much during this time,\" but the first bit, \"<strong><em>have </em></strong>small sister\" (有了), is confusing. Why \"have\" 有了? \r\n\r\nIn this case, that could be translated as, \"Maybe it\'s because we have your little sister,\" or \"It\'s because I had your little sister [to look after]\", though \"because\" is never actually used in the sentence, it becomes that much harder to read. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n闷闷不乐 - [pinyin]men4 men4 bu4 le4[/pinyin] - Sulky, moody, unhappy\r\n怎么了 - [pinyin]zen3 me5 le4[/pinyin] - What\'s wrong?\r\n叹 - [pinyin]tan4[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n暑假 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Summer vacation\r\n自责 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - To blame oneself\r\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - absolutely (not)\r\n努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  To strive, work hard\r\n盯 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Stare at\r\n攥 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - To grasp\r\n共同 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Together\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n9月24日星期六\r\n\r\n今天，开完家长会，妈妈<strong>闷闷不乐</strong>，', 'Dear Diary: Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1113-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-28 03:55:05', '2012-04-28 07:55:05', '', 1113, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/28/1113-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1122, 1, '2012-04-28 04:01:10', '2012-04-28 08:01:10', '[two_third]\r\nAnd now a break from all the intermediate and advanced exercises I\'ve been posting lately. This one is a straightforward beginner Chinese diary-style essay about a student whose mother is displeased with his (or her, it\'s never clarified) homework. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120503-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Materials: Learn Chinese Reading for Beginners\" title=\"Easy Chinese Passages: Easy Chinese Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> There\'s only one thing that particularly stands out to me as confusing here, which is when the mother says: 可能是<strong>有了</strong>小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。 Literally, this translates as \"Maybe it\'s have small sister, I during this time towards you care little.\" The last clause we can translate into less literal and more readable English as \"I haven\'t looked after you much during this time,\" but the first bit, \"<strong><em>have </em></strong>small sister\" (有了), is confusing. Why \"have\" 有了? \r\n\r\nIn this case, that could be translated as, \"Maybe it\'s because we have your little sister,\" or \"It\'s because I had your little sister [to look after]\", though \"because\" is never actually used in the sentence, it becomes that much harder to read. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n闷闷不乐 - [pinyin]men4 men4 bu4 le4[/pinyin] - Sulky, moody, unhappy\r\n怎么了 - [pinyin]zen3 me5 le4[/pinyin] - What\'s wrong?\r\n叹 - [pinyin]tan4[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n暑假 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Summer vacation\r\n自责 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - To blame oneself\r\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - absolutely (not)\r\n努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  To strive, work hard\r\n盯 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Stare at\r\n攥 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - To grasp\r\n共同 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Together\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n9月24日星期六\r\n\r\n今天，开完家长会，妈妈<strong>闷闷不乐</strong>，我小心地问：“妈妈，您<strong>怎么了</strong>？”妈妈看着我，<strong>叹</strong>了口气说：“你<strong>暑假</strong>作业完成的不好，字也写的不好。我想，可能是有了小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。”我听了，不好意思地低下了头。\r\n\r\n看着妈妈<strong>自责</strong>的样子，我心里特别难过，我对妈妈说：“妈妈，您不要自责了，这<strong>根本</strong>就不是你的错，而是我自己不<strong>努力</strong>，请您不要生气了，从现在开始，我一定认真完成老师交给的每项作业，争取取得好成绩。请您相信我！”妈妈<strong>盯</strong>着我的眼睛，<strong>攥</strong>着我的手说：“好孩子，妈妈相信你，让我们<strong>共同</strong>努力！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nSeptember 24, Saturday\r\n\r\nToday, as we were finishing our family meeting, mama looked moody, and I carefully asked her, \"Mama, what\'s wrong?\" Looking at me, mother sighed and said: ', 'Dear Diary: Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1113-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-28 04:01:10', '2012-04-28 08:01:10', '', 1113, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/28/1113-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1125, 1, '2012-05-07 09:36:15', '2012-05-07 13:36:15', '[two_third]\nIn this \nAs is pretty typical in Chinese texts, it\'s never really specified if it\'s one blade of grass or a field of grass that is the protagonist here, but . My point is that this is a great example of - in English stories, it\'s hard to personify something you can\'t define. \n\n\n\nNot 100% sure I\'m happy with the conclusion that\'s drawn here, considering I dye my hair all the time, but what the hell. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n闷闷不乐 - [pinyin]men4 men4 bu4 le4[/pinyin] - Sulky, moody, unhappy\n怎么了 - [pinyin]zen3 me5 le4[/pinyin] - What\'s wrong?\n叹 - [pinyin]tan4[/pinyin] - Sigh\n暑假 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Summer vacation\n自责 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - To blame oneself\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - absolutely (not)\n努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  To strive, work hard\n盯 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Stare at\n攥 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - To grasp\n共同 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Together\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n小草银银喜欢银色。\n　　春天，小草银银让春姑娘把她的头发染成银色。春姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成青色”。银银非常伤心。\n　　夏天小草银银让夏姑娘把她的头发染成银色。夏姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成深绿色”。银银非常伤心。\n　　秋天小草银银让秋姑娘把她的头发染成银色。秋姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成金黄色”。银银非常伤心。\n　　冬天小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你可不要后悔呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。忽然，银银的头发掉下来了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe little grass YinYin liked the color silver. \n　　In spring time, little grass Yinyin asked the Lady of Spring to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Spring said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair blue/green [see explanation]. YinYin was very broken-hearted. \n\nIn summer time, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Summer to to dye her hair silver. The lady of summer said, \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair green!\" YinYin was very broken-hearted. \n\nIn autumn, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Autumn to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Autumn said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair golden yellow.\" YinYin was very broken-hearted.\n\nIn winter, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Winter to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Winter said, \"Okay, but won\'t you regret it?\" YinYin said, \"I won\'t, if I had hair that beautiful I couldn\'t be happier!\" And so YinYin\'s hair turned silver. Suddenly, YinYin\'s hair fell out - how could this be? Of course, if you dye your hair too often, it\'s not good for you. And after this YinYin was indeed regretful. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Grass\' Silver Hair', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1123-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-05-07 09:36:15', '2012-05-07 13:36:15', '', 1123, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/05/07/1123-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1124, 1, '2012-05-07 09:32:47', '2012-05-07 13:32:47', '[two_third]\nIn this \nAs is pretty typical in Chinese texts, it\'s never really specified if it\'s one blade of grass or a field of grass that is the protagonist here, but . My point is that this is a great example of - in English stories, it\'s hard to personify something you can\'t define. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n闷闷不乐 - [pinyin]men4 men4 bu4 le4[/pinyin] - Sulky, moody, unhappy\n怎么了 - [pinyin]zen3 me5 le4[/pinyin] - What\'s wrong?\n叹 - [pinyin]tan4[/pinyin] - Sigh\n暑假 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Summer vacation\n自责 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - To blame oneself\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - absolutely (not)\n努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  To strive, work hard\n盯 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Stare at\n攥 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - To grasp\n共同 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Together\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n小草银银喜欢银色。\n　　春天，小草银银让春姑娘把她的头发染成银色。春姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成青色”。银银非常伤心。\n　　夏天小草银银让夏姑娘把她的头发染成银色。夏姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成深绿色”。银银非常伤心。\n　　秋天小草银银让秋姑娘把她的头发染成银色。秋姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成金黄色”。银银非常伤心。\n　　冬天小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你可不要后悔呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。忽然，银银的头发掉下来了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe little grass YinYin liked the color silver. \n　　In spring time, little grass Yinyin asked the Lady of Spring to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Spring said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair blue/green [see explanation]. YinYin was very broken-hearted. \n\nIn summer time, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Summer to to dye her hair silver. The lady of summer said, \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair green!\" YinYin was very broken-hearted. \n\nIn autumn, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Autumn to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Autumn said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair golden yellow.\" YinYin was very broken-hearted.\n\nIn winter, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Winter to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Winter said, \"Okay, but won\'t you regret it?\" YinYin said, \"I won\'t, if I had hair that beautiful I couldn\'t be happier!\" And so YinYin\'s hair turned silver. Suddenly, YinYin\'s hair fell out - how could this be? Of course, if you dye your hair too often, it\'s not good for your body. And after this YinYin was inde\n　　冬天小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你可不要后悔呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。忽然，银银的头发掉下来了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Grass\' Silver Hair', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1123-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-05-07 09:32:47', '2012-05-07 13:32:47', '', 1123, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/05/07/1123-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2393, 1, '2020-05-24 05:49:05', '2020-05-24 09:49:05', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments – positive, negative, or neutral – are not allowed, and will be deleted. Dinner table rules, please.\r\n\r\nZhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). He was applauded as a \"People\'s general\", and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned popular posters, like this one:\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole.jpeg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Practice Exercises: Communist Folk Stories Revolutionary Heroes\" width=\"425\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2387\" /> \r\n\r\nZhe De is a revolutionary from the early days of Chinese Communism. For those who don\'t know their CCP history: modern China was founded in 1949, but for the 20-odd years before that, the Red Army was fighting various wars for control of the country. Zhu De was instrumental in these wars, and after 1949, he became a key Party leader and politician. This story is set in the early days of the wars, in 1928. It\'s crazy to think that Zhu De, who was born in 1886 and died in 1976, lived to be 90 years old, but spent three or four decades of his life doing nothing but fighting battles. Considering how many people died in those wars, or were purged in political upheavals afterwards, this guy was a real survivor. \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nThis is an example of a story that will look much harder on first glance than it actually is. That\'s because some of the vocab is intermediate, but the sentence structure is beginner. The intermediate vocab is also used repetitively, so once you look up the tougher words, you\'ll immediately have an opportunity to see them again in the text. The first two sentences are much rougher than the rest, because they\'re almost entirely made up of intermediate words, so push through those and it\'ll be easier going from there. If you break the sentences down patiently, and you are at HSK 3 or up, I promise you can get through this. \r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here: \r\n朱德同志 [pinyin]zhu1 de2[/pinyin] - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin] - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 [pinyin]jing3 gang1 shan1[/pinyin] - Jinggang Mountain \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 [pinyin]dui4 wu[/pinyin] - troops \r\n敌人 [pinyin]di2 ren2[/pinyin] - enemy\r\n战士们 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4 men[/pinyin] - soldier \r\n打仗 [pinyin]da3 zhang4[/pinyin] to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnother word that come up quite a bit is 粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin] - Also just 粮 [pinyin]liang2[/pinyin] - This means \"grain\" - could be wheat, rice, millet, or any kind of grain. \r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n争着去 - 争 means \"to fight\" or \"to struggle\", so 争着去 \"fighting to go\". But in this case, 争着去 isn\'t really describing a bad fight, it\'s describing a group of people pushing and shoving to be the first to volunteer to go somewhere. Imagine a group of people asked to undertake a hard mission - one person says, \"I\'ll go!\" and someone else says, \"No, choose me, I\'ll go!\". This is 争着去. \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.rensheng5.com/xiaogushi/id-9965.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</a>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>朱德的扁担</h4>\r\n1928年，<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>带领一支<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>队伍到<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>。山上是<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>，山下不远就是<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上出产粮食不多，常常要抽出一些人到山下的田园去挑粮。从<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上到田园距离很远，山高路窄，非常难走。可是每次挑粮大家都<span class=\"highlightText\">争着去</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>也跟战士们一起去挑粮。他穿着草鞋，挑起满满的一担粮食，跟大家一起爬山。白天挑粮，晚上还常常整夜整夜地学习怎样跟敌人打仗。大家觉得他要做的工作太多，就把他那根扁担藏了起来。可是<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>又找到了一根扁担，写上“<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德</span>扁担，不要拿走”八个大字。大家见了，更敬爱<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>，不好意思再藏他的扁担了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nIn 1928, Comrade Zhu De lead a detachment of Red Army troops to Jinggang Mountain. The Red Army was on the mountain, but down the mountain not far away was the enemy. \r\n \r\nNot much grain was produced on Jinggang Mountain, so [they] often had to select a few people to go down to the fields below and tote back some grain. From Jinggang Mountain to the fields was 50 or 60 kilometers round-trip, the mountain was high and the roads were narrow, it was very hard going. But each time grain had to be carried back, everyone fought to be the one to go.\r\n \r\nComrade Zhu De also went along with the soldiers to carry grain. He wore grass shoes, carrying a pole packed full of grain, and climbed the mountain with everybody else. During the day [he] carried grain, and during the evening he often spent the whole night studying how to make war on the enemy. Everyone felt he had too much work to do, so they took his carrying pole and hid it. But Comrade Zhu De found another carrying pole, and wrote 8 big words on it: \"Zhu Du\'s carrying pole, please don\'t take it\". Everyone saw this, and loved and respected Comrade Zhu De even more, and were too ashamed to hide his carrying pole again. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De\'s Carrying Pole', 'Zhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). This popular revolutionary story highlights his willingness to toil alongside the rank and file soldiers. HSK 3-4. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 05:49:05', '2020-05-24 09:49:05', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1127, 1, '2012-04-28 04:25:20', '2012-04-28 08:25:20', '[two_third]\r\nAnd now a break from all the intermediate and advanced exercises I\'ve been posting lately. This one is a straightforward beginner Chinese diary-style essay about a student whose mother is displeased with his (or her, it\'s never clarified) homework. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120503-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Materials: Learn Chinese Reading for Beginners\" title=\"Easy Chinese Passages: Easy Chinese Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> There\'s only one thing that particularly stands out to me as confusing here, which is when the mother says: 可能是<strong>有了</strong>小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。 Literally, this translates as \"Maybe it\'s have small sister, I during this time towards you care little.\" The last clause we can translate into less literal and more readable English as \"I haven\'t looked after you much during this time,\" but the first bit, \"<strong><em>have </em></strong>small sister\" (有了), is confusing. Why \"have\" 有了? \r\n\r\nIn this case, that could be translated as, \"Maybe it\'s because we have your little sister,\" or \"It\'s because I had your little sister [to look after]\", though \"because\" is never actually used in the sentence, it becomes that much harder to read. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n闷闷不乐 - [pinyin]men4 men4 bu4 le4[/pinyin] - Sulky, moody, unhappy\r\n怎么了 - [pinyin]zen3 me5 le4[/pinyin] - What\'s wrong?\r\n叹 - [pinyin]tan4[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n暑假 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Summer vacation\r\n自责 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - To blame oneself\r\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - absolutely (not)\r\n努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  To strive, work hard\r\n盯 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Stare at\r\n攥 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - To grasp\r\n共同 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Together\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n9月24日星期六\r\n\r\n今天，开完家长会，妈妈<strong>闷闷不乐</strong>，我小心地问：“妈妈，您<strong>怎么了</strong>？”妈妈看着我，<strong>叹</strong>了口气说：“你<strong>暑假</strong>作业完成的不好，字也写的不好。我想，可能是有了小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。”我听了，不好意思地低下了头。\r\n\r\n看着妈妈<strong>自责</strong>的样子，我心里特别难过，我对妈妈说：“妈妈，您不要自责了，这<strong>根本</strong>就不是你的错，而是我自己不<strong>努力</strong>，请您不要生气了，从现在开始，我一定认真完成老师交给的每项作业，争取取得好成绩。请您相信我！”妈妈<strong>盯</strong>着我的眼睛，<strong>攥</strong>着我的手说：“好孩子，妈妈相信你，让我们<strong>共同</strong>努力！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nSeptember 24, Saturday\r\n\r\nToday, as we were finishing our family meeting, mama looked moody, and I carefully asked her, \"Mama, what\'s wrong?\" Looking at me, mother sighed and said: \"Your summer vacation homework is not close to being done, and your writing is poor. I think, because [I\'ve been spending so much time with] your little sister, I haven\'t been paying as much attention to you during this time.\" As I listened, I hung my head in embarrassment. \r\n\r\nWhen I saw the self-blame on mama\'s face, I was very sad, and I said to mama: \"Mama, don\'t blame yourself, is isn\'t your fault at all, it\'s that I haven\'t worked hard enough, so please don\'t be angry, starting now, I\'ll earnestly finish all the homework teacher gave me, and I\'ll fight to get good grades. Please believe me!\" Mama stared into my eyes, grasped my hand and said, \"Good child, mother believes you, let us work hard together.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Dear Diary: Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1113-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-28 04:25:20', '2012-04-28 08:25:20', '', 1113, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/28/1113-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1128, 1, '2012-04-28 03:46:45', '2012-04-28 07:46:45', '[two_third]\r\nI got the most ah-mayzing canned message from Sina Weibo\'s glorious legality enforcers a couple of days ago, informing me that some people who had been saying too much online had been, erm, prevented from continuing to do so, and warning me not to follow the same path.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120428-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Reading Material: Free Advanced Chinese Lessons\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Read Advanced Chinese Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In this note, which I presume everyone on Sina Weibo got, I was warned not to listen to all the \"political rumors\" that are being spread - rumors which I hadn\'t heard about until I got the warning and will now trot off to Google. We often hear about how this kind of thing happens in China - now\'s your chance to read it straight from the horse\'s mouth. \r\n\r\nFor those of you just tuning in, Sina Weibo (新浪微博 - you\'ll see those words a couple of times in the post) is China\'s most popular Twitter-esque microblog platform. 微博 [pinyin]wei1 bo2[/pinyin] means \"microblog\", 新浪 is the particular microblog platform (China has several competing microblogs, as opposed to just the one Twitter).\r\n\r\nAs you read through this, bear in mind that the words in \"quotes\" are usernames, hence the strange collection of characters.\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]%0', 'Public Security Notice: Report Malicious Rumors', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1107-revision-4', '', '', '2012-04-28 03:46:45', '2012-04-28 07:46:45', '', 1107, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/28/1107-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1147, 1, '2012-06-30 05:04:05', '2012-06-30 09:04:05', '', 'ingredients-oil-veggies', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', 'ingredients-oil-veggies', '', '', '2012-06-30 05:04:05', '2012-06-30 09:04:05', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ingredients-oil-veggies.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1129, 1, '2020-04-20 06:14:20', '2020-04-20 10:14:20', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nA rather off-color \"they don\'t teach you how to say that in the textbook\" joke, this one about two parents dealing with an unexpected pregnancy in the family. This is really upper-intermediate, not really super advanced, but there will be quite a few new words here for lower-intermediate readers.\n<!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/20110830-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Advanced Chinese Jokes and Written Vocaublary Practice\" title=\"Advanced Chinese Jokes and Written Vocaublary Practice\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />You\'ll have to forgive me these couple of recent not-really-for-kids jokes - I\'m no primary school teacher, and I find that an endless stream of kids\' jokes gets a bit tiresome, and is not as reflective of real spoken language. This is the kind of joke you\'d tell with your friends after a couple of glasses of 啤酒, and you have to admit, as scripted jokes go, this one\'s pretty funny.\n\nIt\'s a little hard to get rolling on this one, as the first sentence is a little hard to get past unless you know what they\'re talking about, so I\'ll explain a bit. The joke starts out: \"一个16岁的女孩跟她母亲说她已经2个月没来了\", which literally translates into \"A 16-year-old girl tells her mother that already two months hadn\'t come.\" Once you see it in English, and you know the joke\'s about pregnancy, it\'s pretty easy to decipher the meaning - the girl hasn\'t had her period for 2 months and suspects she\'s pregnant. Thing is, the medical word for \"menstrual cycle\" never actually shows up here - we\'re seeing instead the colloquial term \"月\", or \"moon / month\".\n\n<del datetime=\"2012-06-15T09:52:47+00:00\">It\'s also worth noting that in this reading, 令媛 is the name of the pregnant daughter - that is not really explained.</del>\n\n[CORRECTION: Alert reader Katy informs me that I was very wrong - 令媛 is not the name of the daughter but, \"an old-fashioned term of respect to say \'your daughter\' which is in keeping with the status of the man as a 绅士 (gentleman)\". Apparently, when you assume, you make an ass out of 令 and 媛. Thanks Katy.]\n\nAnd one last interesting grammar point here is the phrase \"负该负的责任\". To \"负责任\", means to shoulder your responsibilities and fulfill your obligations. So this phrase means \"fulfill the responsibilities that should be fulfilled\", or \"to bear the responsibilities that one should bear\". \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>你可以再来一次</h4>\n一个16岁的女孩跟她母亲说她已经2个月没来了.... 母亲一听不得了赶紧去药房买了<strong>验孕剂</strong>来确认一下... 结果女孩真的怀孕了！ 母亲又哭又骂的问到:\"到底是那个<strong>浑蛋</strong>干的好事，你给我从实招来!!\" 女孩只好打了通电话。 \n\n半小时后，一部全新的<strong>法拉利</strong><strong>跑车</strong>疾驶到了女孩家门，而跨出车门的是位全身<strong>名牌</strong>衣着又<strong>风度</strong>翩翩的中年<strong>绅士</strong>. 绅士进入屋内与女孩及她的父母双亲在客厅坐了下来. \"午安!\"绅士礼貌的向她们问候并说道:\"<strong>令媛</strong>刚刚告知了我这个大问题，但是因为我的个人家庭问题，很抱歉我无法娶令媛为妻，不过我会<strong>负该负的责任</strong>\" \"这样好了，如果生的是女孩，我会留3家店面，2间房子，1栋海边<strong>别墅</strong>及一个200万美金的帐户给她\" \"如果生的是男孩，我会让他<strong>继承</strong>2家公司再加上一个200万美金的帐户\" \"如果生的是<strong>双胞胎</strong>，那就每人继承1家公司还有各100万美金的帐户\" \"但如果<strong>不幸流产</strong>了............\" 此时在一旁沉默已久的父亲，突然站起来，并把手紧紧的搭在绅士的肩上后说:\"没关系，到时你可以再来一次!!\" \n\n</div>\n[/su_column]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\nA 16-year-old girl said to her mother that she had missed 2 menstrual cycles... as soon as her mother heard this, she rushed in extreme haste to the pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test and confirm the issue... sure enough the daughter was pregnant!  Crying and yelling, the mother asked, \"Whichever scoundrel did the happy deed, you make him come face me!!\" The daughter was forced to pick up the phone. \n\nHalf an hour later, a brand new Ferrari sports car quickly pulled up to the girl\'s front door, and who stepped out of the car but an elegant middle-aged gentleman wearing a completely new set of brand-name clothes. The gentleman entered the room and sat down in the living room with the daughter and her parents. \n\n\"Good afternoon!\" the gentleman politely paid his respects, and said, \"Your honorable daughter just told me about this serious problem, but because of my own family situation, I\'m very sorry to say I can\'t take her to wife, but I will bear the responsibility I should bear. This should do: if a girl child is born, I will give her 3 storefronts, 2 houses, 1 seaside villa and a bank account with 2 million American dollars in it. If a boy is born, he will inherit 2 companies plus a bank account worth 2 million American dollars. If it\'s twins, each will inherit one company and a 1 million American dollar bank account. But if it\'s a miscarriage...\"  At that moment, the girl\'s father, who had been sitting silently off to one side, suddenly stood up, put both hands firmly on the gentleman\'s shoulders and said, \"Don\'t worry, if that happens [lit: when the time comes] you can come back again!\" \n\n[/hide-this-part]\n[/su_column]\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Joke: You can come back again', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '756-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 06:14:20', '2020-04-20 10:14:20', '', 756, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/15/756-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1130, 1, '2011-08-31 21:05:28', '2011-09-01 01:05:28', '[two_third]\r\nAnother slightly off-color \"they don\'t teach you how to say that in the textbook\" joke, this one about two parents dealing with an unexpected pregnancy in the family. This is really upper-intermediate, not really super advanced, but there will be quite a few new words here for lower-intermediate readers.\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/20110830-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Advanced Chinese Jokes and Written Vocaublary Practice\" title=\"Advanced Chinese Jokes and Written Vocaublary Practice\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />You\'ll have to forgive me these couple of recent not-really-for-kids jokes - I\'m no primary school teacher, and I find that an endless stream of kids\' jokes gets a bit tiresome, and is not as reflective of real spoken language. This is the kind of joke you\'d tell with your friends after a couple of glasses of 啤酒, and you have to admit, as scripted jokes go, this one\'s pretty funny.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a little hard to get rolling on this one, as the first sentence is a little hard to get past unless you know what they\'re talking about, so I\'ll explain a bit. The joke starts out: \"一个16岁的女孩跟她母亲说她已经2个月没来了\", which literally translates into \"A 16-year-old girl tells her mother that already two months hadn\'t come.\" Once you see it in English, and you know the joke\'s about pregnancy, it\'s pretty easy to decipher the meaning - the girl hasn\'t had her period for 2 months and suspects she\'s pregnant. Thing is, the medical word for \"menstrual cycle\" never actually shows up here - we\'re seeing instead the colloquial term \"月\", or \"moon / month\".\r\n\r\nIt\'s also worth noting that in this reading, 令媛 is the name of the pregnant daughter - that is not really explained.\r\n\r\nAnd one last interesting grammar point here is the phrase \"负该负的责任\". To \"负责任\", means to shoulder your responsibilities and fulfill your obligations. So this phrase means \"fulfill the responsibilities that should be fulfilled\", or \"to bear the responsibilities that one should bear\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this joke is \"你可以再来一次\".\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验孕剂 - [pinyin]yan4 yun4 ji4[/pinyin] - Pregnancy test\r\n浑蛋 - [pinyin]hun2 dan4[/pinyin] - Variant of 混蛋, meaning scoundrel, cur, bastard\r\n法拉利 - [pinyin]fa3 la1 li4[/pinyin] - Ferrari (sports car brand)\r\n跑车 - [pinyin]pao3 che1[/pinyin] - Sports car\r\n名牌 - [pinyin]ming2 pai2[/pinyin] - Name brand\r\n风度 - [pinyin]feng1 du4[/pinyin] - Elegant (applies only to men)\r\n绅士 - [pinyin]shen1 shi4[/pinyin] - Gentleman\r\n别墅 - [pinyin]bie2 shu4[/pinyin] - Villa\r\n继承 -  [pinyin]ji4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To inherit\r\n双胞胎 - [pinyin]shuang1 bao1 tai[/pinyin] - Twins\r\n不幸流产 - [pinyin]bu4 xing4 liu2 chan3[/pinyin] - Accidental miscarriage\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一个16岁的女孩跟她母亲说她已经2个月没来了.... 母亲一听不得了赶紧去药房买了<strong>验孕剂</strong>来确认一下... 结果女孩真的怀孕了！ 母亲又哭又骂的问到:\"到底是那个<strong>浑蛋</strong>干的好事，你给我从实招来!!\" 女孩只好打了通电话... 半小时后，一部全新的<strong>法拉利</strong><strong>跑车</strong>疾驶到了女孩家门，而跨出车门的是位全身<strong>名牌</strong>衣着又<strong>风度</strong>翩翩的中年<strong>绅士</strong>. 绅士进入屋内与女孩及她的父母双亲在客厅坐了下来. \"午安!\"绅士礼貌的向她们问候并说道:\"<strong>令媛</strong>刚刚告知了我这个大问题，但是因为我的个人家庭问题，很抱歉我无法娶令媛为妻，不过我会<strong>负该负的责任</strong>\" \"这样好了，如果生的是女孩，我会留3家店面，2间房子，1栋海边<strong>别墅</strong>及一个200万美金的帐户给她\" \"如果生的是男孩，我会让他<strong>继承</strong>2家公司再加上一个200万美金的帐户\" \"如果生的是<strong>双胞胎</strong>，那就每人继承1家公司还有各100万美金的帐户\" \"但如果<strong>不幸流产</strong>了............\" 此时在一旁沉默已久的父亲，突然站起来，并把手紧紧的搭在绅士的肩上后说:\"没关系，到时你可以再来一次!!\" \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\nA 16-year-old girl said to her mother that she had missed 2 menstrual cycles... as soon as her mother heard this, she rushed in extreme haste to the pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test and confirm the issue... sure enough the daughter was pregnant!  Crying and yelling, the mother asked, \"Whichever scoundrel did the happy deed, you make him come face me!!\" The daughter was forced to pick up the phone... half an hour later, a brand new Ferrari sports car quickly pulled up to the girl\'s front door, and who stepped out of the car but an elegant middle-aged gentleman wearing a completely new set of brand-name clothes. The gentleman entered the room and sat down in the living room with the daughter and her parents. \"Good afternoon!\" the gentleman politely paid his respects, and said, \"Ling Yuan [presumably daughter\'s name] just told me about this serious problem, but because of my own family situation, I\'m very sorry to say I can\'t take Ling Yuan to wife, but I will bear the responsibility I should bear. This should do: if a girl child is born, I will give her 3 storefronts, 2 houses, 1 seaside villa and a bank account with 2 million American dollars in it. If a boy is born, he will inherit 2 companies plus a bank account worth 2 million American dollars. If it\'s twins, each will inherit one company and a 1 million American dollar bank account. But if it\'s a miscarriage...\"  At that moment, the girl\'s father, who had been sitting silently off to one side, suddenly stood up, put both hands firmly on the gentleman\'s shoulders and said, \"Don\'t worry, if that happens [lit: when the time comes] you can come back again!\" \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n', 'You can come back again', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '756-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-08-31 21:05:28', '2011-09-01 01:05:28', '', 756, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/08/31/756-revision-9/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1131, 1, '2012-06-15 05:55:06', '2012-06-15 09:55:06', '[two_third]\r\nAnother slightly off-color \"they don\'t teach you how to say that in the textbook\" joke, this one about two parents dealing with an unexpected pregnancy in the family. This is really upper-intermediate, not really super advanced, but there will be quite a few new words here for lower-intermediate readers.\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/20110830-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Advanced Chinese Jokes and Written Vocaublary Practice\" title=\"Advanced Chinese Jokes and Written Vocaublary Practice\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />You\'ll have to forgive me these couple of recent not-really-for-kids jokes - I\'m no primary school teacher, and I find that an endless stream of kids\' jokes gets a bit tiresome, and is not as reflective of real spoken language. This is the kind of joke you\'d tell with your friends after a couple of glasses of 啤酒, and you have to admit, as scripted jokes go, this one\'s pretty funny.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a little hard to get rolling on this one, as the first sentence is a little hard to get past unless you know what they\'re talking about, so I\'ll explain a bit. The joke starts out: \"一个16岁的女孩跟她母亲说她已经2个月没来了\", which literally translates into \"A 16-year-old girl tells her mother that already two months hadn\'t come.\" Once you see it in English, and you know the joke\'s about pregnancy, it\'s pretty easy to decipher the meaning - the girl hasn\'t had her period for 2 months and suspects she\'s pregnant. Thing is, the medical word for \"menstrual cycle\" never actually shows up here - we\'re seeing instead the colloquial term \"月\", or \"moon / month\".\r\n\r\n<del datetime=\"2012-06-15T09:52:47+00:00\">It\'s also worth noting that in this reading, 令媛 is the name of the pregnant daughter - that is not really explained.</del>\r\n\r\n[CORRECTION: Alert reader Katy informs me that I was very wrong - 令媛 is not the name of the daughter but, \"an old-fashioned term of respect to say \'your daughter\' which is in keeping with the status of the man as a 绅士 (gentleman)\". Apparently, when you assume, you make an ass out of 令 and 媛. Thanks Katy.]\r\n\r\nAnd one last interesting grammar point here is the phrase \"负该负的责任\". To \"负责任\", means to shoulder your responsibilities and fulfill your obligations. So this phrase means \"fulfill the responsibilities that should be fulfilled\", or \"to bear the responsibilities that one should bear\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this joke is \"你可以再来一次\".\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验孕剂 - [pinyin]yan4 yun4 ji4[/pinyin] - Pregnancy test\r\n浑蛋 - [pinyin]hun2 dan4[/pinyin] - Variant of 混蛋, meaning scoundrel, cur, bastard\r\n法拉利 - [pinyin]fa3 la1 li4[/pinyin] - Ferrari (sports car brand)\r\n跑车 - [pinyin]pao3 che1[/pinyin] - Sports car\r\n名牌 - [pinyin]ming2 pai2[/pinyin] - Name brand\r\n风度 - [pinyin]feng1 du4[/pinyin] - Elegant (applies only to men)\r\n绅士 - [pinyin]shen1 shi4[/pinyin] - Gentleman\r\n别墅 - [pinyin]bie2 shu4[/pinyin] - Villa\r\n继承 -  [pinyin]ji4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To inherit\r\n双胞胎 - [pinyin]shuang1 bao1 tai[/pinyin] - Twins\r\n不幸流产 - [pinyin]bu4 xing4 liu2 chan3[/pinyin] - Accidental miscarriage\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一个16岁的女孩跟她母亲说她已经2个月没来了.... 母亲一听不得了赶紧去药房买了<strong>验孕剂</strong>来确认一下... 结果女孩真的怀孕了！ 母亲又哭又骂的问到:\"到底是那个<strong>浑蛋</strong>干的好事，你给我从实招来!!\" 女孩只好打了通电话... 半小时后，一部全新的<strong>法拉利</strong><strong>跑车</strong>疾驶到了女孩家门，而跨出车门的是位全身<strong>名牌</strong>衣着又<strong>风度</strong>翩翩的中年<strong>绅士</strong>. 绅士进入屋内与女孩及她的父母双亲在客厅坐了下来. \"午安!\"绅士礼貌的向她们问候并说道:\"<strong>令媛</strong>刚刚告知了我这个大问题，但是因为我的个人家庭问题，很抱歉我无法娶令媛为妻，不过我会<strong>负该负的责任</strong>\" \"这样好了，如果生的是女孩，我会留3家店面，2间房子，1栋海边<strong>别墅</strong>及一个200万美金的帐户给她\" \"如果生的是男孩，我会让他<strong>继承</strong>2家公司再加上一个200万美金的帐户\" \"如果生的是<strong>双胞胎</strong>，那就每人继承1家公司还有各100万美金的帐户\" \"但如果<strong>不幸流产</strong>了............\" 此时在一旁沉默已久的父亲，突然站起来，并把手紧紧的搭在绅士的肩上后说:\"没关系，到时你可以再来一次!!\" \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\nA 16-year-old girl said to her mother that she had missed 2 menstrual cycles... as soon as her mother heard this, she rushed in extreme haste to the pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test and confirm the issue... sure enough the daughter was pregnant!  Crying and yelling, the mother asked, \"Whichever scoundrel did the happy deed, you make him come face me!!\" The daughter was forced to pick up the phone... half an hour later, a brand new Ferrari sports car quickly pulled up to the girl\'s front door, and who stepped out of the car but an elegant middle-aged gentleman wearing a completely new set of brand-name clothes. The gentleman entered the room and sat down in the living room with the daughter and her parents. \"Good afternoon!\" the gentleman politely paid his respects, and said, \"Ling Yuan [presumably daughter\'s name] just told me about this serious problem, but because of my own family situation, I\'m very sorry to say I can\'t take Ling Yuan to wife, but I will bear the responsibility I should bear. This should do: if a girl child is born, I will give her 3 storefronts, 2 houses, 1 seaside villa and a bank account with 2 million American dollars in it. If a boy is born, he will inherit 2 companies plus a bank account worth 2 million American dollars. If it\'s twins, each will inherit one company and a 1 million American dollar bank account. But if it\'s a miscarriage...\"  At that moment, the girl\'s father, who had been sitting silently off to one side, suddenly stood up, put both hands firmly on the gentleman\'s shoulders and said, \"Don\'t worry, if that happens [lit: when the time comes] you can come back again!\" \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n', 'You can come back again', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '756-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-06-15 05:55:06', '2012-06-15 09:55:06', '', 756, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/15/756-revision-10/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1132, 1, '2012-06-15 05:56:54', '2012-06-15 09:56:54', '[two_third]\r\nAnother slightly off-color \"they don\'t teach you how to say that in the textbook\" joke, this one about two parents dealing with an unexpected pregnancy in the family. This is really upper-intermediate, not really super advanced, but there will be quite a few new words here for lower-intermediate readers.\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/20110830-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Advanced Chinese Jokes and Written Vocaublary Practice\" title=\"Advanced Chinese Jokes and Written Vocaublary Practice\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />You\'ll have to forgive me these couple of recent not-really-for-kids jokes - I\'m no primary school teacher, and I find that an endless stream of kids\' jokes gets a bit tiresome, and is not as reflective of real spoken language. This is the kind of joke you\'d tell with your friends after a couple of glasses of 啤酒, and you have to admit, as scripted jokes go, this one\'s pretty funny.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a little hard to get rolling on this one, as the first sentence is a little hard to get past unless you know what they\'re talking about, so I\'ll explain a bit. The joke starts out: \"一个16岁的女孩跟她母亲说她已经2个月没来了\", which literally translates into \"A 16-year-old girl tells her mother that already two months hadn\'t come.\" Once you see it in English, and you know the joke\'s about pregnancy, it\'s pretty easy to decipher the meaning - the girl hasn\'t had her period for 2 months and suspects she\'s pregnant. Thing is, the medical word for \"menstrual cycle\" never actually shows up here - we\'re seeing instead the colloquial term \"月\", or \"moon / month\".\r\n\r\n<del datetime=\"2012-06-15T09:52:47+00:00\">It\'s also worth noting that in this reading, 令媛 is the name of the pregnant daughter - that is not really explained.</del>\r\n\r\n[CORRECTION: Alert reader Katy informs me that I was very wrong - 令媛 is not the name of the daughter but, \"an old-fashioned term of respect to say \'your daughter\' which is in keeping with the status of the man as a 绅士 (gentleman)\". Apparently, when you assume, you make an ass out of 令 and 媛. Thanks Katy.]\r\n\r\nAnd one last interesting grammar point here is the phrase \"负该负的责任\". To \"负责任\", means to shoulder your responsibilities and fulfill your obligations. So this phrase means \"fulfill the responsibilities that should be fulfilled\", or \"to bear the responsibilities that one should bear\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this joke is \"你可以再来一次\".\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验孕剂 - [pinyin]yan4 yun4 ji4[/pinyin] - Pregnancy test\r\n浑蛋 - [pinyin]hun2 dan4[/pinyin] - Variant of 混蛋, meaning scoundrel, cur, bastard\r\n法拉利 - [pinyin]fa3 la1 li4[/pinyin] - Ferrari (sports car brand)\r\n跑车 - [pinyin]pao3 che1[/pinyin] - Sports car\r\n名牌 - [pinyin]ming2 pai2[/pinyin] - Name brand\r\n风度 - [pinyin]feng1 du4[/pinyin] - Elegant (applies only to men)\r\n绅士 - [pinyin]shen1 shi4[/pinyin] - Gentleman\r\n别墅 - [pinyin]bie2 shu4[/pinyin] - Villa\r\n继承 -  [pinyin]ji4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To inherit\r\n双胞胎 - [pinyin]shuang1 bao1 tai[/pinyin] - Twins\r\n不幸流产 - [pinyin]bu4 xing4 liu2 chan3[/pinyin] - Accidental miscarriage\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一个16岁的女孩跟她母亲说她已经2个月没来了.... 母亲一听不得了赶紧去药房买了<strong>验孕剂</strong>来确认一下... 结果女孩真的怀孕了！ 母亲又哭又骂的问到:\"到底是那个<strong>浑蛋</strong>干的好事，你给我从实招来!!\" 女孩只好打了通电话... 半小时后，一部全新的<strong>法拉利</strong><strong>跑车</strong>疾驶到了女孩家门，而跨出车门的是位全身<strong>名牌</strong>衣着又<strong>风度</strong>翩翩的中年<strong>绅士</strong>. 绅士进入屋内与女孩及她的父母双亲在客厅坐了下来. \"午安!\"绅士礼貌的向她们问候并说道:\"<strong>令媛</strong>刚刚告知了我这个大问题，但是因为我的个人家庭问题，很抱歉我无法娶令媛为妻，不过我会<strong>负该负的责任</strong>\" \"这样好了，如果生的是女孩，我会留3家店面，2间房子，1栋海边<strong>别墅</strong>及一个200万美金的帐户给她\" \"如果生的是男孩，我会让他<strong>继承</strong>2家公司再加上一个200万美金的帐户\" \"如果生的是<strong>双胞胎</strong>，那就每人继承1家公司还有各100万美金的帐户\" \"但如果<strong>不幸流产</strong>了............\" 此时在一旁沉默已久的父亲，突然站起来，并把手紧紧的搭在绅士的肩上后说:\"没关系，到时你可以再来一次!!\" \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\nA 16-year-old girl said to her mother that she had missed 2 menstrual cycles... as soon as her mother heard this, she rushed in extreme haste to the pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test and confirm the issue... sure enough the daughter was pregnant!  Crying and yelling, the mother asked, \"Whichever scoundrel did the happy deed, you make him come face me!!\" The daughter was forced to pick up the phone... half an hour later, a brand new Ferrari sports car quickly pulled up to the girl\'s front door, and who stepped out of the car but an elegant middle-aged gentleman wearing a completely new set of brand-name clothes. The gentleman entered the room and sat down in the living room with the daughter and her parents. \"Good afternoon!\" the gentleman politely paid his respects, and said, \"Your daughter just told me about this serious problem, but because of my own family situation, I\'m very sorry to say I can\'t take Ling Yuan to wife, but I will bear the responsibility I should bear. This should do: if a girl child is born, I will give her 3 storefronts, 2 houses, 1 seaside villa and a bank account with 2 million American dollars in it. If a boy is born, he will inherit 2 companies plus a bank account worth 2 million American dollars. If it\'s twins, each will inherit one company and a 1 million American dollar bank account. But if it\'s a miscarriage...\"  At that moment, the girl\'s father, who had been sitting silently off to one side, suddenly stood up, put both hands firmly on the gentleman\'s shoulders and said, \"Don\'t worry, if that happens [lit: when the time comes] you can come back again!\" \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n', 'You can come back again', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '756-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-06-15 05:56:54', '2012-06-15 09:56:54', '', 756, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/15/756-revision-11/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1133, 1, '2012-06-15 05:57:33', '2012-06-15 09:57:33', '[two_third]\r\nAnother slightly off-color \"they don\'t teach you how to say that in the textbook\" joke, this one about two parents dealing with an unexpected pregnancy in the family. This is really upper-intermediate, not really super advanced, but there will be quite a few new words here for lower-intermediate readers.\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/20110830-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Advanced Chinese Jokes and Written Vocaublary Practice\" title=\"Advanced Chinese Jokes and Written Vocaublary Practice\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />You\'ll have to forgive me these couple of recent not-really-for-kids jokes - I\'m no primary school teacher, and I find that an endless stream of kids\' jokes gets a bit tiresome, and is not as reflective of real spoken language. This is the kind of joke you\'d tell with your friends after a couple of glasses of 啤酒, and you have to admit, as scripted jokes go, this one\'s pretty funny.\r\n\r\nIt\'s a little hard to get rolling on this one, as the first sentence is a little hard to get past unless you know what they\'re talking about, so I\'ll explain a bit. The joke starts out: \"一个16岁的女孩跟她母亲说她已经2个月没来了\", which literally translates into \"A 16-year-old girl tells her mother that already two months hadn\'t come.\" Once you see it in English, and you know the joke\'s about pregnancy, it\'s pretty easy to decipher the meaning - the girl hasn\'t had her period for 2 months and suspects she\'s pregnant. Thing is, the medical word for \"menstrual cycle\" never actually shows up here - we\'re seeing instead the colloquial term \"月\", or \"moon / month\".\r\n\r\n<del datetime=\"2012-06-15T09:52:47+00:00\">It\'s also worth noting that in this reading, 令媛 is the name of the pregnant daughter - that is not really explained.</del>\r\n\r\n[CORRECTION: Alert reader Katy informs me that I was very wrong - 令媛 is not the name of the daughter but, \"an old-fashioned term of respect to say \'your daughter\' which is in keeping with the status of the man as a 绅士 (gentleman)\". Apparently, when you assume, you make an ass out of 令 and 媛. Thanks Katy.]\r\n\r\nAnd one last interesting grammar point here is the phrase \"负该负的责任\". To \"负责任\", means to shoulder your responsibilities and fulfill your obligations. So this phrase means \"fulfill the responsibilities that should be fulfilled\", or \"to bear the responsibilities that one should bear\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this joke is \"你可以再来一次\".\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验孕剂 - [pinyin]yan4 yun4 ji4[/pinyin] - Pregnancy test\r\n浑蛋 - [pinyin]hun2 dan4[/pinyin] - Variant of 混蛋, meaning scoundrel, cur, bastard\r\n法拉利 - [pinyin]fa3 la1 li4[/pinyin] - Ferrari (sports car brand)\r\n跑车 - [pinyin]pao3 che1[/pinyin] - Sports car\r\n名牌 - [pinyin]ming2 pai2[/pinyin] - Name brand\r\n风度 - [pinyin]feng1 du4[/pinyin] - Elegant (applies only to men)\r\n绅士 - [pinyin]shen1 shi4[/pinyin] - Gentleman\r\n别墅 - [pinyin]bie2 shu4[/pinyin] - Villa\r\n继承 -  [pinyin]ji4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To inherit\r\n双胞胎 - [pinyin]shuang1 bao1 tai[/pinyin] - Twins\r\n不幸流产 - [pinyin]bu4 xing4 liu2 chan3[/pinyin] - Accidental miscarriage\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一个16岁的女孩跟她母亲说她已经2个月没来了.... 母亲一听不得了赶紧去药房买了<strong>验孕剂</strong>来确认一下... 结果女孩真的怀孕了！ 母亲又哭又骂的问到:\"到底是那个<strong>浑蛋</strong>干的好事，你给我从实招来!!\" 女孩只好打了通电话... 半小时后，一部全新的<strong>法拉利</strong><strong>跑车</strong>疾驶到了女孩家门，而跨出车门的是位全身<strong>名牌</strong>衣着又<strong>风度</strong>翩翩的中年<strong>绅士</strong>. 绅士进入屋内与女孩及她的父母双亲在客厅坐了下来. \"午安!\"绅士礼貌的向她们问候并说道:\"<strong>令媛</strong>刚刚告知了我这个大问题，但是因为我的个人家庭问题，很抱歉我无法娶令媛为妻，不过我会<strong>负该负的责任</strong>\" \"这样好了，如果生的是女孩，我会留3家店面，2间房子，1栋海边<strong>别墅</strong>及一个200万美金的帐户给她\" \"如果生的是男孩，我会让他<strong>继承</strong>2家公司再加上一个200万美金的帐户\" \"如果生的是<strong>双胞胎</strong>，那就每人继承1家公司还有各100万美金的帐户\" \"但如果<strong>不幸流产</strong>了............\" 此时在一旁沉默已久的父亲，突然站起来，并把手紧紧的搭在绅士的肩上后说:\"没关系，到时你可以再来一次!!\" \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\nA 16-year-old girl said to her mother that she had missed 2 menstrual cycles... as soon as her mother heard this, she rushed in extreme haste to the pharmacy to buy a pregnancy test and confirm the issue... sure enough the daughter was pregnant!  Crying and yelling, the mother asked, \"Whichever scoundrel did the happy deed, you make him come face me!!\" The daughter was forced to pick up the phone... half an hour later, a brand new Ferrari sports car quickly pulled up to the girl\'s front door, and who stepped out of the car but an elegant middle-aged gentleman wearing a completely new set of brand-name clothes. The gentleman entered the room and sat down in the living room with the daughter and her parents. \"Good afternoon!\" the gentleman politely paid his respects, and said, \"Your honorable daughter just told me about this serious problem, but because of my own family situation, I\'m very sorry to say I can\'t take Ling Yuan to wife, but I will bear the responsibility I should bear. This should do: if a girl child is born, I will give her 3 storefronts, 2 houses, 1 seaside villa and a bank account with 2 million American dollars in it. If a boy is born, he will inherit 2 companies plus a bank account worth 2 million American dollars. If it\'s twins, each will inherit one company and a 1 million American dollar bank account. But if it\'s a miscarriage...\"  At that moment, the girl\'s father, who had been sitting silently off to one side, suddenly stood up, put both hands firmly on the gentleman\'s shoulders and said, \"Don\'t worry, if that happens [lit: when the time comes] you can come back again!\" \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n', 'You can come back again', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '756-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-06-15 05:57:33', '2012-06-15 09:57:33', '', 756, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/15/756-revision-12/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1134, 1, '2012-06-15 06:28:41', '2012-06-15 10:28:41', '', 'Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120615', '', '', '2012-06-15 06:28:41', '2012-06-15 10:28:41', '', 1123, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/20120615.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1135, 1, '2012-06-15 06:28:42', '2012-06-15 10:28:42', '', 'Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120615-inline', '', '', '2012-06-15 06:28:42', '2012-06-15 10:28:42', '', 1123, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/20120615-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1137, 1, '2012-06-15 06:31:56', '2012-06-15 10:31:56', '[two_third]\nThis is an upper-beginner or low-intermediate level text. It\'s good for beginner readers in the sense that a) it\'s short, and b) it\'s extremely repetitive - if you can puzzle out the first two or three sentences, the rest should be clear. To get you going, it might be worth noting there that the protagonist is a small blade of (or lump of, or field of - it\'s never really defined) grass named \"YinYin\" (小草银银), who keeps asking one particular favor of each season. \n\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/20120615-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" title=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder\" />The seasons are personified as ladies - for example, \"The Lady of Spring\" (春姑娘) and \"the Lady of Summer\" (夏姑娘), etc. Notice the  \n\nAs is pretty typical in Chinese texts, it\'s never really specified if it\'s one blade of grass or a field of grass that is the protagonist here, but . My point is that this is a great example of - in English stories, it\'s hard to personify something you can\'t define. \n\nThere\'s so much metaphor going on in this I\'m not sure where to start. You could choose to interpret this as a statement about aging, about changing seasons, go nuts. \n\nAnd on a personal note, not 100% sure I\'m happy with the conclusion that\'s drawn here, considering I dye my hair all the time, but what the hell. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\n深绿 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Dark green\n秋天 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - Autumn\n金黄 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\n冬天 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  Winter\n后悔 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Regret\n可不要 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\n忽然 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n掉下来 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n小草银银喜欢银色。\n　　<strong>春天</strong>，小草银银让春姑娘把她的头发<strong>染</strong>成银色。春姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>青色</strong>”。银银非常<strong>伤心</strong>。\n　　<strong>夏天</strong>小草银银让夏姑娘把她的头发染成银色。夏姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>深绿</strong>色”。银银非常伤心。\n　　<strong>秋天</strong>小草银银让秋姑娘把她的头发染成银色。秋姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成金黄色”。银银非常伤心。\n　　<strong>冬天</strong>小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你<strong>可不要</strong><strong>后悔</strong>呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。<strong>忽然</strong>，银银的头发<strong>掉下来</strong>了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe little grass YinYin liked the color silver. \n　　In spring time, little grass Yinyin asked the Lady of Spring to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Spring said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair blue/green [see explanation]. YinYin was very broken-hearted. \n\nIn summer time, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Summer to to dye her hair silver. The lady of summer said, \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair green!\" YinYin was very broken-hearted. \n\nIn autumn, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Autumn to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Autumn said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair golden yellow.\" YinYin was very broken-hearted.\n\nIn winter, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Winter to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Winter said, \"Okay, but won\'t you regret it?\" YinYin said, \"I won\'t, if I had hair that beautiful I couldn\'t be happier!\" And so YinYin\'s hair turned silver. Suddenly, YinYin\'s hair fell out - how could this be? Of course, if you dye your hair too often, it\'s not good for you. And after this YinYin was indeed regretful. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Grass\' Silver Hair', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1123-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-06-15 06:31:56', '2012-06-15 10:31:56', '', 1123, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/15/1123-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1138, 1, '2012-06-15 06:32:05', '2012-06-15 10:32:05', '[two_third]\r\nThis is an upper-beginner or low-intermediate level text. It\'s good for beginner readers in the sense that a) it\'s short, and b) it\'s extremely repetitive - if you can puzzle out the first two or three sentences, the rest should be clear. To get you going, it might be worth noting there that the protagonist is a small blade of (or lump of, or field of - it\'s never really defined) grass named \"YinYin\" (小草银银), who keeps asking one particular favor of each season. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/20120615-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" title=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The seasons are personified as ladies - for example, \"The Lady of Spring\" (春姑娘) and \"the Lady of Summer\" (夏姑娘), etc. Notice the  \r\n\r\nAs is pretty typical in Chinese texts, it\'s never really specified if it\'s one blade of grass or a field of grass that is the protagonist here, but . My point is that this is a great example of - in English stories, it\'s hard to personify something you can\'t define. \r\n\r\nThere\'s so much metaphor going on in this I\'m not sure where to start. You could choose to interpret this as a statement about aging, about changing seasons, go nuts. \r\n\r\nAnd on a personal note, not 100% sure I\'m happy with the conclusion that\'s drawn here, considering I dye my hair all the time, but what the hell. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\r\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\r\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\r\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\r\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\r\n深绿 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Dark green\r\n秋天 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - Autumn\r\n金黄 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\r\n冬天 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  Winter\r\n后悔 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Regret\r\n可不要 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\r\n忽然 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n掉下来 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小草银银喜欢银色。\r\n　　<strong>春天</strong>，小草银银让春姑娘把她的头发<strong>染</strong>成银色。春姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>青色</strong>”。银银非常<strong>伤心</strong>。\r\n　　<strong>夏天</strong>小草银银让夏姑娘把她的头发染成银色。夏姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>深绿</strong>色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>秋天</strong>小草银银让秋姑娘把她的头发染成银色。秋姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成金黄色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>冬天</strong>小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你<strong>可不要</strong><strong>后悔</strong>呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\r\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。<strong>忽然</strong>，银银的头发<strong>掉下来</strong>了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe little grass YinYin liked the color silver. \r\n　　In spring time, little grass Yinyin asked the Lady of Spring to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Spring said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair blue/green [see explanation]. YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn summer time, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Summer to to dye her hair silver. The lady of summer said, \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair green!\" YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn autumn, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Autumn to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Autumn said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair golden yellow.\" YinYin was very broken-hearted.\r\n\r\nIn winter, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Winter to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Winter said, \"Okay, but won\'t you regret it?\" YinYin said, \"I won\'t, if I had hair that beautiful I couldn\'t be happier!\" And so YinYin\'s hair turned silver. Suddenly, YinYin\'s hair fell out - how could this be? Of course, if you dye your hair too often, it\'s not good for you. And after this YinYin was indeed regretful. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Grass\' Silver Hair', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1123-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-06-15 06:32:05', '2012-06-15 10:32:05', '', 1123, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/15/1123-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1139, 1, '2012-06-15 06:32:53', '2012-06-15 10:32:53', '[two_third]\r\nThis is an upper-beginner or low-intermediate level text. It\'s good for beginner readers in the sense that a) it\'s short, and b) it\'s extremely repetitive - if you can puzzle out the first two or three sentences, the rest should be clear. To get you going, it might be worth noting there that the protagonist is a small blade of (or lump of, or field of - it\'s never really defined) grass named \"YinYin\" (小草银银), who keeps asking one particular favor of each season. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/20120615-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" title=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The seasons are personified as ladies - for example, \"The Lady of Spring\" (春姑娘) and \"the Lady of Summer\" (夏姑娘), etc. \r\n\r\nAs is pretty typical in Chinese texts, it\'s never really specified if it\'s one blade of grass or a field of grass that is the protagonist here, but . My point is that this is a great example of - in English stories, it\'s hard to personify something you can\'t define. \r\n\r\nThere\'s so much metaphor going on in this I\'m not sure where to start. You could choose to interpret this as a statement about aging, about changing seasons, go nuts. \r\n\r\nAnd on a personal note, not 100% sure I\'m happy with the conclusion that\'s drawn here, considering I dye my hair all the time, but what the hell. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\r\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\r\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\r\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\r\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\r\n深绿 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Dark green\r\n秋天 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - Autumn\r\n金黄 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\r\n冬天 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  Winter\r\n后悔 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Regret\r\n可不要 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\r\n忽然 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n掉下来 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小草银银喜欢银色。\r\n　　<strong>春天</strong>，小草银银让春姑娘把她的头发<strong>染</strong>成银色。春姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>青色</strong>”。银银非常<strong>伤心</strong>。\r\n　　<strong>夏天</strong>小草银银让夏姑娘把她的头发染成银色。夏姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>深绿</strong>色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>秋天</strong>小草银银让秋姑娘把她的头发染成银色。秋姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成金黄色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>冬天</strong>小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你<strong>可不要</strong><strong>后悔</strong>呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\r\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。<strong>忽然</strong>，银银的头发<strong>掉下来</strong>了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe little grass YinYin liked the color silver. \r\n　　In spring time, little grass Yinyin asked the Lady of Spring to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Spring said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair blue/green [see explanation]. YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn summer time, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Summer to to dye her hair silver. The lady of summer said, \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair green!\" YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn autumn, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Autumn to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Autumn said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair golden yellow.\" YinYin was very broken-hearted.\r\n\r\nIn winter, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Winter to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Winter said, \"Okay, but won\'t you regret it?\" YinYin said, \"I won\'t, if I had hair that beautiful I couldn\'t be happier!\" And so YinYin\'s hair turned silver. Suddenly, YinYin\'s hair fell out - how could this be? Of course, if you dye your hair too often, it\'s not good for you. And after this YinYin was indeed regretful. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Grass\' Silver Hair', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1123-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-06-15 06:32:53', '2012-06-15 10:32:53', '', 1123, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/15/1123-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1140, 1, '2012-06-15 07:37:06', '2012-06-15 11:37:06', '[two_third]\nThe sentence structure and subject matter is really basic, but there are a lot of descriptive words, <!--more-->\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n不法分子 - [pinyin]bu4 fa3 fen4 zi3[/pinyin] - Lawbreaker\n编造 - [pinyin]bian1 zao4[/pinyin] - Fabricate, make up\n谣言 - [pinyin]yao2 yan2[/pinyin] - Rumors\n恶劣 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\n公安 - [pinyin]gong1 an1[/pinyin] - Public Security\n依法 - [pinyin]yi1 fa3[/pinyin] - According to the law\n处理 - [pinyin]chu3 li3[/pinyin] -  To deal with, to handle\n处于 - [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] - To be in a state of...\n呼吁 - [pinyin]hu1 yu4[/pinyin] - To call on (someone to do sthg)\n网民 - [pinyin]wang3 min2[/pinyin] - Netizens\n维护 - [pinyin]wei2 hu4[/pinyin] - Safeguard, protect\n社会秩序 - [pinyin]she4 hui4 zhi4 xu4[/pinyin] - social order\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n树，有很多很多的树，每一种树都有着自己的风格。松树像铁塔一样，不管风吹雨打，仍然坚强屹立在山岗上，一动也不动。柳树像一把扇，在微风中都可以自由摆动，给人们带来清凉。枫树到了秋天，就像火一样红彤彤的，染红了半边天，给人们温暖的感觉。榕树就像慈祥的奶奶，用她宽广的胸膛，夏天可以在下面乘凉，冬天可以给我们挡风，下雨天可以给我们遮雨。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nTrees, there are so so many trees, and every kind of tree has its own style. Pine trees are like iron towers, it doesn\'t matter if they\'re buffeted by the wind or pelted by rain, they remain standing straight and strong on the mountain, unmoving. Willow trees are like a fan, in mild wind they sway freely, bringing a cool [breeze]. When it becomes autumn, maple trees are bright red like fire, dying half the sky red, and give people a feeling of warmth. Banyan trees resemble kindly grandmothers, and using \"her\" broad chest, people can cool off in the shade in summer, and shelter from the winds in winter, and hide out from any rain. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Different Kinds of Trees', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1111-revision-2', '', '', '2012-06-15 07:37:06', '2012-06-15 11:37:06', '', 1111, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/15/1111-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1141, 1, '2020-04-21 20:57:38', '2020-04-22 00:57:38', '[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\nThis is an upper-beginner or low-intermediate level text. It\'s good for beginner readers in the sense that a) it\'s short, and b) it\'s extremely repetitive - if you can puzzle out the first two or three sentences, the rest should be clear. To get you going, it might be worth noting there that the protagonist is a small blade of (or lump of, or field of - it\'s never really defined) grass named \"YinYin\" (小草银银), who keeps asking one particular favor of each season. <!--more-->\n\nThe seasons are personified as ladies - for example, \"The Lady of Spring\" (春姑娘) and \"the Lady of Summer\" (夏姑娘), etc. \n\nThere\'s so much metaphor going on in this I\'m not sure where to start. You could choose to interpret this as a statement about aging, about changing seasons, go nuts. \n\nAnd on a personal note, not 100% sure I\'m happy with the conclusion that\'s drawn here, considering I dye my hair all the time, but what the hell. \n\n[/su_column]\n[/su_row]\n\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\n[su_row]\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<h4>小草银银的yin</h4>\n小草银银喜欢银色。\n　　<strong>春天</strong>，小草银银让春姑娘把她的头发<strong>染</strong>成银色。春姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>青色</strong>”。银银非常<strong>伤心</strong>。\n　　<strong>夏天</strong>小草银银让夏姑娘把她的头发染成银色。夏姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>深绿</strong>色”。银银非常伤心。\n　　<strong>秋天</strong>小草银银让秋姑娘把她的头发染成银色。秋姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成金黄色”。银银非常伤心。\n　　<strong>冬天</strong>小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你<strong>可不要</strong><strong>后悔</strong>呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。<strong>忽然</strong>，银银的头发<strong>掉下来</strong>了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe little grass YinYin liked the color silver. \n　　In spring time, little grass Yinyin asked the Lady of Spring to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Spring said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair blue/green [see explanation]. YinYin was very broken-hearted. \n\nIn summer time, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Summer to dye her hair silver. The lady of summer said, \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair green!\" YinYin was very broken-hearted. \n\nIn autumn, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Autumn to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Autumn said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair golden yellow.\" YinYin was very broken-hearted.\n\nIn winter, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Winter to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Winter said, \"Okay, but won\'t you regret it?\" YinYin said, \"I won\'t, if I had hair that beautiful I couldn\'t be happier!\" And so YinYin\'s hair turned silver. Suddenly, YinYin\'s hair fell out - how could this be? Of course, if you dye your hair too often, it\'s not good for you. And after this YinYin was indeed regretful. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Grass\' Silver Hair', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1123-autosave-v1', '', '', '2020-04-21 20:57:38', '2020-04-22 00:57:38', '', 1123, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/27/1123-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1142, 1, '2012-06-15 06:33:07', '2012-06-15 10:33:07', '[two_third]\r\nThis is an upper-beginner or low-intermediate level text. It\'s good for beginner readers in the sense that a) it\'s short, and b) it\'s extremely repetitive - if you can puzzle out the first two or three sentences, the rest should be clear. To get you going, it might be worth noting there that the protagonist is a small blade of (or lump of, or field of - it\'s never really defined) grass named \"YinYin\" (小草银银), who keeps asking one particular favor of each season. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/20120615-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" title=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The seasons are personified as ladies - for example, \"The Lady of Spring\" (春姑娘) and \"the Lady of Summer\" (夏姑娘), etc. \r\n\r\nThere\'s so much metaphor going on in this I\'m not sure where to start. You could choose to interpret this as a statement about aging, about changing seasons, go nuts. \r\n\r\nAnd on a personal note, not 100% sure I\'m happy with the conclusion that\'s drawn here, considering I dye my hair all the time, but what the hell. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\r\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\r\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\r\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\r\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\r\n深绿 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Dark green\r\n秋天 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - Autumn\r\n金黄 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\r\n冬天 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  Winter\r\n后悔 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Regret\r\n可不要 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\r\n忽然 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n掉下来 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小草银银喜欢银色。\r\n　　<strong>春天</strong>，小草银银让春姑娘把她的头发<strong>染</strong>成银色。春姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>青色</strong>”。银银非常<strong>伤心</strong>。\r\n　　<strong>夏天</strong>小草银银让夏姑娘把她的头发染成银色。夏姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>深绿</strong>色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>秋天</strong>小草银银让秋姑娘把她的头发染成银色。秋姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成金黄色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>冬天</strong>小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你<strong>可不要</strong><strong>后悔</strong>呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\r\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。<strong>忽然</strong>，银银的头发<strong>掉下来</strong>了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe little grass YinYin liked the color silver. \r\n　　In spring time, little grass Yinyin asked the Lady of Spring to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Spring said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair blue/green [see explanation]. YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn summer time, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Summer to to dye her hair silver. The lady of summer said, \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair green!\" YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn autumn, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Autumn to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Autumn said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair golden yellow.\" YinYin was very broken-hearted.\r\n\r\nIn winter, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Winter to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Winter said, \"Okay, but won\'t you regret it?\" YinYin said, \"I won\'t, if I had hair that beautiful I couldn\'t be happier!\" And so YinYin\'s hair turned silver. Suddenly, YinYin\'s hair fell out - how could this be? Of course, if you dye your hair too often, it\'s not good for you. And after this YinYin was indeed regretful. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Grass\' Silver Hair', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1123-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-06-15 06:33:07', '2012-06-15 10:33:07', '', 1123, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/15/1123-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1145, 1, '2012-06-30 03:40:18', '2012-06-30 07:40:18', '', 'whatweremaking', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', 'whatweremaking', '', '', '2012-06-30 03:40:18', '2012-06-30 07:40:18', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/whatweremaking.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1148, 1, '2012-06-30 05:07:20', '2012-06-30 09:07:20', '', 'ingredients-beer-noodles-peanuts', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', 'ingredients-beer-noodles-peanuts', '', '', '2012-06-30 05:07:20', '2012-06-30 09:07:20', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ingredients-beer-noodles-peanuts.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2411, 1, '2020-05-24 06:43:46', '2020-05-24 10:43:46', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments – positive, negative, or neutral – are not allowed, and will be deleted. Dinner table rules, please.\r\n\r\nZhu De (朱德 [pinyin]zhu1 de2[/pinyin]) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin]), also called the Red Army (红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin]). He was applauded as a people\'s general, and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin]) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担 [pinyin]bian3 dan[/pinyin]) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned many popular posters of him, like this one:\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole.jpeg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Practice Exercises: Communist Folk Stories Revolutionary Heroes\" width=\"425\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2387\" /> \r\n\r\nZhe De is a revolutionary from the early days of Chinese Communism. For those who don\'t know their CCP history: modern China was founded in 1949, but for the 20-odd years before that, the Red Army was fighting various wars for control of the country. Zhu De was instrumental in these wars, and after 1949, he became a key Party leader and politician. This story is set in the early days of the wars, in 1928. It\'s crazy to think that Zhu De, who was born in 1886 and died in 1976, lived to be 90 years old, but spent three or four decades of his life doing nothing but fighting battles. Considering how many people died in those wars, or were purged in political upheavals afterwards, this guy was a real survivor. \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nThis is an example of a story that will look much harder on first glance than it actually is. That\'s because some of the vocab is intermediate, but the sentence structure is beginner. The intermediate vocab is also used repetitively, so once you look up the tougher words, you\'ll immediately have an opportunity to see them again in the text. The first two sentences are much rougher than the rest, because they\'re almost entirely made up of intermediate words, so push through those and it\'ll be easier going from there. If you break the sentences down patiently, and you are at HSK 3 or up, I promise you can get through this. \r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here: \r\n朱德同志 [pinyin]zhu1 de2 tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin] - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 [pinyin]jing3 gang1 shan1[/pinyin] - Jinggang Mountain \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 [pinyin]dui4 wu[/pinyin] - troops \r\n敌人 [pinyin]di2 ren2[/pinyin] - enemy\r\n战士们 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4 men[/pinyin] - soldier \r\n打仗 [pinyin]da3 zhang4[/pinyin] - to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnother word that comes up quite a bit is 粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin] - Also just 粮 [pinyin]liang2[/pinyin]. This is a general term for \"grain\", could be wheat, rice, millet, oats, or whatever.\r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n<strong>争着去</strong> [pinyin]zheng1 zhe qu4[/pinyin] - 争 means \"to fight\" or \"to struggle\", 着 is a present-tense grammar word, and 去 means \"go\" or \"leave\". At first glance, 争着去 looks like it means \"fighting in order to leave someplace\", but it\'s not. In this case, it\'s describing a group of people pushing and shoving to be the first to volunteer to go somewhere. Imagine a group of soldiers asked to undertake a hard mission - one person says, \"I\'ll go!\" and someone else says, \"No, choose me, I\'ll go!\". This is 争着去. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>朱德的扁担</h4>\r\n1928年，<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>带领一支<span class=\"highlightText\">红军队伍</span>到<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>。山上是<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>，山下不远就是<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上出产粮食不多，常常要派一些人到山下的田园去挑粮。<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>离田园很远，山高路窄，非常难走。可是每次挑粮大家都<span class=\"highlightText\">争着去</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>也跟<span class=\"highlightText\">战士们</span>一起去挑粮。他穿着草鞋，挑起满满的一担粮食，跟大家一起爬山。白天挑粮，晚上还常常整夜整夜地学习怎样跟<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人打仗</span>。大家觉得他要做的工作太多，就把他那根扁担藏了起来。可是<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>又找到了一根扁担，写上“<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德</span>扁担，不要拿走”八个大字。大家见了，更敬爱<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>，不好意思再藏他的扁担了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nIn 1928, Comrade Zhu De lead a detachment of Red Army troops to Jinggang Mountain. The Red Army was on the mountain, but down the mountain not far away was the enemy. \r\n \r\nNot much grain was produced on Jinggang Mountain, so [they] often had to send a few people down to the fields below to tote back some grain. Jinggang Mountain was far from the fields, the mountain was high and the roads were narrow, it was very hard going. But each time grain had to be carried back, everyone fought to be the one to go.\r\n \r\nComrade Zhu De also went along with the soldiers to carry grain. He wore grass shoes, carrying a pole packed full of grain, and climbed the mountain with everybody else. During the day [he] carried grain, and during the evening he often spent the whole night studying how to make war on the enemy. Everyone felt he had too much work to do, so they took his carrying pole and hid it. But Comrade Zhu De found another carrying pole, and wrote 8 big words on it: \"Zhu Du\'s carrying pole, please don\'t take it\". Everyone saw this, and loved and respected Comrade Zhu De even more, and were too ashamed to hide his carrying pole again. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De\'s Carrying Pole', 'Zhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). This popular revolutionary story highlights his willingness to toil alongside the rank and file soldiers. HSK 3-4. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:43:46', '2020-05-24 10:43:46', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(2413, 1, '2020-05-24 06:47:11', '2020-05-24 10:47:11', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"] \r\nHad a complaint a few days ago that my <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/18/chinese-childrens-fable-freedom-in-heaven/\">fable about a pretty bird</a> was too political, so I figured I\'d give ya\'ll something more exciting to complain about. Break out your Little Red Books, it\'s Communism Week at CRP. \r\n\r\nBecause Chinese Communism is an increasingly touchy international topic, a quick note: I am putting up these stories because <em>they are historically, academically and linguistically interesting, not because I am promoting any political viewpoint</em>. There\'s a lot of Communist language out there: in Chinese news sites, on vintage propaganda posters, in historical books, and and knowing this vocab and these stories will help you advance your understanding of the language and culture. To maintain a pleasant, learning-focused environment, I don\'t allow political comments here. If you express your political opinions in the comments - positive, negative, or neutral - I will delete them.  \r\n\r\nRight, so <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_Feng\">Lei Feng</a> (雷锋) was a larger-than-life Communist people\'s folk hero. Though tales of his good deeds spread like wildfire and took on a mythic quality, he was actually a real person: a People\'s Liberation Army solider who lived from 1940-1962, dying at the age of 22 when he was struck by a falling telephone pole in the line of duty. But his legend never really waned: he is still considered the personification of Mao Zedong Thought and the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. He was held up by the Party propaganda machine as a person to emulate, someone with a perfect moral character and devotion to the socialist cause, so much so that children were encouraged to foster \"Lei Feng Spirit\" (雷锋精神).\r\n\r\nIn this post, I translate one of many, many stories about Lei Feng\'s general do-gooding. I chose this one because it\'s got all the best elements of a classic Lei Feng tale: over-the-top selflessness towards the common people, grand statements of loyalty to the Party, and all the rest.\r\n\r\n<h4>Some Language Stuff</h4>\r\nIf this is your first foray into Communist-themed reading, you\'ll learn a few new words that are common to writing from the 1940s-1970s: \r\n\r\n单位 [pinyin]dan1 wei4[/pinyin] - work unit\r\n解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin] - [People\'s] Liberation Army (PLA) \r\n同志 [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] - comrade \r\n毛主席 [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao\r\n党 [pinyin]dang3[/pinyin] - short for \"共产党\", the Party / the Communist Party.  \r\n\r\nThere are also a few names of places: Shenyang (沈阳), Liaoning (辽宁) and Jilin (吉林) - all places within northeastern China. \r\n\r\nThis post centers around good deeds that Lei Feng did while traveling around the northeast on army business. I had a little bit of trouble translating some of the travel-related sentences, because the way people talk about travel in Chinese is slightly different than the way we do in English. For one thing, if someone is traveling within China, the phrase 去外地 [pinyin]qu4 wai4 di4[/pinyin] is used. At first glance, \"去外地\" just means \"to go other places\", but this is specifically used to mean \"other places within China\", not \"other countries\". Trips outside of China are usually described as 去国外 or 去外国. Also, pay attention to the word 出差 [pinyin]chu1 chai1[/pinyin]. This specially means \"to travel on business\", as opposed to traveling for pleasure.\r\n\r\n<strong>想都没想</strong> [pinyin]xiang3 dou1 mei3 xiang3[/pinyin] - Phrase means \"without even thinking about it\" or \"without a second thought\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9B%B7%E9%94%8B/5569?fr=aladdin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</a>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>雷锋小故事</h4>\r\n从一九六一年开始，雷锋经常应邀去外地作报告，他出差的机会多了，为人民服务的机会也就多了。\r\n\r\n人们流传着这样一句话：“雷锋出差一千里，好事做了一火车。”\r\n\r\n有一次，雷锋外出，在<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>车站换车，出检票口的时候，他发现一群人围着一个背着小孩儿的中年妇女。原来这名妇女从<span class=\"highlightText\">辽宁</span>去<span class=\"highlightText\">吉林</span>看丈夫，一不小心把车票和钱都丢了 ，雷锋连忙用自己的津贴费买了一张去吉林的火车票塞到大嫂手里，大嫂眼含热泪地问：“小兄弟，你叫什么名字？住哪的？是哪个<span class=\"highlightText\">单位</span>的？”\r\n\r\n雷锋回答道：“我叫<span class=\"highlightText\">解放军</span>，家就住在中国。”\r\n\r\n五月的一天，雷锋冒雨去<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>。他为了赶早车，早晨5点多就起来，带了几个干馒头就披上雨衣上路了。路上，雷锋看见一位妇女背着一个小孩，手还牵着一个小女孩，正艰难地向车站走去。雷锋<span class=\"highlightText\">想都没想</span>，脱下身上的雨衣就披在大嫂身上，又抱起小女孩陪她们一起来到车站。上车后，雷锋见小女孩冷得直发抖，就把自己的贴身衬衣脱下来给她穿上。雷锋估计她们早饭没吃，就把自己带的馒头给她们吃。火车到了沈阳，天还在下雨，雷锋便把她们送到家里。\r\n\r\n那位妇女感激地说：“<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，我可怎么感谢你呀！”\r\n\r\n雷锋说 ：“不要感谢我，应该感谢<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>和<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>啊！”\r\n\r\n他在日记中写下了这样一段话：“我的一切都是<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>给的，光荣应该归于<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>，归于热情帮助我的<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，至于我个人做的工作，那是太少了，我这么一点点贡献，比起对我的要求和期望还是非常不够的……” \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nBeginning in 1961, Lei Feng was often invited to go to other cities to make reports, and [since] he had many opportunities to travel on business, he also had many opportunities to serve the people.   \r\n\r\nPeople often said [of him]: \"When Lei Feng travels for business, [he rides there] on a train of good deeds.\" \r\n\r\nOne time, [while] Lei Feng was out and about, he was changing trains at Shenyang station, and when he was at the ticket booth, he saw a group of people standing around a middle-aged woman who was carrying a small child on her back. Turns out this woman was going from Liaoning to Jilin to see her husband, and accidentally lost her ticket and her wallet, so Lei Feng quickly used his own allowance to buy a ticket to Jilin and pressed it into the woman\'s [lit: \"elder sister\'s\"] hand. Her eyes brimming with tears the woman [lit: elder sister] said: \"Little Brother, What is your name? Where do you live? What is your work unit?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng answered: \"My name is Liberation Army, and China is my home.\" \r\n\r\nOne day in May, Lei Feng braved the rain to go to Shenyang. In order to catch the early train, he woke up at 5:00 A.M., took some dry steamed buns, put on his rain gear and set out upon the road. On the road, Lei Feng saw a woman carrying a small child on her back, and leading another little girl by the hand, and [she was] struggling towards the train station. Lei Feng didn\'t give it a second thought, he took off his own rain gear and draped it over the woman\'s body, picked up the little girl and accompanied them to the station. On the train, Lei Feng saw the little girl shivering from cold, so he took off the shirt on his back and gave it to her to wear. Lei Feng guessed that they hadn\'t eaten breakfast, so he took out the buns he had brought and gave them to the women. When the train reached Shenyang, it was still raining, and Lei Feng took the women to their home. \r\n\r\nThe women gratefully said: \"Comrade, how can I ever thank you?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng said, \"You don\'t have to thank me, you should thank the Party and Chairman Mao!\"\r\n\r\nIn his diary, he wrote the following: \"Everything I have was given to me by the Party, and all glory should belong to the Party, should belong to those comrades who enthusiastically helped me. As for the work I\'ve done, it isn\'t very much, my tiny contributions don\'t measure up to what I need and hope [to give]....\"\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales:  The good deeds of Lei Feng', 'It\'s Communism Week at CRP! I\'m kicking off with some classic stories about the good deeds of Communist folk hero Lei Feng, the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. HSK 4-5.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2350-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:47:11', '2020-05-24 10:47:11', '', 2350, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2350-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2412, 1, '2020-05-24 06:44:46', '2020-05-24 10:44:46', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"] \r\nHad a complaint a few days ago that my <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/18/chinese-childrens-fable-freedom-in-heaven/\">fable about a pretty bird</a> was too political, so I figured I\'d give ya\'ll something more exciting to complain about. Break out your Little Red Books, it\'s Communism Week at CRP. \r\n\r\nBecause Chinese Communism is an increasingly touchy international topic, a quick note: I am putting up these stories because <em>they are historically, academically and linguistically interesting, not because I am promoting any political viewpoint</em>. There\'s a lot of Communist language out there: in Chinese news sites, on vintage propaganda posters, in historical books, and and knowing this vocab and these stories will help you advance your understanding of the language and culture. To maintain a pleasant, learning-focused environment, I don\'t allow political comments here. If you express your political opinions in the comments - positive, negative, or neutral - I will delete them. There are plenty of places on the internet where you can vent your anger or patriotism, this just isn\'t one of them. Cool?\r\n\r\nRight, so <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_Feng\">Lei Feng</a> (雷锋) was a larger-than-life Communist people\'s folk hero. Though tales of his good deeds spread like wildfire and took on a mythic quality, he was actually a real person: a People\'s Liberation Army solider who lived from 1940-1962, dying at the age of 22 when he was struck by a falling telephone pole in the line of duty. But his legend never really waned: he is still considered the personification of Mao Zedong Thought and the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. He was held up by the Party propaganda machine as a person to emulate, someone with a perfect moral character and devotion to the socialist cause, so much so that children were encouraged to foster \"Lei Feng Spirit\" (雷锋精神).\r\n\r\nIn this post, I translate one of many, many stories about Lei Feng\'s general do-gooding. I chose this one because it\'s got all the best elements of a classic Lei Feng tale: over-the-top selflessness towards the common people, grand statements of loyalty to the Party, and all the rest.\r\n\r\n<h4>Some Language Stuff</h4>\r\nIf this is your first foray into Communist-themed reading, you\'ll learn a few new words that are common to writing from the 1940s-1970s: \r\n\r\n单位 [pinyin]dan1 wei4[/pinyin] - work unit\r\n解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin] - [People\'s] Liberation Army (PLA) \r\n同志 [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] - comrade \r\n毛主席 [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao\r\n党 [pinyin]dang3[/pinyin] - short for \"共产党\", the Party / the Communist Party.  \r\n\r\nThere are also a few names of places: Shenyang (沈阳), Liaoning (辽宁) and Jilin (吉林) - all places within northeastern China. \r\n\r\nThis post centers around good deeds that Lei Feng did while traveling around the northeast on army business. I had a little bit of trouble translating some of the travel-related sentences, because the way people talk about travel in Chinese is slightly different than the way we do in English. For one thing, if someone is traveling within China, the phrase 去外地 [pinyin]qu4 wai4 di4[/pinyin] is used. At first glance, \"去外地\" just means \"to go other places\", but this is specifically used to mean \"other places within China\", not \"other countries\". Trips outside of China are usually described as 去国外 or 去外国. Also, pay attention to the word 出差 [pinyin]chu1 chai1[/pinyin]. This specially means \"to travel on business\", as opposed to traveling for pleasure.\r\n\r\n<strong>想都没想</strong> [pinyin]xiang3 dou1 mei3 xiang3[/pinyin] - Phrase means \"without even thinking about it\" or \"without a second thought\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9B%B7%E9%94%8B/5569?fr=aladdin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</a>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>雷锋小故事</h4>\r\n从一九六一年开始，雷锋经常应邀去外地作报告，他出差的机会多了，为人民服务的机会也就多了。\r\n\r\n人们流传着这样一句话：“雷锋出差一千里，好事做了一火车。”\r\n\r\n有一次，雷锋外出，在<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>车站换车，出检票口的时候，他发现一群人围着一个背着小孩儿的中年妇女。原来这名妇女从<span class=\"highlightText\">辽宁</span>去<span class=\"highlightText\">吉林</span>看丈夫，一不小心把车票和钱都丢了 ，雷锋连忙用自己的津贴费买了一张去吉林的火车票塞到大嫂手里，大嫂眼含热泪地问：“小兄弟，你叫什么名字？住哪的？是哪个<span class=\"highlightText\">单位</span>的？”\r\n\r\n雷锋回答道：“我叫<span class=\"highlightText\">解放军</span>，家就住在中国。”\r\n\r\n五月的一天，雷锋冒雨去<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>。他为了赶早车，早晨5点多就起来，带了几个干馒头就披上雨衣上路了。路上，雷锋看见一位妇女背着一个小孩，手还牵着一个小女孩，正艰难地向车站走去。雷锋<span class=\"highlightText\">想都没想</span>，脱下身上的雨衣就披在大嫂身上，又抱起小女孩陪她们一起来到车站。上车后，雷锋见小女孩冷得直发抖，就把自己的贴身衬衣脱下来给她穿上。雷锋估计她们早饭没吃，就把自己带的馒头给她们吃。火车到了沈阳，天还在下雨，雷锋便把她们送到家里。\r\n\r\n那位妇女感激地说：“<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，我可怎么感谢你呀！”\r\n\r\n雷锋说 ：“不要感谢我，应该感谢<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>和<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>啊！”\r\n\r\n他在日记中写下了这样一段话：“我的一切都是<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>给的，光荣应该归于<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>，归于热情帮助我的<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，至于我个人做的工作，那是太少了，我这么一点点贡献，比起对我的要求和期望还是非常不够的……” \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nBeginning in 1961, Lei Feng was often invited to go to other cities to make reports, and [since] he had many opportunities to travel on business, he also had many opportunities to serve the people.   \r\n\r\nPeople often said [of him]: \"When Lei Feng travels for business, [he rides there] on a train of good deeds.\" \r\n\r\nOne time, [while] Lei Feng was out and about, he was changing trains at Shenyang station, and when he was at the ticket booth, he saw a group of people standing around a middle-aged woman who was carrying a small child on her back. Turns out this woman was going from Liaoning to Jilin to see her husband, and accidentally lost her ticket and her wallet, so Lei Feng quickly used his own allowance to buy a ticket to Jilin and pressed it into the woman\'s [lit: \"elder sister\'s\"] hand. Her eyes brimming with tears the woman [lit: elder sister] said: \"Little Brother, What is your name? Where do you live? What is your work unit?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng answered: \"My name is Liberation Army, and China is my home.\" \r\n\r\nOne day in May, Lei Feng braved the rain to go to Shenyang. In order to catch the early train, he woke up at 5:00 A.M., took some dry steamed buns, put on his rain gear and set out upon the road. On the road, Lei Feng saw a woman carrying a small child on her back, and leading another little girl by the hand, and [she was] struggling towards the train station. Lei Feng didn\'t give it a second thought, he took off his own rain gear and draped it over the woman\'s body, picked up the little girl and accompanied them to the station. On the train, Lei Feng saw the little girl shivering from cold, so he took off the shirt on his back and gave it to her to wear. Lei Feng guessed that they hadn\'t eaten breakfast, so he took out the buns he had brought and gave them to the women. When the train reached Shenyang, it was still raining, and Lei Feng took the women to their home. \r\n\r\nThe women gratefully said: \"Comrade, how can I ever thank you?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng said, \"You don\'t have to thank me, you should thank the Party and Chairman Mao!\"\r\n\r\nIn his diary, he wrote the following: \"Everything I have was given to me by the Party, and all glory should belong to the Party, should belong to those comrades who enthusiastically helped me. As for the work I\'ve done, it isn\'t very much, my tiny contributions don\'t measure up to what I need and hope [to give]....\"\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales:  The good deeds of Lei Feng', 'It\'s Communism Week at CRP! I\'m kicking off with some classic stories about the good deeds of Communist folk hero Lei Feng, the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. HSK 4-5.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2350-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:44:46', '2020-05-24 10:44:46', '', 2350, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2350-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(2410, 1, '2020-05-24 06:37:44', '2020-05-24 10:37:44', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"] \r\nHad a complaint a few days ago that my <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/18/chinese-childrens-fable-freedom-in-heaven/\">fable about a pretty bird</a> was too political, so I figured I\'d give ya\'ll something more exciting to complain about. Break out your Little Red Books, it\'s Communism Week at CRP. \r\n\r\nBecause Chinese Communism is an increasingly touchy international topic, a quick note: I am putting up these stories because they are historically, academically and linguistically interesting, not because I am promoting any political viewpoint. There\'s a lot of Communist language out there: in Chinese news sites, on vintage propaganda posters, in historical books, so knowing this vocab and these stories will help you advance your understanding of the language and culture. To maintain a pleasant, learning-focused environment, I don\'t allow political comments here. If you express your political opinions in the comments - positive, negative, or neutral - I will delete them. There are plenty of places on the internet where you can vent your anger or patriotism, this just isn\'t one of them. Cool?\r\n\r\nRight, so <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_Feng\">Lei Feng</a> (雷锋) was a larger-than-life Communist people\'s folk hero. Though tales of his good deeds spread like wildfire and took on a mythic quality, he was actually a real person: a People\'s Liberation Army solider who lived from 1940-1962, dying at the age of 22 when he was struck by a falling telephone pole in the line of duty. But his legend never really waned: he is still considered the personification of Mao Zedong Thought and the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. He was held up by the Party propaganda machine as a person to emulate, someone with a perfect moral character and devotion to the socialist cause, so much so that children were encouraged to foster \"Lei Feng Spirit\" (雷锋精神).\r\n\r\nIn this post, I translate one of many, many stories about Lei Feng\'s general do-gooding. I chose this one because it\'s got all the best elements of a classic Lei Feng tale: over-the-top selflessness towards the common people, grand statements of loyalty to the Party, and all the rest.\r\n\r\n<h4>Some Language Stuff</h4>\r\nIf this is your first foray into Communist-themed reading, you\'ll learn a few new words that are common to writing from the 1940s-1970s: \r\n\r\n单位 [pinyin]dan1 wei4[/pinyin] - work unit\r\n解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin] - [People\'s] Liberation Army (PLA) \r\n同志 [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] - comrade \r\n毛主席 [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao\r\n党 [pinyin]dang3[/pinyin] - short for \"共产党\", the Party / the Communist Party.  \r\n\r\nThere are also a few names of places: Shenyang (沈阳), Liaoning (辽宁) and Jilin (吉林) - all places within northeastern China. \r\n\r\nThis post centers around good deeds that Lei Feng did while traveling around the northeast on army business. I had a little bit of trouble translating some of the travel-related sentences, because the way people talk about travel in Chinese is slightly different than the way we do in English. For one thing, if someone is traveling within China, the phrase 去外地 [pinyin]qu4 wai4 di4[/pinyin] is used. At first glance, \"去外地\" just means \"to go other places\", but this is specifically used to mean \"other places within China\", not \"other countries\". Trips outside of China are usually described as 去国外 or 去外国. Also, pay attention to the word 出差 [pinyin]chu1 chai1[/pinyin]. This specially means \"to travel on business\", as opposed to traveling for pleasure.\r\n\r\n<strong>想都没想</strong> [pinyin]xiang3 dou1 mei3 xiang3[/pinyin] - Phrase means \"without even thinking about it\" or \"without a second thought\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9B%B7%E9%94%8B/5569?fr=aladdin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</a>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>雷锋小故事</h4>\r\n从一九六一年开始，雷锋经常应邀去外地作报告，他出差的机会多了，为人民服务的机会也就多了。\r\n\r\n人们流传着这样一句话：“雷锋出差一千里，好事做了一火车。”\r\n\r\n有一次，雷锋外出，在<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>车站换车，出检票口的时候，他发现一群人围着一个背着小孩儿的中年妇女。原来这名妇女从<span class=\"highlightText\">辽宁</span>去<span class=\"highlightText\">吉林</span>看丈夫，一不小心把车票和钱都丢了 ，雷锋连忙用自己的津贴费买了一张去吉林的火车票塞到大嫂手里，大嫂眼含热泪地问：“小兄弟，你叫什么名字？住哪的？是哪个<span class=\"highlightText\">单位</span>的？”\r\n\r\n雷锋回答道：“我叫<span class=\"highlightText\">解放军</span>，家就住在中国。”\r\n\r\n五月的一天，雷锋冒雨去<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>。他为了赶早车，早晨5点多就起来，带了几个干馒头就披上雨衣上路了。路上，雷锋看见一位妇女背着一个小孩，手还牵着一个小女孩，正艰难地向车站走去。雷锋<span class=\"highlightText\">想都没想</span>，脱下身上的雨衣就披在大嫂身上，又抱起小女孩陪她们一起来到车站。上车后，雷锋见小女孩冷得直发抖，就把自己的贴身衬衣脱下来给她穿上。雷锋估计她们早饭没吃，就把自己带的馒头给她们吃。火车到了沈阳，天还在下雨，雷锋便把她们送到家里。\r\n\r\n那位妇女感激地说：“<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，我可怎么感谢你呀！”\r\n\r\n雷锋说 ：“不要感谢我，应该感谢<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>和<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>啊！”\r\n\r\n他在日记中写下了这样一段话：“我的一切都是<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>给的，光荣应该归于<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>，归于热情帮助我的<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，至于我个人做的工作，那是太少了，我这么一点点贡献，比起对我的要求和期望还是非常不够的……” \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nBeginning in 1961, Lei Feng was often invited to go to other cities to make reports, and [since] he had many opportunities to travel on business, he also had many opportunities to serve the people.   \r\n\r\nPeople often said [of him]: \"When Lei Feng travels for business, [he rides there] on a train of good deeds.\" \r\n\r\nOne time, [while] Lei Feng was out and about, he was changing trains at Shenyang station, and when he was at the ticket booth, he saw a group of people standing around a middle-aged woman who was carrying a small child on her back. Turns out this woman was going from Liaoning to Jilin to see her husband, and accidentally lost her ticket and her wallet, so Lei Feng quickly used his own allowance to buy a ticket to Jilin and pressed it into the woman\'s [lit: \"elder sister\'s\"] hand. Her eyes brimming with tears the woman [lit: elder sister] said: \"Little Brother, What is your name? Where do you live? What is your work unit?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng answered: \"My name is Liberation Army, and China is my home.\" \r\n\r\nOne day in May, Lei Feng braved the rain to go to Shenyang. In order to catch the early train, he woke up at 5:00 A.M., took some dry steamed buns, put on his rain gear and set out upon the road. On the road, Lei Feng saw a woman carrying a small child on her back, and leading another little girl by the hand, and [she was] struggling towards the train station. Lei Feng didn\'t give it a second thought, he took off his own rain gear and draped it over the woman\'s body, picked up the little girl and accompanied them to the station. On the train, Lei Feng saw the little girl shivering from cold, so he took off the shirt on his back and gave it to her to wear. Lei Feng guessed that they hadn\'t eaten breakfast, so he took out the buns he had brought and gave them to the women. When the train reached Shenyang, it was still raining, and Lei Feng took the women to their home. \r\n\r\nThe women gratefully said: \"Comrade, how can I ever thank you?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng said, \"You don\'t have to thank me, you should thank the Party and Chairman Mao!\"\r\n\r\nIn his diary, he wrote the following: \"Everything I have was given to me by the Party, and all glory should belong to the Party, should belong to those comrades who enthusiastically helped me. As for the work I\'ve done, it isn\'t very much, my tiny contributions don\'t measure up to what I need and hope [to give]....\"\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales:  The good deeds of Lei Feng', 'It\'s Communism Week at CRP! I\'m kicking off with some classic stories about the good deeds of Communist folk hero Lei Feng, the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. HSK 4-5.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2350-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:37:44', '2020-05-24 10:37:44', '', 2350, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2350-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1163, 1, '2012-06-30 05:38:26', '2012-06-30 09:38:26', '', 'chop-up-peanuts-mushrooms', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', 'chop-up-peanuts-mushrooms', '', '', '2012-06-30 05:38:26', '2012-06-30 09:38:26', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/chop-up-peanuts-mushrooms.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2409, 1, '2020-05-24 06:36:55', '2020-05-24 10:36:55', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments - positive, negative, or neutral - are not allowed, and will be deleted.\r\n\r\nThis song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing. This rousing anthem worships the glory of Chairman Mao (毛主席) - I\'m not actually sure \"rousing\" really covers how enthusiastic this song is, it kind of punches you in the eardrums with patriotic fervor. To be clear: this is not the official Chinese national anthem, but during the height of the Cultural Revolution it was kind of an unofficial national anthem, and most folks on mainland usually remember at least some of the lyrics. \r\n\r\nI often get requests from readers to add audio to my posts, and I can\'t do it because of time constraints, but since this was such a popular song, there are still lots of places you can listen to it. So, if you want to listen to the song with music and lyrics, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GndAiU2qoDI\">you can check it out here</a> (and if that link breaks in the future, just look up 东方红 on Youtube, there are lots of vids). \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nI had an impossible time trying to find actual beginner-level reading on Communism. Even the children\'s stories are pretty hard. To read this smoothly without looking anything up, you\'d have to be an advanced reader. But this song is great for HSK 3-4 readers who are willing to put in a bit of effort, because it\'s a good overview of all the entry-level Communist vocab, the lyrics are very repetitive and bite-sized, and there are enough beginner-level words here to point you in the right direction, so with some study, you can get this. However, because there\'s a lot to parse, I\'m going to do a lot of explaining.\r\n\r\nFirst, some critical Communist-themed vocab: \r\n \r\n<strong>毛泽东</strong> [pinyin]mao2 ze2 dong1[/pinyin] - Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China, who died in 1976\r\n\r\n<strong>毛主席</strong> [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao, Mao Zedong\'s official title\r\n\r\n<strong>大救星</strong> [pinyin]da4 jiu4 xing1[/pinyin] - You can probably figure out the general idea here by looking at each character individually. 大 is \"big\" or \"great\", 救 is \"to rescue\", and 星 is \"star\". All together, this means \"great savior\", one of the many worshipful terms used to describe Chairman Mao during the Cultural Revolution.\r\n\r\n<strong>共产党</strong> [pinyin]gong4 chan3 dang3[/pinyin] - The Communist Party (CCP)\r\n\r\n<strong>人民</strong> [pinyin]ren2 min2[/pinyin] - The People. This is used in almost every line of this song, so I won\'t highlight every instance. \r\n\r\n<strong>解放</strong> [pinyin]jie3 fang4[/pinyin] - Liberation\r\n\r\nThen, some grammatical points of order:\r\n\r\n<strong>了</strong> [pinyin]le / liao3[/pinyin] - If you listen to the audio, you\'ll notice that the singers pronounce 了 as <em>liao</em>, rather than <em>le</em>. This is just a colloquial pronunciation thing, the meaning of this grammar word has not changed.\r\n\r\n<strong>出了</strong> [pinyin]chu1 le / liao3[/pinyin] - Grammatically speaking, the most difficult part of these lyrics for me is translating 出了, because it\'s a little abstract. The full lyric is 中国出了个毛泽东, which I\'ll break down here:\r\n\r\n中国 - China\r\n出了 - ???\r\n个 - A / one\r\n毛泽东 - Mao Zedong\r\n\r\nWe know that 出 means \"to go out\", \"to issue forth\". It\'s present in the word 出生 [pinyin]chu1 sheng1[/pinyin], \"to be born\", and also present in the word 出现 [pinyin]chu1 xian4[/pinyin], \"to appear\". So, this lyric means something like \"Mao Zedong appeared in China\", or \"China gave birth to one Mao Zedong\", or \"Mao Zedong comes from China\". None of those translations feel exactly right, but you get the point.   \r\n\r\n<strong>为</strong> [pinyin]wei4[/pinyin] - Another tricky grammar point here is the use of 为. We see this being used in two ways, once just by itself, and once as 为了. These two uses have different definitions. When 为 is by itself before a noun, it means \"for (noun)\". As in \"for the people\". When it is 为了, before a verb, it means \"in order to (do something)\". \r\n\r\n<strong>得</strong> [pinyin]de2[/pinyin] - The definition of 得 being used here is \"to receive\". \r\n\r\n<strong>呼儿嗨哟</strong> [pinyin]hu1 er hei1 yo1[/pinyin] - Don\'t get tripped up on this, these aren\'t real words. These are just sounds that round out the song, as in the \"ooooh\" or \"la la la\", that you might hear in English songs. You might best translate this as \"Hurrah!\", a sound that expresses joy and victory.\r\n\r\nAlright, ready? Let\'s do this.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>东方红</h4>\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>爱人民 \r\n他是我们的带路人\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n领导我们向前进 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span> \r\n领导我们向前进\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>像太阳 \r\n照到那里,那里亮\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span> \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThe East is Red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\n\r\nChairman Mao loves the People\r\nHe is our guide\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\n\r\nThe Communist Party is like the sun\r\nWherever it shines, there is light\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\n\r\nThe east is red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nHe is working for the people\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nGreat savior\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist songs: 《东方红》- The East is Red', 'This song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2343-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:36:55', '2020-05-24 10:36:55', '', 2343, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2343-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2408, 1, '2020-05-24 06:36:12', '2020-05-24 10:36:12', '[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;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments - positive, negative, or neutral - are not allowed, and will be deleted.\r\n\r\nThis song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing. This rousing anthem worships the glory of Chairman Mao (毛主席) - I\'m not actually sure \"rousing\" really covers how enthusiastic this song is, it kind of punches you in the eardrums with patriotic fervor. To be clear: this is not the official Chinese national anthem, but during the height of the Cultural Revolution it was kind of an unofficial national anthem, and most folks on mainland usually remember at least some of the lyrics. \r\n\r\nI often get requests from readers to add audio to my posts, and I can\'t do it because of time constraints, but since this was such a popular song, there are still lots of places you can listen to it. So, if you want to listen to the song with music and lyrics, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GndAiU2qoDI\">you can check it out here</a> (and if that link breaks in the future, just look up 东方红 on Youtube, there are lots of vids). \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nI had an impossible time trying to find actual beginner-level reading on Communism. Even the children\'s stories are pretty hard. To read this smoothly without looking anything up, you\'d have to be an advanced reader. But this song is great for HSK 3-4 readers who are willing to put in a bit of effort, because it\'s a good overview of all the entry-level Communist vocab, the lyrics are very repetitive and bite-sized, and there are enough beginner-level words here to point you in the right direction, so with some study, you can get this. However, because there\'s a lot to parse, I\'m going to do a lot of explaining.\r\n\r\nFirst, some critical Communist-themed vocab: \r\n \r\n<strong>毛泽东</strong> [pinyin]mao2 ze2 dong1[/pinyin] - Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China, who died in 1976\r\n\r\n<strong>毛主席</strong> [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao, Mao Zedong\'s official title\r\n\r\n<strong>大救星</strong> [pinyin]da4 jiu4 xing1[/pinyin] - You can probably figure out the general idea here by looking at each character individually. 大 is \"big\" or \"great\", 救 is \"to rescue\", and 星 is \"star\". All together, this means \"great savior\", one of the many worshipful terms used to describe Chairman Mao during the Cultural Revolution.\r\n\r\n<strong>共产党</strong> [pinyin]gong4 chan3 dang3[/pinyin] - The Communist Party (CCP)\r\n\r\n<strong>人民</strong> [pinyin]ren2 min2[/pinyin] - The People. This is used in almost every line of this song, so I won\'t highlight every instance. \r\n\r\n<strong>解放</strong> [pinyin]jie3 fang4[/pinyin] - Liberation\r\n\r\nThen, some grammatical points of order:\r\n\r\n<strong>了</strong> [pinyin]le / liao3[/pinyin] - If you listen to the audio, you\'ll notice that the singers pronounce 了 as <em>liao</em>, rather than <em>le</em>. This is just a colloquial pronunciation thing, the meaning of this grammar word has not changed.\r\n\r\n<strong>出了</strong> [pinyin]chu1 le / liao3[/pinyin] - Grammatically speaking, the most difficult part of these lyrics for me is translating 出了, because it\'s a little abstract. The full lyric is 中国出了个毛泽东, which I\'ll break down here:\r\n\r\n中国 - China\r\n出了 - ???\r\n个 - A / one\r\n毛泽东 - Mao Zedong\r\n\r\nWe know that 出 means \"to go out\", \"to issue forth\". It\'s present in the word 出生 [pinyin]chu1 sheng1[/pinyin], \"to be born\", and also present in the word 出现 [pinyin]chu1 xian4[/pinyin], \"to appear\". So, this lyric means something like \"Mao Zedong appeared in China\", or \"China gave birth to one Mao Zedong\". Neither of those translations feel exactly right, but you get the point.   \r\n\r\n<strong>为</strong> [pinyin]wei4[/pinyin] - Another tricky grammar point here is the use of 为. We see this being used in two ways, once just by itself, and once as 为了. These two uses have different definitions. When 为 is by itself before a noun, it means \"for (noun)\". As in \"for the people\". When it is 为了, before a verb, it means \"in order to (do something)\". \r\n\r\n<strong>得</strong> [pinyin]de2[/pinyin] - The definition of 得 being used here is \"to receive\". \r\n\r\n<strong>呼儿嗨哟</strong> [pinyin]hu1 er hei1 yo1[/pinyin] - Don\'t get tripped up on this, these aren\'t real words. These are just sounds that round out the song, as in the \"ooooh\" or \"la la la\", that you might hear in English songs. You might best translate this as \"Hurrah!\", a sound that expresses joy and victory.\r\n\r\nAlright, ready? Let\'s do this.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>东方红</h4>\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>爱人民 \r\n他是我们的带路人\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n领导我们向前进 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span> \r\n领导我们向前进\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>像太阳 \r\n照到那里,那里亮\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span> \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThe East is Red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\n\r\nChairman Mao loves the People\r\nHe is our guide\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\n\r\nThe Communist Party is like the sun\r\nWherever it shines, there is light\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\n\r\nThe east is red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nHe is working for the people\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nGreat savior\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist songs: 《东方红》- The East is Red', 'This song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2343-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:36:12', '2020-05-24 10:36:12', '', 2343, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2343-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(2406, 1, '2020-05-24 06:34:30', '2020-05-24 10:34:30', '[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;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments - positive, negative, or neutral - are not allowed, and will be deleted.\r\n\r\nThis song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing. This rousing anthem worships the glory of Chairman Mao (毛主席) - I\'m not actually sure \"rousing\" really covers how over-the-top this song is, it\'s so enthusiastically grand it kind of bowls you over. To be clear: this is not the official Chinese national anthem, but during the height of the Cultural Revolution it was kind of an unofficial national anthem, and most folks on mainland usually remember at least some of the lyrics. \r\n\r\nI often get requests from readers to add audio to my posts, and I can\'t do it because of time constraints, but since this was such a popular song, there are still lots of places you can listen to it. So, if you want to listen to the song with music and lyrics, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GndAiU2qoDI\">you can check it out here</a> (and if that link breaks in the future, just look up 东方红 on Youtube, there are lots of vids). \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nI had an impossible time trying to find actual beginner-level reading on Communism. Even the children\'s stories are pretty hard. To read this smoothly without looking anything up, you\'d have to be an advanced reader. But this song is great for HSK 3-4 readers who are willing to put in a bit of effort, because it\'s a good overview of all the entry-level Communist vocab, the lyrics are very repetitive and bite-sized, and there are enough beginner-level words here to point you in the right direction, so with some study, you can get this. However, because there\'s a lot to parse here, I\'m going to do a lot of explaining.\r\n\r\nFirst, some critical Communist-themed vocab: \r\n \r\n<strong>毛泽东</strong> [pinyin]mao2 ze2 dong1[/pinyin] - Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China, who died in 1976\r\n\r\n<strong>毛主席</strong> [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao, Mao Zedong\'s official title\r\n\r\n<strong>大救星</strong> [pinyin]da4 jiu4 xing1[/pinyin] - You can probably figure out the general idea here by looking at each character individually. 大 is \"big\" or \"great\", 救 is \"to rescue\", and 星 is \"star\". All together, this means \"great savior\", one of the many worshipful terms used to describe Chairman Mao during the Cultural Revolution.\r\n\r\n<strong>共产党</strong> [pinyin]gong4 chan3 dang3[/pinyin] - The Communist Party (CCP)\r\n\r\n<strong>人民</strong> [pinyin]ren2 min2[/pinyin] - The People. This is used in almost every line of this song, so I won\'t highlight every instance. \r\n\r\n<strong>解放</strong> [pinyin]jie3 fang4[/pinyin] - Liberation\r\n\r\nThen, some grammatical points of order:\r\n\r\n<strong>了</strong> [pinyin]le / liao3[/pinyin] - If you listen to the audio, you\'ll notice that the singers pronounce 了 as <em>liao</em>, rather than <em>le</em>. This is just a colloquial pronunciation thing, the meaning of this grammar word has not changed.\r\n\r\n<strong>出了</strong> [pinyin]chu1 le / liao3[/pinyin] - Grammatically speaking, the most difficult part of these lyrics for me is translating 出了, because it\'s a little abstract. The full lyric is 中国出了个毛泽东, which I\'ll break down here:\r\n\r\n中国 - China\r\n出了 - ???\r\n个 - A / one\r\n毛泽东 - Mao Zedong\r\n\r\nWe know that 出 means \"to go out\", \"to issue forth\". It\'s present in the word 出生 [pinyin]chu1 sheng1[/pinyin], \"to be born\", and also present in the word 出现 [pinyin]chu1 xian4[/pinyin], \"to appear\". So, this lyric means something like \"Mao Zedong appeared in China\", or \"China gave birth to one Mao Zedong\". Neither of those translations feel exactly right, but you get the point.   \r\n\r\n<strong>为</strong> [pinyin]wei4[/pinyin] - Another tricky grammar point here is the use of 为. We see this being used in two ways, once just by itself, and once as 为了. These two uses have different definitions. When 为 is by itself before a noun, it means \"for (noun)\". As in \"for the people\". When it is 为了, before a verb, it means \"in order to (do something)\". \r\n\r\n<strong>得</strong> [pinyin]de2[/pinyin] - The definition of 得 being used here is \"to receive\". \r\n\r\n<strong>呼儿嗨哟</strong> [pinyin]hu1 er hei1 yo1[/pinyin] - Don\'t get tripped up on this, these aren\'t real words. These are just sounds that round out the song, as in the \"ooooh\" or \"la la la\", that you might hear in English songs. You might best translate this as \"Hurrah!\", a sound that expresses joy and victory.\r\n\r\nAlright, ready? Let\'s do this.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>东方红</h4>\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>爱人民 \r\n他是我们的带路人\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n领导我们向前进 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span> \r\n领导我们向前进\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>像太阳 \r\n照到那里,那里亮\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span> \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThe East is Red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\n\r\nChairman Mao loves the People\r\nHe is our guide\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\n\r\nThe Communist Party is like the sun\r\nWherever it shines, there is light\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\n\r\nThe east is red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nHe is working for the people\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nGreat savior\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist songs: 《东方红》- The East is Red', 'This song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2343-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:34:30', '2020-05-24 10:34:30', '', 2343, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2343-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2407, 1, '2020-05-24 06:35:16', '2020-05-24 10:35:16', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments - positive, negative, or neutral - are not allowed, and will be deleted.\r\n\r\nThis song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing. This rousing anthem worships the glory of Chairman Mao (毛主席) - I\'m not actually sure \"rousing\" really covers how enthusiastic this song is, it kind of punches you in the eardrums with patriotic fervor. To be clear: this is not the official Chinese national anthem, but during the height of the Cultural Revolution it was kind of an unofficial national anthem, and most folks on mainland usually remember at least some of the lyrics. \r\n\r\nI often get requests from readers to add audio to my posts, and I can\'t do it because of time constraints, but since this was such a popular song, there are still lots of places you can listen to it. So, if you want to listen to the song with music and lyrics, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GndAiU2qoDI\">you can check it out here</a> (and if that link breaks in the future, just look up 东方红 on Youtube, there are lots of vids). \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nI had an impossible time trying to find actual beginner-level reading on Communism. Even the children\'s stories are pretty hard. To read this smoothly without looking anything up, you\'d have to be an advanced reader. But this song is great for HSK 3-4 readers who are willing to put in a bit of effort, because it\'s a good overview of all the entry-level Communist vocab, the lyrics are very repetitive and bite-sized, and there are enough beginner-level words here to point you in the right direction, so with some study, you can get this. However, because there\'s a lot to parse here, I\'m going to do a lot of explaining.\r\n\r\nFirst, some critical Communist-themed vocab: \r\n \r\n<strong>毛泽东</strong> [pinyin]mao2 ze2 dong1[/pinyin] - Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China, who died in 1976\r\n\r\n<strong>毛主席</strong> [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao, Mao Zedong\'s official title\r\n\r\n<strong>大救星</strong> [pinyin]da4 jiu4 xing1[/pinyin] - You can probably figure out the general idea here by looking at each character individually. 大 is \"big\" or \"great\", 救 is \"to rescue\", and 星 is \"star\". All together, this means \"great savior\", one of the many worshipful terms used to describe Chairman Mao during the Cultural Revolution.\r\n\r\n<strong>共产党</strong> [pinyin]gong4 chan3 dang3[/pinyin] - The Communist Party (CCP)\r\n\r\n<strong>人民</strong> [pinyin]ren2 min2[/pinyin] - The People. This is used in almost every line of this song, so I won\'t highlight every instance. \r\n\r\n<strong>解放</strong> [pinyin]jie3 fang4[/pinyin] - Liberation\r\n\r\nThen, some grammatical points of order:\r\n\r\n<strong>了</strong> [pinyin]le / liao3[/pinyin] - If you listen to the audio, you\'ll notice that the singers pronounce 了 as <em>liao</em>, rather than <em>le</em>. This is just a colloquial pronunciation thing, the meaning of this grammar word has not changed.\r\n\r\n<strong>出了</strong> [pinyin]chu1 le / liao3[/pinyin] - Grammatically speaking, the most difficult part of these lyrics for me is translating 出了, because it\'s a little abstract. The full lyric is 中国出了个毛泽东, which I\'ll break down here:\r\n\r\n中国 - China\r\n出了 - ???\r\n个 - A / one\r\n毛泽东 - Mao Zedong\r\n\r\nWe know that 出 means \"to go out\", \"to issue forth\". It\'s present in the word 出生 [pinyin]chu1 sheng1[/pinyin], \"to be born\", and also present in the word 出现 [pinyin]chu1 xian4[/pinyin], \"to appear\". So, this lyric means something like \"Mao Zedong appeared in China\", or \"China gave birth to one Mao Zedong\". Neither of those translations feel exactly right, but you get the point.   \r\n\r\n<strong>为</strong> [pinyin]wei4[/pinyin] - Another tricky grammar point here is the use of 为. We see this being used in two ways, once just by itself, and once as 为了. These two uses have different definitions. When 为 is by itself before a noun, it means \"for (noun)\". As in \"for the people\". When it is 为了, before a verb, it means \"in order to (do something)\". \r\n\r\n<strong>得</strong> [pinyin]de2[/pinyin] - The definition of 得 being used here is \"to receive\". \r\n\r\n<strong>呼儿嗨哟</strong> [pinyin]hu1 er hei1 yo1[/pinyin] - Don\'t get tripped up on this, these aren\'t real words. These are just sounds that round out the song, as in the \"ooooh\" or \"la la la\", that you might hear in English songs. You might best translate this as \"Hurrah!\", a sound that expresses joy and victory.\r\n\r\nAlright, ready? Let\'s do this.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>东方红</h4>\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>爱人民 \r\n他是我们的带路人\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n领导我们向前进 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span> \r\n领导我们向前进\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>像太阳 \r\n照到那里,那里亮\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span> \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThe East is Red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\n\r\nChairman Mao loves the People\r\nHe is our guide\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\n\r\nThe Communist Party is like the sun\r\nWherever it shines, there is light\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\n\r\nThe east is red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nHe is working for the people\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nGreat savior\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist songs: 《东方红》- The East is Red', 'This song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2343-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:35:16', '2020-05-24 10:35:16', '', 2343, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2343-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2405, 1, '2020-05-24 06:32:12', '2020-05-24 10:32:12', '[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;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments - positive, negative, or neutral - are not allowed, and will be deleted.\r\n\r\nThis song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing. This rousing anthem worships the glory of Chairman Mao (毛主席). To be clear: this is not the official Chinese national anthem, but during the height of the Cultural Revolution it was kind of an unofficial national anthem, and most folks on mainland usually remember at least some of the lyrics. \r\n\r\nI often get requests from readers to add audio to my posts, and I can\'t do it because of time constraints, but since this was such a popular song, there are still lots of places you can listen to it. So, if you want to listen to the song with music and lyrics, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GndAiU2qoDI\">you can check it out here</a> (and if that link breaks in the future, just look up 东方红 on Youtube, there are lots of vids). \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nI had an impossible time trying to find actual beginner-level reading on Communism. Even the children\'s stories are pretty hard. To read this smoothly without looking anything up, you\'d have to be an advanced reader. But this song is great for HSK 3-4 readers who are willing to put in a bit of effort, because it\'s a good overview of all the entry-level Communist vocab, the lyrics are very repetitive and bite-sized, and there are enough beginner-level words here to point you in the right direction, so with some study, you can get this. However, because there\'s a lot to parse here, I\'m going to do a lot of explaining.\r\n\r\nFirst, some critical Communist-themed vocab: \r\n \r\n<strong>毛泽东</strong> [pinyin]mao2 ze2 dong1[/pinyin] - Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China, who died in 1976\r\n\r\n<strong>毛主席</strong> [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao, Mao Zedong\'s official title\r\n\r\n<strong>大救星</strong> [pinyin]da4 jiu4 xing1[/pinyin] - You can probably figure out the general idea here by looking at each character individually. 大 is \"big\" or \"great\", 救 is \"to rescue\", and 星 is \"star\". All together, this means \"great savior\", one of the many worshipful terms used to describe Chairman Mao during the Cultural Revolution.\r\n\r\n<strong>共产党</strong> [pinyin]gong4 chan3 dang3[/pinyin] - The Communist Party (CCP)\r\n\r\n<strong>人民</strong> [pinyin]ren2 min2[/pinyin] - The People. This is used in almost every line of this song, so I won\'t highlight every instance. \r\n\r\n<strong>解放</strong> [pinyin]jie3 fang4[/pinyin] - Liberation\r\n\r\nThen, some grammatical points of order:\r\n\r\n<strong>了</strong> [pinyin]le / liao3[/pinyin] - If you listen to the audio, you\'ll notice that the singers pronounce 了 as <em>liao</em>, rather than <em>le</em>. This is just a colloquial pronunciation thing, the meaning of this grammar word has not changed.\r\n\r\n<strong>出了</strong> [pinyin]chu1 le / liao3[/pinyin] - Grammatically speaking, the most difficult part of these lyrics for me is translating 出了, because it\'s a little abstract. The full lyric is 中国出了个毛泽东, which I\'ll break down here:\r\n\r\n中国 - China\r\n出了 - ???\r\n个 - A / one\r\n毛泽东 - Mao Zedong\r\n\r\nWe know that 出 means \"to go out\", \"to issue forth\". It\'s present in the word 出生 [pinyin]chu1 sheng1[/pinyin], \"to be born\", and also present in the word 出现 [pinyin]chu1 xian4[/pinyin], \"to appear\". So, this lyric means something like \"Mao Zedong appeared in China\", or \"China gave birth to one Mao Zedong\". Neither of those translations feel exactly right, but you get the point.   \r\n\r\n<strong>为</strong> [pinyin]wei4[/pinyin] - Another tricky grammar point here is the use of 为. We see this being used in two ways, once just by itself, and once as 为了. These two uses have different definitions. When 为 is by itself before a noun, it means \"for (noun)\". As in \"for the people\". When it is 为了, before a verb, it means \"in order to (do something)\". \r\n\r\n<strong>得</strong> [pinyin]de2[/pinyin] - The definition of 得 being used here is \"to receive\". \r\n\r\n<strong>呼儿嗨哟</strong> [pinyin]hu1 er hei1 yo1[/pinyin] - Don\'t get tripped up on this, these aren\'t real words. These are just sounds that round out the song, as in the \"ooooh\" or \"la la la\", that you might hear in English songs. You might best translate this as \"Hurrah!\", a sound that expresses joy and victory.\r\n\r\nAlright, ready? Let\'s do this.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>东方红</h4>\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>爱人民 \r\n他是我们的带路人\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n领导我们向前进 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span> \r\n领导我们向前进\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>像太阳 \r\n照到那里,那里亮\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span> \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThe East is Red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\n\r\nChairman Mao loves the People\r\nHe is our guide\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\n\r\nThe Communist Party is like the sun\r\nWherever it shines, there is light\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\n\r\nThe east is red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nHe is working for the people\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nGreat savior\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist songs: 《东方红》- The East is Red', 'This song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2343-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:32:12', '2020-05-24 10:32:12', '', 2343, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2343-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2403, 1, '2020-05-24 06:27:35', '2020-05-24 10:27:35', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments – positive, negative, or neutral – are not allowed, and will be deleted. Dinner table rules, please.\r\n\r\nZhu De (朱德 [pinyin]zhu1 de2[/pinyin]) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin]), also called the Red Army (红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin]). He was applauded as a people\'s general, and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin]) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担 [pinyin]bian3 dan[/pinyin]) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned many popular posters of him, like this one:\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole.jpeg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Practice Exercises: Communist Folk Stories Revolutionary Heroes\" width=\"425\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2387\" /> \r\n\r\nZhe De is a revolutionary from the early days of Chinese Communism. For those who don\'t know their CCP history: modern China was founded in 1949, but for the 20-odd years before that, the Red Army was fighting various wars for control of the country. Zhu De was instrumental in these wars, and after 1949, he became a key Party leader and politician. This story is set in the early days of the wars, in 1928. It\'s crazy to think that Zhu De, who was born in 1886 and died in 1976, lived to be 90 years old, but spent three or four decades of his life doing nothing but fighting battles. Considering how many people died in those wars, or were purged in political upheavals afterwards, this guy was a real survivor. \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nThis is an example of a story that will look much harder on first glance than it actually is. That\'s because some of the vocab is intermediate, but the sentence structure is beginner. The intermediate vocab is also used repetitively, so once you look up the tougher words, you\'ll immediately have an opportunity to see them again in the text. The first two sentences are much rougher than the rest, because they\'re almost entirely made up of intermediate words, so push through those and it\'ll be easier going from there. If you break the sentences down patiently, and you are at HSK 3 or up, I promise you can get through this. \r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here: \r\n朱德同志 [pinyin]zhu1 de2 tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin] - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 [pinyin]jing3 gang1 shan1[/pinyin] - Jinggang Mountain \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 [pinyin]dui4 wu[/pinyin] - troops \r\n敌人 [pinyin]di2 ren2[/pinyin] - enemy\r\n战士们 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4 men[/pinyin] - soldier \r\n打仗 [pinyin]da3 zhang4[/pinyin] to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnother word that come up quite a bit is 粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin] - Also just 粮 [pinyin]liang2[/pinyin]. This is a general term for \"grain\", could be wheat, rice, millet, oats, or whatever.\r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n<strong>争着去</strong> [pinyin]zheng1 zhe qu4[/pinyin] - 争 means \"to fight\" or \"to struggle\", 着 is a present-tense grammar word, and 去 means \"go\" or \"leave\". At first glance, 争着去 looks like it means \"fighting in order to leave someplace\", but it\'s not. In this case, it\'s describing a group of people pushing and shoving to be the first to volunteer to go somewhere. Imagine a group of soldiers asked to undertake a hard mission - one person says, \"I\'ll go!\" and someone else says, \"No, choose me, I\'ll go!\". This is 争着去. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>朱德的扁担</h4>\r\n1928年，<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>带领一支<span class=\"highlightText\">红军队伍</span>到<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>。山上是<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>，山下不远就是<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上出产粮食不多，常常要派一些人到山下的田园去挑粮。<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>离田园很远，山高路窄，非常难走。可是每次挑粮大家都<span class=\"highlightText\">争着去</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>也跟<span class=\"highlightText\">战士们</span>一起去挑粮。他穿着草鞋，挑起满满的一担粮食，跟大家一起爬山。白天挑粮，晚上还常常整夜整夜地学习怎样跟<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人打仗</span>。大家觉得他要做的工作太多，就把他那根扁担藏了起来。可是<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>又找到了一根扁担，写上“<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德</span>扁担，不要拿走”八个大字。大家见了，更敬爱<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>，不好意思再藏他的扁担了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nIn 1928, Comrade Zhu De lead a detachment of Red Army troops to Jinggang Mountain. The Red Army was on the mountain, but down the mountain not far away was the enemy. \r\n \r\nNot much grain was produced on Jinggang Mountain, so [they] often had to send a few people down to the fields below to tote back some grain. Jinggang Mountain was far from the fields, the mountain was high and the roads were narrow, it was very hard going. But each time grain had to be carried back, everyone fought to be the one to go.\r\n \r\nComrade Zhu De also went along with the soldiers to carry grain. He wore grass shoes, carrying a pole packed full of grain, and climbed the mountain with everybody else. During the day [he] carried grain, and during the evening he often spent the whole night studying how to make war on the enemy. Everyone felt he had too much work to do, so they took his carrying pole and hid it. But Comrade Zhu De found another carrying pole, and wrote 8 big words on it: \"Zhu Du\'s carrying pole, please don\'t take it\". Everyone saw this, and loved and respected Comrade Zhu De even more, and were too ashamed to hide his carrying pole again. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De\'s Carrying Pole', 'Zhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). This popular revolutionary story highlights his willingness to toil alongside the rank and file soldiers. HSK 3-4. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:27:35', '2020-05-24 10:27:35', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2404, 1, '2020-05-24 06:28:31', '2020-05-24 10:28:31', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"] \r\nHad a complaint a few days ago that my <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/18/chinese-childrens-fable-freedom-in-heaven/\">fable about a pretty bird</a> was too political, so I figured I\'d give ya\'ll something more exciting to complain about. Break out your Little Red Books, it\'s Communism Week at CRP. \r\n\r\nBecause Chinese Communism is an increasingly touchy international topic, a quick note: I am putting up these stories because they are historically, academically and linguistically interesting, not because I am promoting any political viewpoint. There\'s a lot of Communist language out there: in Chinese news sites, on vintage propaganda posters, in historical books, and and knowing this vocab and these stories will help you advance your understanding of the language and culture. To maintain a pleasant, learning-focused environment, I don\'t allow political comments here. If you express your political opinions in the comments - positive, negative, or neutral - I will delete them. There are plenty of places on the internet where you can vent your anger or patriotism, this just isn\'t one of them. Cool?\r\n\r\nRight, so <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_Feng\">Lei Feng</a> (雷锋) was a larger-than-life Communist people\'s folk hero. Though tales of his good deeds spread like wildfire and took on a mythic quality, he was actually a real person: a People\'s Liberation Army solider who lived from 1940-1962, dying at the age of 22 when he was struck by a falling telephone pole in the line of duty. But his legend never really waned: he is still considered the personification of Mao Zedong Thought and the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. He was held up by the Party propaganda machine as a person to emulate, someone with a perfect moral character and devotion to the socialist cause, so much so that children were encouraged to foster \"Lei Feng Spirit\" (雷锋精神).\r\n\r\nIn this post, I translate one of many, many stories about Lei Feng\'s general do-gooding. I chose this one because it\'s got all the best elements of a classic Lei Feng tale: over-the-top selflessness towards the common people, grand statements of loyalty to the Party, and all the rest.\r\n\r\n<h4>Some Language Stuff</h4>\r\nIf this is your first foray into Communist-themed reading, you\'ll learn a few new words that are common to writing from the 1940s-1970s: \r\n\r\n单位 [pinyin]dan1 wei4[/pinyin] - work unit\r\n解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin] - [People\'s] Liberation Army (PLA) \r\n同志 [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] - comrade \r\n毛主席 [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao\r\n党 [pinyin]dang3[/pinyin] - short for \"共产党\", the Party / the Communist Party.  \r\n\r\nThere are also a few names of places: Shenyang (沈阳), Liaoning (辽宁) and Jilin (吉林) - all places within northeastern China. \r\n\r\nThis post centers around good deeds that Lei Feng did while traveling around the northeast on army business. I had a little bit of trouble translating some of the travel-related sentences, because the way people talk about travel in Chinese is slightly different than the way we do in English. For one thing, if someone is traveling within China, the phrase 去外地 [pinyin]qu4 wai4 di4[/pinyin] is used. At first glance, \"去外地\" just means \"to go other places\", but this is specifically used to mean \"other places within China\", not \"other countries\". Trips outside of China are usually described as 去国外 or 去外国. Also, pay attention to the word 出差 [pinyin]chu1 chai1[/pinyin]. This specially means \"to travel on business\", as opposed to traveling for pleasure.\r\n\r\n<strong>想都没想</strong> [pinyin]xiang3 dou1 mei3 xiang3[/pinyin] - Phrase means \"without even thinking about it\" or \"without a second thought\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9B%B7%E9%94%8B/5569?fr=aladdin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</a>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>雷锋小故事</h4>\r\n从一九六一年开始，雷锋经常应邀去外地作报告，他出差的机会多了，为人民服务的机会也就多了。\r\n\r\n人们流传着这样一句话：“雷锋出差一千里，好事做了一火车。”\r\n\r\n有一次，雷锋外出，在<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>车站换车，出检票口的时候，他发现一群人围着一个背着小孩儿的中年妇女。原来这名妇女从<span class=\"highlightText\">辽宁</span>去<span class=\"highlightText\">吉林</span>看丈夫，一不小心把车票和钱都丢了 ，雷锋连忙用自己的津贴费买了一张去吉林的火车票塞到大嫂手里，大嫂眼含热泪地问：“小兄弟，你叫什么名字？住哪的？是哪个<span class=\"highlightText\">单位</span>的？”\r\n\r\n雷锋回答道：“我叫<span class=\"highlightText\">解放军</span>，家就住在中国。”\r\n\r\n五月的一天，雷锋冒雨去<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>。他为了赶早车，早晨5点多就起来，带了几个干馒头就披上雨衣上路了。路上，雷锋看见一位妇女背着一个小孩，手还牵着一个小女孩，正艰难地向车站走去。雷锋<span class=\"highlightText\">想都没想</span>，脱下身上的雨衣就披在大嫂身上，又抱起小女孩陪她们一起来到车站。上车后，雷锋见小女孩冷得直发抖，就把自己的贴身衬衣脱下来给她穿上。雷锋估计她们早饭没吃，就把自己带的馒头给她们吃。火车到了沈阳，天还在下雨，雷锋便把她们送到家里。\r\n\r\n那位妇女感激地说：“<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，我可怎么感谢你呀！”\r\n\r\n雷锋说 ：“不要感谢我，应该感谢<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>和<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>啊！”\r\n\r\n他在日记中写下了这样一段话：“我的一切都是<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>给的，光荣应该归于<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>，归于热情帮助我的<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，至于我个人做的工作，那是太少了，我这么一点点贡献，比起对我的要求和期望还是非常不够的……” \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nBeginning in 1961, Lei Feng was often invited to go to other cities to make reports, and [since] he had many opportunities to travel on business, he also had many opportunities to serve the people.   \r\n\r\nPeople often said [of him]: \"When Lei Feng travels for business, [he rides there] on a train of good deeds.\" \r\n\r\nOne time, [while] Lei Feng was out and about, he was changing trains at Shenyang station, and when he was at the ticket booth, he saw a group of people standing around a middle-aged woman who was carrying a small child on her back. Turns out this woman was going from Liaoning to Jilin to see her husband, and accidentally lost her ticket and her wallet, so Lei Feng quickly used his own allowance to buy a ticket to Jilin and pressed it into the woman\'s [lit: \"elder sister\'s\"] hand. Her eyes brimming with tears the woman [lit: elder sister] said: \"Little Brother, What is your name? Where do you live? What is your work unit?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng answered: \"My name is Liberation Army, and China is my home.\" \r\n\r\nOne day in May, Lei Feng braved the rain to go to Shenyang. In order to catch the early train, he woke up at 5:00 A.M., took some dry steamed buns, put on his rain gear and set out upon the road. On the road, Lei Feng saw a woman carrying a small child on her back, and leading another little girl by the hand, and [she was] struggling towards the train station. Lei Feng didn\'t give it a second thought, he took off his own rain gear and draped it over the woman\'s body, picked up the little girl and accompanied them to the station. On the train, Lei Feng saw the little girl shivering from cold, so he took off the shirt on his back and gave it to her to wear. Lei Feng guessed that they hadn\'t eaten breakfast, so he took out the buns he had brought and gave them to the women. When the train reached Shenyang, it was still raining, and Lei Feng took the women to their home. \r\n\r\nThe women gratefully said: \"Comrade, how can I ever thank you?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng said, \"You don\'t have to thank me, you should thank the Party and Chairman Mao!\"\r\n\r\nIn his diary, he wrote the following: \"Everything I have was given to me by the Party, and all glory should belong to the Party, should belong to those comrades who enthusiastically helped me. As for the work I\'ve done, it isn\'t very much, my tiny contributions don\'t measure up to what I need and hope [to give]....\"\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales:  The good deeds of Lei Feng', 'It\'s Communism Week at CRP! I\'m kicking off with some classic stories about the good deeds of Communist folk hero Lei Feng, the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. HSK 4-5.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2350-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:28:31', '2020-05-24 10:28:31', '', 2350, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2350-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2402, 1, '2020-05-24 06:23:58', '2020-05-24 10:23:58', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"] \r\nHad a complaint a few days ago that my <a href=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/18/chinese-childrens-fable-freedom-in-heaven/\">fable about a pretty bird</a> was too political, so I figured I\'d give ya\'ll something more exciting to complain about. Break out your Little Red Books, it\'s Communism Week at CRP. \r\n\r\nBecause Chinese Communism is an increasingly touchy international topic, a quick note: I am putting up these stories because <em>they are historically, academically and linguistically interesting, not because I am promoting any political viewpoint</em>. There\'s a lot of Communist language out there: in Chinese news sites, on vintage propaganda posters, in historical books, and and knowing this vocab and these stories will help you advance your understanding of the language and culture. To maintain a pleasant, learning-focused environment, I don\'t allow political comments here. If you express your political opinions in the comments - positive, negative, or neutral - I will delete them. There are plenty of places on the internet where you can vent your anger or patriotism, this just isn\'t one of them. Cool?\r\n\r\nRight, so <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_Feng\">Lei Feng</a> (雷锋) was a larger-than-life Communist people\'s folk hero. Though tales of his good deeds spread like wildfire and took on a mythic quality, he was actually a real person: a People\'s Liberation Army solider who lived from 1940-1962, dying at the age of 22 when he was struck by a falling telephone pole in the line of duty. But his legend never really waned: he is still considered the personification of Mao Zedong Thought and the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. He was held up by the Party propaganda machine as a person to emulate, someone with a perfect moral character and devotion to the socialist cause, so much so that children were encouraged to foster \"Lei Feng Spirit\" (雷锋精神).\r\n\r\nIn this post, I translate one of many, many stories about Lei Feng\'s general do-gooding. I chose this one because it\'s got all the best elements of a classic Lei Feng tale: over-the-top selflessness towards the common people, grand statements of loyalty to the Party, and all the rest.\r\n\r\n<h4>Some Language Stuff</h4>\r\nIf this is your first foray into Communist-themed reading, you\'ll learn a few new words that are common to writing from the 1940s-1970s: \r\n\r\n单位 [pinyin]dan1 wei4[/pinyin] - work unit\r\n解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin] - [People\'s] Liberation Army (PLA) \r\n同志 [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] - comrade \r\n毛主席 [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao\r\n党 [pinyin]dang3[/pinyin] - short for \"共产党\", the Party / the Communist Party.  \r\n\r\nThere are also a few names of places: Shenyang (沈阳), Liaoning (辽宁) and Jilin (吉林) - all places within northeastern China. \r\n\r\nThis post centers around good deeds that Lei Feng did while traveling around the northeast on army business. I had a little bit of trouble translating some of the travel-related sentences, because the way people talk about travel in Chinese is slightly different than the way we do in English. For one thing, if someone is traveling within China, the phrase 去外地 [pinyin]qu4 wai4 di4[/pinyin] is used. At first glance, \"去外地\" just means \"to go other places\", but this is specifically used to mean \"other places within China\", not \"other countries\". Trips outside of China are usually described as 去国外 or 去外国. Also, pay attention to the word 出差 [pinyin]chu1 chai1[/pinyin]. This specially means \"to travel on business\", as opposed to traveling for pleasure.\r\n\r\n<strong>想都没想</strong> [pinyin]xiang3 dou1 mei3 xiang3[/pinyin] - Phrase means \"without even thinking about it\" or \"without a second thought\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9B%B7%E9%94%8B/5569?fr=aladdin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Source here</a>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>雷锋小故事</h4>\r\n从一九六一年开始，雷锋经常应邀去外地作报告，他出差的机会多了，为人民服务的机会也就多了。\r\n\r\n人们流传着这样一句话：“雷锋出差一千里，好事做了一火车。”\r\n\r\n有一次，雷锋外出，在<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>车站换车，出检票口的时候，他发现一群人围着一个背着小孩儿的中年妇女。原来这名妇女从<span class=\"highlightText\">辽宁</span>去<span class=\"highlightText\">吉林</span>看丈夫，一不小心把车票和钱都丢了 ，雷锋连忙用自己的津贴费买了一张去吉林的火车票塞到大嫂手里，大嫂眼含热泪地问：“小兄弟，你叫什么名字？住哪的？是哪个<span class=\"highlightText\">单位</span>的？”\r\n\r\n雷锋回答道：“我叫<span class=\"highlightText\">解放军</span>，家就住在中国。”\r\n\r\n五月的一天，雷锋冒雨去<span class=\"highlightText\">沈阳</span>。他为了赶早车，早晨5点多就起来，带了几个干馒头就披上雨衣上路了。路上，雷锋看见一位妇女背着一个小孩，手还牵着一个小女孩，正艰难地向车站走去。雷锋<span class=\"highlightText\">想都没想</span>，脱下身上的雨衣就披在大嫂身上，又抱起小女孩陪她们一起来到车站。上车后，雷锋见小女孩冷得直发抖，就把自己的贴身衬衣脱下来给她穿上。雷锋估计她们早饭没吃，就把自己带的馒头给她们吃。火车到了沈阳，天还在下雨，雷锋便把她们送到家里。\r\n\r\n那位妇女感激地说：“<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，我可怎么感谢你呀！”\r\n\r\n雷锋说 ：“不要感谢我，应该感谢<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>和<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>啊！”\r\n\r\n他在日记中写下了这样一段话：“我的一切都是<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>给的，光荣应该归于<span class=\"highlightText\">党</span>，归于热情帮助我的<span class=\"highlightText\">同志</span>，至于我个人做的工作，那是太少了，我这么一点点贡献，比起对我的要求和期望还是非常不够的……” \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nBeginning in 1961, Lei Feng was often invited to go to other cities to make reports, and [since] he had many opportunities to travel on business, he also had many opportunities to serve the people.   \r\n\r\nPeople often said [of him]: \"When Lei Feng travels for business, [he rides there] on a train of good deeds.\" \r\n\r\nOne time, [while] Lei Feng was out and about, he was changing trains at Shenyang station, and when he was at the ticket booth, he saw a group of people standing around a middle-aged woman who was carrying a small child on her back. Turns out this woman was going from Liaoning to Jilin to see her husband, and accidentally lost her ticket and her wallet, so Lei Feng quickly used his own allowance to buy a ticket to Jilin and pressed it into the woman\'s [lit: \"elder sister\'s\"] hand. Her eyes brimming with tears the woman [lit: elder sister] said: \"Little Brother, What is your name? Where do you live? What is your work unit?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng answered: \"My name is Liberation Army, and China is my home.\" \r\n\r\nOne day in May, Lei Feng braved the rain to go to Shenyang. In order to catch the early train, he woke up at 5:00 A.M., took some dry steamed buns, put on his rain gear and set out upon the road. On the road, Lei Feng saw a woman carrying a small child on her back, and leading another little girl by the hand, and [she was] struggling towards the train station. Lei Feng didn\'t give it a second thought, he took off his own rain gear and draped it over the woman\'s body, picked up the little girl and accompanied them to the station. On the train, Lei Feng saw the little girl shivering from cold, so he took off the shirt on his back and gave it to her to wear. Lei Feng guessed that they hadn\'t eaten breakfast, so he took out the buns he had brought and gave them to the women. When the train reached Shenyang, it was still raining, and Lei Feng took the women to their home. \r\n\r\nThe women gratefully said: \"Comrade, how can I ever thank you?\" \r\n\r\nLei Feng said, \"You don\'t have to thank me, you should thank the Party and Chairman Mao!\"\r\n\r\nIn his diary, he wrote the following: \"Everything I have was given to me by the Party, and all glory should belong to the Party, should belong to those comrades who enthusiastically helped me. As for the work I\'ve done, it isn\'t very much, my tiny contributions don\'t measure up to what I need and hope [to give]....\"\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales:  The good deeds of Lei Feng', 'It\'s Communism Week at CRP! I\'m kicking off with some classic stories about the good deeds of Communist folk hero Lei Feng, the ultimate socialist Boy Scout. HSK 4-5.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2350-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:23:58', '2020-05-24 10:23:58', '', 2350, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2350-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(2401, 1, '2020-05-24 06:20:02', '2020-05-24 10:20:02', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments – positive, negative, or neutral – are not allowed, and will be deleted. Dinner table rules, please.\r\n\r\nZhu De (朱德 [pinyin]zhi1 de2[/pinyin]) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin]), also called the Red Army (红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin]). He was applauded as a people\'s general, and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin]) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担 [pinyin]bian3 dan[/pinyin]) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned many popular posters of him, like this one:\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole.jpeg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Practice Exercises: Communist Folk Stories Revolutionary Heroes\" width=\"425\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2387\" /> \r\n\r\nZhe De is a revolutionary from the early days of Chinese Communism. For those who don\'t know their CCP history: modern China was founded in 1949, but for the 20-odd years before that, the Red Army was fighting various wars for control of the country. Zhu De was instrumental in these wars, and after 1949, he became a key Party leader and politician. This story is set in the early days of the wars, in 1928. It\'s crazy to think that Zhu De, who was born in 1886 and died in 1976, lived to be 90 years old, but spent three or four decades of his life doing nothing but fighting battles. Considering how many people died in those wars, or were purged in political upheavals afterwards, this guy was a real survivor. \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nThis is an example of a story that will look much harder on first glance than it actually is. That\'s because some of the vocab is intermediate, but the sentence structure is beginner. The intermediate vocab is also used repetitively, so once you look up the tougher words, you\'ll immediately have an opportunity to see them again in the text. The first two sentences are much rougher than the rest, because they\'re almost entirely made up of intermediate words, so push through those and it\'ll be easier going from there. If you break the sentences down patiently, and you are at HSK 3 or up, I promise you can get through this. \r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here: \r\n朱德同志 [pinyin]zhu1 de2[/pinyin] - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin] - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 [pinyin]jing3 gang1 shan1[/pinyin] - Jinggang Mountain \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 [pinyin]dui4 wu[/pinyin] - troops \r\n敌人 [pinyin]di2 ren2[/pinyin] - enemy\r\n战士们 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4 men[/pinyin] - soldier \r\n打仗 [pinyin]da3 zhang4[/pinyin] to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnother word that come up quite a bit is 粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin] - Also just 粮 [pinyin]liang2[/pinyin]. This is a general term for \"grain\", could be wheat, rice, millet, oats, or whatever.\r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n<strong>争着去</strong> [pinyin]zheng1 zhe qu4[/pinyin] - 争 means \"to fight\" or \"to struggle\", 着 is a present-tense grammar word, and 去 means \"go\" or \"leave\". At first glance, 争着去 looks like it means \"fighting in order to leave someplace\", but it\'s not. In this case, it\'s describing a group of people pushing and shoving to be the first to volunteer to go somewhere. Imagine a group of soldiers asked to undertake a hard mission - one person says, \"I\'ll go!\" and someone else says, \"No, choose me, I\'ll go!\". This is 争着去. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>朱德的扁担</h4>\r\n1928年，<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>带领一支<span class=\"highlightText\">红军队伍</span>到<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>。山上是<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>，山下不远就是<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上出产粮食不多，常常要派一些人到山下的田园去挑粮。<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>离田园很远，山高路窄，非常难走。可是每次挑粮大家都<span class=\"highlightText\">争着去</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>也跟<span class=\"highlightText\">战士们</span>一起去挑粮。他穿着草鞋，挑起满满的一担粮食，跟大家一起爬山。白天挑粮，晚上还常常整夜整夜地学习怎样跟<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人打仗</span>。大家觉得他要做的工作太多，就把他那根扁担藏了起来。可是<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>又找到了一根扁担，写上“<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德</span>扁担，不要拿走”八个大字。大家见了，更敬爱<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>，不好意思再藏他的扁担了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nIn 1928, Comrade Zhu De lead a detachment of Red Army troops to Jinggang Mountain. The Red Army was on the mountain, but down the mountain not far away was the enemy. \r\n \r\nNot much grain was produced on Jinggang Mountain, so [they] often had to send a few people down to the fields below to tote back some grain. Jinggang Mountain was far from the fields, the mountain was high and the roads were narrow, it was very hard going. But each time grain had to be carried back, everyone fought to be the one to go.\r\n \r\nComrade Zhu De also went along with the soldiers to carry grain. He wore grass shoes, carrying a pole packed full of grain, and climbed the mountain with everybody else. During the day [he] carried grain, and during the evening he often spent the whole night studying how to make war on the enemy. Everyone felt he had too much work to do, so they took his carrying pole and hid it. But Comrade Zhu De found another carrying pole, and wrote 8 big words on it: \"Zhu Du\'s carrying pole, please don\'t take it\". Everyone saw this, and loved and respected Comrade Zhu De even more, and were too ashamed to hide his carrying pole again. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De\'s Carrying Pole', 'Zhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). This popular revolutionary story highlights his willingness to toil alongside the rank and file soldiers. HSK 3-4. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:20:02', '2020-05-24 10:20:02', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2400, 1, '2020-05-24 06:18:13', '2020-05-24 10:18:13', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments – positive, negative, or neutral – are not allowed, and will be deleted. Dinner table rules, please.\r\n\r\nZhu De (朱德 [pinyin]zhi1 de2[/pinyin]) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin]), also called the Red Army (红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin]). He was applauded as a people\'s general, and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin]) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担 [pinyin]bian3 dan[/pinyin]) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned many popular posters of him, like this one:\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole.jpeg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Practice Exercises: Communist Folk Stories Revolutionary Heroes\" width=\"425\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2387\" /> \r\n\r\nZhe De is a revolutionary from the early days of Chinese Communism. For those who don\'t know their CCP history: modern China was founded in 1949, but for the 20-odd years before that, the Red Army was fighting various wars for control of the country. Zhu De was instrumental in these wars, and after 1949, he became a key Party leader and politician. This story is set in the early days of the wars, in 1928. It\'s crazy to think that Zhu De, who was born in 1886 and died in 1976, lived to be 90 years old, but spent three or four decades of his life doing nothing but fighting battles. Considering how many people died in those wars, or were purged in political upheavals afterwards, this guy was a real survivor. \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nThis is an example of a story that will look much harder on first glance than it actually is. That\'s because some of the vocab is intermediate, but the sentence structure is beginner. The intermediate vocab is also used repetitively, so once you look up the tougher words, you\'ll immediately have an opportunity to see them again in the text. The first two sentences are much rougher than the rest, because they\'re almost entirely made up of intermediate words, so push through those and it\'ll be easier going from there. If you break the sentences down patiently, and you are at HSK 3 or up, I promise you can get through this. \r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here: \r\n朱德同志 [pinyin]zhu1 de2[/pinyin] - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin] - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 [pinyin]jing3 gang1 shan1[/pinyin] - Jinggang Mountain \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 [pinyin]dui4 wu[/pinyin] - troops \r\n敌人 [pinyin]di2 ren2[/pinyin] - enemy\r\n战士们 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4 men[/pinyin] - soldier \r\n打仗 [pinyin]da3 zhang4[/pinyin] to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnother word that come up quite a bit is 粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin] - Also just 粮 [pinyin]liang2[/pinyin]. This is a general term for \"grain\", could be wheat, rice, millet, oats, or whatever.\r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n<strong>争着去</strong> [pinyin]zheng1 zhe qu4[/pinyin] - 争 means \"to fight\" or \"to struggle\", 着 is a present-tense grammar word, and 去 means \"go\" or \"leave\". At first glance, 争着去 looks like it means \"fighting in order to leave someplace\", but it\'s not. In this case, it\'s describing a group of people pushing and shoving to be the first to volunteer to go somewhere. Imagine a group of soldiers asked to undertake a hard mission - one person says, \"I\'ll go!\" and someone else says, \"No, choose me, I\'ll go!\". This is 争着去. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>朱德的扁担</h4>\r\n1928年，<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>带领一支<span class=\"highlightText\">红军队伍</span>到<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>。山上是<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>，山下不远就是<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上出产粮食不多，常常要派一些人到山下的田园去挑粮。<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>离田园很远，山高路窄，非常难走。可是每次挑粮大家都<span class=\"highlightText\">争着去</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>也跟<span class=\"highlightText\">战士们</span>一起去挑粮。他穿着草鞋，挑起满满的一担粮食，跟大家一起爬山。白天挑粮，晚上还常常整夜整夜地学习怎样跟<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人打仗</span>。大家觉得他要做的工作太多，就把他那根扁担藏了起来。可是<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>又找到了一根扁担，写上“<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德</span>扁担，不要拿走”八个大字。大家见了，更敬爱<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>，不好意思再藏他的扁担了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nIn 1928, Comrade Zhu De lead a detachment of Red Army troops to Jinggang Mountain. The Red Army was on the mountain, but down the mountain not far away was the enemy. \r\n \r\nNot much grain was produced on Jinggang Mountain, so [they] often had to select a few people to go down to the fields below and tote back some grain. From Jinggang Mountain to the fields was 50 or 60 kilometers round-trip, the mountain was high and the roads were narrow, it was very hard going. But each time grain had to be carried back, everyone fought to be the one to go.\r\n \r\nComrade Zhu De also went along with the soldiers to carry grain. He wore grass shoes, carrying a pole packed full of grain, and climbed the mountain with everybody else. During the day [he] carried grain, and during the evening he often spent the whole night studying how to make war on the enemy. Everyone felt he had too much work to do, so they took his carrying pole and hid it. But Comrade Zhu De found another carrying pole, and wrote 8 big words on it: \"Zhu Du\'s carrying pole, please don\'t take it\". Everyone saw this, and loved and respected Comrade Zhu De even more, and were too ashamed to hide his carrying pole again. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De\'s Carrying Pole', 'Zhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). This popular revolutionary story highlights his willingness to toil alongside the rank and file soldiers. HSK 3-4. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:18:13', '2020-05-24 10:18:13', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2399, 1, '2020-05-24 06:16:44', '2020-05-24 10:16:44', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments – positive, negative, or neutral – are not allowed, and will be deleted. Dinner table rules, please.\r\n\r\nZhu De (朱德 [pinyin]zhi1 de2[/pinyin]) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin]), also called the Red Army (红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin]). He was applauded as a people\'s general, and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin]) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担 [pinyin]bian3 dan[/pinyin]) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned many popular posters of him, like this one:\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole.jpeg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Practice Exercises: Communist Folk Stories Revolutionary Heroes\" width=\"425\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2387\" /> \r\n\r\nZhe De is a revolutionary from the early days of Chinese Communism. For those who don\'t know their CCP history: modern China was founded in 1949, but for the 20-odd years before that, the Red Army was fighting various wars for control of the country. Zhu De was instrumental in these wars, and after 1949, he became a key Party leader and politician. This story is set in the early days of the wars, in 1928. It\'s crazy to think that Zhu De, who was born in 1886 and died in 1976, lived to be 90 years old, but spent three or four decades of his life doing nothing but fighting battles. Considering how many people died in those wars, or were purged in political upheavals afterwards, this guy was a real survivor. \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nThis is an example of a story that will look much harder on first glance than it actually is. That\'s because some of the vocab is intermediate, but the sentence structure is beginner. The intermediate vocab is also used repetitively, so once you look up the tougher words, you\'ll immediately have an opportunity to see them again in the text. The first two sentences are much rougher than the rest, because they\'re almost entirely made up of intermediate words, so push through those and it\'ll be easier going from there. If you break the sentences down patiently, and you are at HSK 3 or up, I promise you can get through this. \r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here: \r\n朱德同志 [pinyin]zhu1 de2[/pinyin] - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin] - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 [pinyin]jing3 gang1 shan1[/pinyin] - Jinggang Mountain \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 [pinyin]dui4 wu[/pinyin] - troops \r\n敌人 [pinyin]di2 ren2[/pinyin] - enemy\r\n战士们 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4 men[/pinyin] - soldier \r\n打仗 [pinyin]da3 zhang4[/pinyin] to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnother word that come up quite a bit is 粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin] - Also just 粮 [pinyin]liang2[/pinyin]. This is a general term for \"grain\", could be wheat, rice, millet, oats, or whatever.\r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n<strong>争着去</strong> [pinyin]zheng1 zhe qu4[/pinyin] - 争 means \"to fight\" or \"to struggle\", 着 is a present-tense grammar word, and 去 means \"go\" or \"leave\". At first glance, 争着去 looks like it means \"fighting in order to leave someplace\", but it\'s not. In this case, it\'s describing a group of people pushing and shoving to be the first to volunteer to go somewhere. Imagine a group of soldiers asked to undertake a hard mission - one person says, \"I\'ll go!\" and someone else says, \"No, choose me, I\'ll go!\". This is 争着去. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>朱德的扁担</h4>\r\n1928年，<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>带领一支<span class=\"highlightText\">红军队伍</span>到<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>。山上是<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>，山下不远就是<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上出产粮食不多，常常要抽出一些人到山下的田园去挑粮。<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>离田园很远，山高路窄，非常难走。可是每次挑粮大家都<span class=\"highlightText\">争着去</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>也跟<span class=\"highlightText\">战士们</span>一起去挑粮。他穿着草鞋，挑起满满的一担粮食，跟大家一起爬山。白天挑粮，晚上还常常整夜整夜地学习怎样跟<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人打仗</span>。大家觉得他要做的工作太多，就把他那根扁担藏了起来。可是<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>又找到了一根扁担，写上“<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德</span>扁担，不要拿走”八个大字。大家见了，更敬爱<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>，不好意思再藏他的扁担了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nIn 1928, Comrade Zhu De lead a detachment of Red Army troops to Jinggang Mountain. The Red Army was on the mountain, but down the mountain not far away was the enemy. \r\n \r\nNot much grain was produced on Jinggang Mountain, so [they] often had to select a few people to go down to the fields below and tote back some grain. From Jinggang Mountain to the fields was 50 or 60 kilometers round-trip, the mountain was high and the roads were narrow, it was very hard going. But each time grain had to be carried back, everyone fought to be the one to go.\r\n \r\nComrade Zhu De also went along with the soldiers to carry grain. He wore grass shoes, carrying a pole packed full of grain, and climbed the mountain with everybody else. During the day [he] carried grain, and during the evening he often spent the whole night studying how to make war on the enemy. Everyone felt he had too much work to do, so they took his carrying pole and hid it. But Comrade Zhu De found another carrying pole, and wrote 8 big words on it: \"Zhu Du\'s carrying pole, please don\'t take it\". Everyone saw this, and loved and respected Comrade Zhu De even more, and were too ashamed to hide his carrying pole again. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De\'s Carrying Pole', 'Zhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). This popular revolutionary story highlights his willingness to toil alongside the rank and file soldiers. HSK 3-4. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:16:44', '2020-05-24 10:16:44', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2397, 1, '2020-05-24 06:14:22', '2020-05-24 10:14:22', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments – positive, negative, or neutral – are not allowed, and will be deleted. Dinner table rules, please.\r\n\r\nZhu De (朱德 [pinyin]zhi1 de2[/pinyin]) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin]), also called the Red Army (红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin]). He was applauded as a people\'s general, and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin]) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担 [pinyin]bian3 dan[/pinyin]) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned many popular posters of him, like this one:\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole.jpeg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Practice Exercises: Communist Folk Stories Revolutionary Heroes\" width=\"425\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2387\" /> \r\n\r\nZhe De is a revolutionary from the early days of Chinese Communism. For those who don\'t know their CCP history: modern China was founded in 1949, but for the 20-odd years before that, the Red Army was fighting various wars for control of the country. Zhu De was instrumental in these wars, and after 1949, he became a key Party leader and politician. This story is set in the early days of the wars, in 1928. It\'s crazy to think that Zhu De, who was born in 1886 and died in 1976, lived to be 90 years old, but spent three or four decades of his life doing nothing but fighting battles. Considering how many people died in those wars, or were purged in political upheavals afterwards, this guy was a real survivor. \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nThis is an example of a story that will look much harder on first glance than it actually is. That\'s because some of the vocab is intermediate, but the sentence structure is beginner. The intermediate vocab is also used repetitively, so once you look up the tougher words, you\'ll immediately have an opportunity to see them again in the text. The first two sentences are much rougher than the rest, because they\'re almost entirely made up of intermediate words, so push through those and it\'ll be easier going from there. If you break the sentences down patiently, and you are at HSK 3 or up, I promise you can get through this. \r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here: \r\n朱德同志 [pinyin]zhu1 de2[/pinyin] - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin] - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 [pinyin]jing3 gang1 shan1[/pinyin] - Jinggang Mountain \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 [pinyin]dui4 wu[/pinyin] - troops \r\n敌人 [pinyin]di2 ren2[/pinyin] - enemy\r\n战士们 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4 men[/pinyin] - soldier \r\n打仗 [pinyin]da3 zhang4[/pinyin] to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnother word that come up quite a bit is 粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin] - Also just 粮 [pinyin]liang2[/pinyin]. This is a general term for \"grain\", could be wheat, rice, millet, oats, or whatever.\r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n争着去 [pinyin]zheng1 zhe qu4[/pinyin] - 争 means \"to fight\" or \"to struggle\", 着 is a present-tense grammar word, and 去 means \"go\" or \"leave\". At first glance, 争着去 looks like it means \"fighting in order to leave someplace\", but it\'s not. In this case, it\'s describing a group of people pushing and shoving to be the first to volunteer to go somewhere. Imagine a group of soldiers asked to undertake a hard mission - one person says, \"I\'ll go!\" and someone else says, \"No, choose me, I\'ll go!\". This is 争着去. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>朱德的扁担</h4>\r\n1928年，<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>带领一支<span class=\"highlightText\">红军队伍</span>到<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>。山上是<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>，山下不远就是<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上出产粮食不多，常常要抽出一些人到山下的田园去挑粮。<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>离田园很远，山高路窄，非常难走。可是每次挑粮大家都<span class=\"highlightText\">争着去</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>也跟战士们一起去挑粮。他穿着草鞋，挑起满满的一担粮食，跟大家一起爬山。白天挑粮，晚上还常常整夜整夜地学习怎样跟敌人打仗。大家觉得他要做的工作太多，就把他那根扁担藏了起来。可是<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>又找到了一根扁担，写上“<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德</span>扁担，不要拿走”八个大字。大家见了，更敬爱<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>，不好意思再藏他的扁担了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nIn 1928, Comrade Zhu De lead a detachment of Red Army troops to Jinggang Mountain. The Red Army was on the mountain, but down the mountain not far away was the enemy. \r\n \r\nNot much grain was produced on Jinggang Mountain, so [they] often had to select a few people to go down to the fields below and tote back some grain. From Jinggang Mountain to the fields was 50 or 60 kilometers round-trip, the mountain was high and the roads were narrow, it was very hard going. But each time grain had to be carried back, everyone fought to be the one to go.\r\n \r\nComrade Zhu De also went along with the soldiers to carry grain. He wore grass shoes, carrying a pole packed full of grain, and climbed the mountain with everybody else. During the day [he] carried grain, and during the evening he often spent the whole night studying how to make war on the enemy. Everyone felt he had too much work to do, so they took his carrying pole and hid it. But Comrade Zhu De found another carrying pole, and wrote 8 big words on it: \"Zhu Du\'s carrying pole, please don\'t take it\". Everyone saw this, and loved and respected Comrade Zhu De even more, and were too ashamed to hide his carrying pole again. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De\'s Carrying Pole', 'Zhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). This popular revolutionary story highlights his willingness to toil alongside the rank and file soldiers. HSK 3-4. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:14:22', '2020-05-24 10:14:22', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2398, 1, '2020-05-24 06:15:47', '2020-05-24 10:15:47', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments – positive, negative, or neutral – are not allowed, and will be deleted. Dinner table rules, please.\r\n\r\nZhu De (朱德 [pinyin]zhi1 de2[/pinyin]) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军 [pinyin]jie3 fang4 jun1[/pinyin]), also called the Red Army (红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin]). He was applauded as a people\'s general, and this popular revolutionary story - in which Zhu De helps his regiment carry grain (粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin]) up a mountain on a carrying pole (扁担 [pinyin]bian3 dan[/pinyin]) - shows his willingness to toil alongside the common soldiers. The story spawned many popular posters of him, like this one:\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/chinese-reading-practice-communist-language-learning-zhude-carrying-pole.jpeg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Practice Exercises: Communist Folk Stories Revolutionary Heroes\" width=\"425\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2387\" /> \r\n\r\nZhe De is a revolutionary from the early days of Chinese Communism. For those who don\'t know their CCP history: modern China was founded in 1949, but for the 20-odd years before that, the Red Army was fighting various wars for control of the country. Zhu De was instrumental in these wars, and after 1949, he became a key Party leader and politician. This story is set in the early days of the wars, in 1928. It\'s crazy to think that Zhu De, who was born in 1886 and died in 1976, lived to be 90 years old, but spent three or four decades of his life doing nothing but fighting battles. Considering how many people died in those wars, or were purged in political upheavals afterwards, this guy was a real survivor. \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nThis is an example of a story that will look much harder on first glance than it actually is. That\'s because some of the vocab is intermediate, but the sentence structure is beginner. The intermediate vocab is also used repetitively, so once you look up the tougher words, you\'ll immediately have an opportunity to see them again in the text. The first two sentences are much rougher than the rest, because they\'re almost entirely made up of intermediate words, so push through those and it\'ll be easier going from there. If you break the sentences down patiently, and you are at HSK 3 or up, I promise you can get through this. \r\n\r\nWe have a few proper names here: \r\n朱德同志 [pinyin]zhu1 de2[/pinyin] - Comrade Zhu De \r\n红军 [pinyin]hong2 jun1[/pinyin] - the Red Army\r\n井冈山 [pinyin]jing3 gang1 shan1[/pinyin] - Jinggang Mountain \r\n\r\nWe also have some military words: \r\n队伍 [pinyin]dui4 wu[/pinyin] - troops \r\n敌人 [pinyin]di2 ren2[/pinyin] - enemy\r\n战士们 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4 men[/pinyin] - soldier \r\n打仗 [pinyin]da3 zhang4[/pinyin] to fight a war\r\n\r\nAnother word that come up quite a bit is 粮食 [pinyin]liang2 shi[/pinyin] - Also just 粮 [pinyin]liang2[/pinyin]. This is a general term for \"grain\", could be wheat, rice, millet, oats, or whatever.\r\n\r\nAnd one phrase that might be a little hard to understand:\r\n\r\n争着去 [pinyin]zheng1 zhe qu4[/pinyin] - 争 means \"to fight\" or \"to struggle\", 着 is a present-tense grammar word, and 去 means \"go\" or \"leave\". At first glance, 争着去 looks like it means \"fighting in order to leave someplace\", but it\'s not. In this case, it\'s describing a group of people pushing and shoving to be the first to volunteer to go somewhere. Imagine a group of soldiers asked to undertake a hard mission - one person says, \"I\'ll go!\" and someone else says, \"No, choose me, I\'ll go!\". This is 争着去. \r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>朱德的扁担</h4>\r\n1928年，<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>带领一支<span class=\"highlightText\">红军队伍</span>到<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>。山上是<span class=\"highlightText\">红军</span>，山下不远就是<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>上出产粮食不多，常常要抽出一些人到山下的田园去挑粮。<span class=\"highlightText\">井冈山</span>离田园很远，山高路窄，非常难走。可是每次挑粮大家都<span class=\"highlightText\">争着去</span>。\r\n \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>也跟<span class=\"highlightText\">战士们</span>一起去挑粮。他穿着草鞋，挑起满满的一担粮食，跟大家一起爬山。白天挑粮，晚上还常常整夜整夜地学习怎样跟<span class=\"highlightText\">敌人打仗</span>。大家觉得他要做的工作太多，就把他那根扁担藏了起来。可是<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>又找到了一根扁担，写上“<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德</span>扁担，不要拿走”八个大字。大家见了，更敬爱<span class=\"highlightText\">朱德同志</span>，不好意思再藏他的扁担了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nIn 1928, Comrade Zhu De lead a detachment of Red Army troops to Jinggang Mountain. The Red Army was on the mountain, but down the mountain not far away was the enemy. \r\n \r\nNot much grain was produced on Jinggang Mountain, so [they] often had to select a few people to go down to the fields below and tote back some grain. From Jinggang Mountain to the fields was 50 or 60 kilometers round-trip, the mountain was high and the roads were narrow, it was very hard going. But each time grain had to be carried back, everyone fought to be the one to go.\r\n \r\nComrade Zhu De also went along with the soldiers to carry grain. He wore grass shoes, carrying a pole packed full of grain, and climbed the mountain with everybody else. During the day [he] carried grain, and during the evening he often spent the whole night studying how to make war on the enemy. Everyone felt he had too much work to do, so they took his carrying pole and hid it. But Comrade Zhu De found another carrying pole, and wrote 8 big words on it: \"Zhu Du\'s carrying pole, please don\'t take it\". Everyone saw this, and loved and respected Comrade Zhu De even more, and were too ashamed to hide his carrying pole again. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist folk tales: 《朱德的扁担》- Zhu De\'s Carrying Pole', 'Zhu De (朱德) is an early Communist folk hero, and the founder of the People\'s Liberation Army (解放军), also called the Red Army (红军). This popular revolutionary story highlights his willingness to toil alongside the rank and file soldiers. HSK 3-4. ', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2366-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:15:47', '2020-05-24 10:15:47', '', 2366, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2366-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2396, 1, '2020-05-24 06:09:58', '2020-05-24 10:09:58', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\n<p style=\"padding:25px; margin-bottom: 20px; font-style: italic; background-color:#ffeaee;\">It\'s Communism Week at CRP. All this week, we\'re learning Chinese through the lens of historical and modern CCP propaganda, speeches, stories, essays and songs.</p> \r\n\r\n<strong>Quick reminder:</strong> To maintain a polite, language learning-focused environment, political comments - positive, negative, or neutral - are not allowed, and will be deleted.\r\n\r\nThis song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing. This rousing anthem worships the glory of Chairman Mao (毛主席). To be clear: this is not the official Chinese national anthem, but during the height of the Cultural Revolution it was kind of an unofficial national anthem, and most folks on mainland usually remember at least some of the lyrics. \r\n\r\nI often get requests from readers to add audio to my posts, and I can\'t do it because of time constraints, but since this was such a popular song, there are still lots of places you can listen to it. So, if you want to listen to the song with music and lyrics, <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwFt6YH2t74\">you can check it out here</a> (and if that link breaks in the future, just look up 东方红 on Youtube, there are lots of vids). \r\n\r\n<h4>Some language stuff</h4>\r\nI had an impossible time trying to find actual beginner-level reading on Communism. Even the children\'s stories are pretty hard. To read this smoothly without looking anything up, you\'d have to be an advanced reader. But this song is great for HSK 3-4 readers who are willing to put in a bit of effort, because it\'s a good overview of all the entry-level Communist vocab, the lyrics are very repetitive and bite-sized, and there are enough beginner-level words here to point you in the right direction, so with some study, you can get this. However, because there\'s a lot to parse here, I\'m going to do a lot of explaining.\r\n\r\nFirst, some critical Communist-themed vocab: \r\n \r\n<strong>毛泽东</strong> [pinyin]mao2 ze2 dong1[/pinyin] - Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China, who died in 1976\r\n\r\n<strong>毛主席</strong> [pinyin]mao2 zhu3 xi2[/pinyin] - Chairman Mao, Mao Zedong\'s official title\r\n\r\n<strong>大救星</strong> [pinyin]da4 jiu4 xing1[/pinyin] - You can probably figure out the general idea here by looking at each character individually. 大 is \"big\" or \"great\", 救 is \"to rescue\", and 星 is \"star\". All together, this means \"great savior\", one of the many worshipful terms used to describe Chairman Mao during the Cultural Revolution.\r\n\r\n<strong>共产党</strong> [pinyin]gong4 chan3 dang3[/pinyin] - The Communist Party (CCP)\r\n\r\n<strong>人民</strong> [pinyin]ren2 min2[/pinyin] - The People. This is used in almost every line of this song, so I won\'t highlight every instance. \r\n\r\n<strong>解放</strong> [pinyin]jie3 fang4[/pinyin] - Liberation\r\n\r\nThen, some grammatical points of order:\r\n\r\n<strong>了</strong> [pinyin]le / liao3[/pinyin] - If you listen to the audio, you\'ll notice that the singers pronounce 了 as <em>liao</em>, rather than <em>le</em>. This is just a colloquial pronunciation thing, the meaning of this grammar word has not changed.\r\n\r\n<strong>出了</strong> [pinyin]chu1 le / liao3[/pinyin] - Grammatically speaking, the most difficult part of these lyrics for me is translating 出了, because it\'s a little abstract. The full lyric is 中国出了个毛泽东, which I\'ll break down here:\r\n\r\n中国 - China\r\n出了 - ???\r\n个 - A / one\r\n毛泽东 - Mao Zedong\r\n\r\nWe know that 出 means \"to go out\", \"to issue forth\". It\'s present in the word 出生 [pinyin]chu1 sheng1[/pinyin], \"to be born\", and also present in the word 出现 [pinyin]chu1 xian4[/pinyin], \"to appear\". So, this lyric means something like \"Mao Zedong appeared in China\", or \"China gave birth to one Mao Zedong\". Neither of those translations feel exactly right, but you get the point.   \r\n\r\n<strong>为</strong> [pinyin]wei4[/pinyin] - Another tricky grammar point here is the use of 为. We see this being used in two ways, once just by itself, and once as 为了. These two uses have different definitions. When 为 is by itself before a noun, it means \"for (noun)\". As in \"for the people\". When it is 为了, before a verb, it means \"in order to (do something)\". \r\n\r\n<strong>得</strong> [pinyin]de2[/pinyin] - The definition of 得 being used here is \"to receive\". \r\n\r\n<strong>呼儿嗨哟</strong> [pinyin]hu1 er hei1 yo1[/pinyin] - Don\'t get tripped up on this, these aren\'t real words. These are just sounds that round out the song, as in the \"ooooh\" or \"la la la\", that you might hear in English songs. You might best translate this as \"Hurrah!\", a sound that expresses joy and victory.\r\n\r\nAlright, ready? Let\'s do this.\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"readingPassage\">\r\n[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h4>东方红</h4>\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">毛主席</span>爱人民 \r\n他是我们的带路人\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n领导我们向前进 \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">为了</span>建设新中国\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span> \r\n领导我们向前进\r\n\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>像太阳 \r\n照到那里,那里亮\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n哪里有了<span class=\"highlightText\">共产党</span>\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n那里人民<span class=\"highlightText\">得</span><span class=\"highlightText\">解放</span>\r\n\r\n东方红,太阳升 \r\n中国<span class=\"highlightText\">出了</span>个<span class=\"highlightText\">毛泽东</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n他<span class=\"highlightText\">为</span>人民谋幸福\r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">呼儿嗨哟</span>\r\n他是人民<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span> \r\n<span class=\"highlightText\">大救星</span>\r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nThe East is Red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior \r\n\r\nChairman Mao loves the People\r\nHe is our guide\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\nIn order to build New China\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe leads us towards advancement\r\n\r\nThe Communist Party is like the sun\r\nWherever it shines, there is light\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\nWherever the Communist Party goes\r\nHurrah!\r\nThe People there receive liberation\r\n\r\nThe east is red, the sun is rising\r\nMao Zedong appeared in China\r\nHe is working for the People\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nHe is working for the people\'s prosperity\r\nHurrah!\r\nHe is the People\'s great savior\r\nGreat savior\r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]</div>', 'Communist songs: 《东方红》- The East is Red', 'This song is a relic of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The melody was adapted from an old farmer\'s folk song back in 1942, and became popular when Mao Zedong\'s (毛泽东) cult of personality was in full swing.', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2343-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-05-24 06:09:58', '2020-05-24 10:09:58', '', 2343, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/05/24/2343-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1176, 1, '2012-07-22 21:04:58', '2012-07-23 01:04:58', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nSeeing as how I just got back from a trip to the Wall myself, I figured I\'d stay on that theme. This traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城 [pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3 ku1 chang2 cheng2[/pinyin], is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story happens between 259 B.C. and 210 B.C., and describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女[pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3[/pinyin], and her love, 范喜良 [pinyin]fan4 xi3 liang2[/pinyin], who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 [pinyin]qin2 shi3 huang2[/pinyin] during the building of the Great Wall. The story describes how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒 [pinyin]xi3 jiu3[/pinyin], meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房 [pinyin]dong4 fang2[/pinyin], or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看 [pinyin]yan3 kan4[/pinyin], which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" [pinyin]bu4 rong2 fen1 shuo1[/pinyin] charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/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>孟姜女哭长城</h4>\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Fable: Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'meng-jiangnv-cries-the-great-wall-down', '', '', '2020-04-28 19:44:22', '2020-04-28 23:44:22', '', 0, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1176', 0, 'post', '', 21),
(1770, 1, '2020-04-20 05:11:10', '2020-04-20 09:11:10', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nSeeing as how I just got back from a trip to the Wall myself, I figured I\'d stay on that theme. This traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城 [pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3 ku1 chang2 cheng2[/pinyin], is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story happens between 259 B.C. and 210 B.C., and describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女[pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3[/pinyin], and her love, 范喜良 [pinyin]fan4 xi3 liang2[/pinyin], who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 [pinyin]qin2 shi3 huang2[/pinyin] during the building of the Great Wall. The story describes how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒 [pinyin]xi3 jiu3[/pinyin], meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房 [pinyin]dong4 fang2[/pinyin], or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看 [pinyin]yan3 kan4[/pinyin], which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" [pinyin]bu4 rong2 fen1 shuo1[/pinyin] charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/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>孟姜女哭长城</h4>\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:11:10', '2020-04-20 09:11:10', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1176-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1769, 1, '2020-04-20 05:10:17', '2020-04-20 09:10:17', '[su_row]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"yes\" class=\"\"]\r\nSeeing as how I just got back from a trip to the Wall myself, I figured I\'d stay on that theme. This traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城 [pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3 ku1 chang2 cheng2[/pinyin], is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story happens between 259 B.C. and 210 B.C., and describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女[pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3[/pinyin], and her love, 范喜良 [pinyin]fan4 xi3 liang2[/pinyin], who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 [pinyin]qin2 shi3 huang2[/pinyin] during the building of the Great Wall. The story describes how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒 [pinyin]xi3 jiu3[/pinyin], meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房 [pinyin]dong4 fang2[/pinyin], or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看 [pinyin]yan3 kan4[/pinyin], which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" [pinyin]bu4 rong2 fen1 shuo1[/pinyin] charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/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>孟姜女哭长城</h4>\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[su_column size=\"1/2\" center=\"no\" class=\"\"]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"Show English translation\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/su_column]\r\n[/su_row]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2020-04-20 05:10:17', '2020-04-20 09:10:17', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/20/1176-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1175, 1, '2011-01-31 07:18:36', '2011-01-31 12:18:36', '[two_third]\r\n\r\nThis short essay, taken from the Beijing Language and Culture University beginner comprehension textbook, is written from the perspective of a friend visiting Jiang Ping （江苹） before she leaves the country. <!--more--> The language is mostly school-centric as the writer discusses his classmates, Jiang Ping\'s scholarship, and her test results.\r\n\r\nThe crux of the last paragraph hinges on the fact that the Chinese word for \"Goodbye\" (再见) literally translates as \"See you again\", as the writer wonders when or if he\'ll ever really see Jiang Ping again.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Interesting Vocabulary</h4>\r\n同学 - [pinyin]tong2 xue2[/pinyin] - Classmates\r\n努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] - Great effort\r\n参加 - [pinyin]can1 jia1[/pinyin] - Participate\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - To get, earn\r\n满分 - [pinyin]man3 fen1[/pinyin] - Full marks, 100%\r\n奖学金 - [pinyin]jiang3 xue2 jin1[/pinyin] - Scholarship\r\n留学 - [pinyin]liu2 xue2[/pinyin] - Study abroad\r\n预祝 - [pinyin]yu4 zhu4[/pinyin] - Wish\r\n成功 - [pinyin]cheng2 gong1[/pinyin] - Success\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">今天我去江苹家了。 我和江苹是中学<strong>同学</strong>， 她是我的好朋友， 也是我们全班同学的朋友。 她学习非常<strong>努力</strong>， 是我们班学习最好的学生。 她会学习， 她会玩儿， 还常常帮助别人， 老师和同学都很喜欢她。 她这次<strong>参加</strong>了美国一个大学<strong>考试</strong>。 这个考试非常难，但是她考得很好，<strong>得</strong>了<strong>满分</strong>。 听说全世界只有三个学生得满分。 这个大学给江苹最高的<strong>奖学金</strong>。 我们都为她感到高兴。\r\n\r\n她下星期要去美国<strong>留学</strong>， 我们班的同学都去看他， 给他送行。\r\n\r\n江苹的家在城东边， 离我家比较远。 我下午四点多就从家里出发了， 五点半才到。 我到的时候， 同学们都已经到了。\r\n\r\n江苹很热情地欢迎我们。 同学们好久不见了， 见面以后高兴得又说又笑， 谈得很愉快。 我们<strong>预祝</strong>江苹<strong>成功</strong>。 祝她一路平安。 我说， 一定要常来信啊。 江苹说，一定。 跟她说 “再见”  的时候， 她哭了， 我也哭了。\r\n\r\n回家的路上， 我想， 我们常常说 “再见”， 但是， 有时候 “再见” 是很难的。 我和江苹什么时候能 “再见” 呢？\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nToday I\'m going to Jiang Ping\'s house. Jiang Ping and I are highschool classmates. She\'s my good friend, and she\'s also good friends with everyone in our class. She studies very hard, she\'s the best student in our class. She studies, she plays, and she also often helps others. The teacher and the other students like her. She recently participated in an examination for an American college. That test is very hard, but she did very well - she earned full marks. I heard that only three people in the whole world got full marks. This college gave Jiang Ping their highest scholarship. We\'re all very happy for her.\r\n\r\nNext week she\'s going to study abroad in America, and all our classmates are going to see her off.\r\n\r\nJiang Ping\'s house is on the east side of the city very far away from mine. I left my house a little after four o\'clock in the afternoon, and didn\'t get there until 5:30. When I arrived, the rest of our classmates were already there.\r\n\r\nJiang Ping warmly welcomed us. She hadn\'t seen her classmates in a while, and after she greeted us, we talked and smiled, chatting happily. We wished Jiang Ping success. Wished her a pleasant trip. I said, Be sure to write often. Jiang Ping said, Of course. When she said \"Goodbye\", she cried, and I also cried.\r\n\r\nOn my way home, I thought, We often say \"Goodbye\" [lit: see you again], but sometimes \"Goodbye\" is sad. When will Jiang Ping and I be able to see each other again?\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Jiang Ping Going to Study Abroad', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '67-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-01-31 07:18:36', '2011-01-31 12:18:36', '', 67, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/01/31/67-revision-19/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1177, 1, '2012-07-22 11:45:31', '2012-07-22 15:45:31', '[two_third]\nThis traditional story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be. If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty in the power of our heroine\'s tears, but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\nI happen to like sad stories, and I think the pace and level of this one is very nice, so I\'m translating another longer passage. \n\nI learned a few new words here, one of which is worth a giggle or two: 洞房. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\n深绿 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\n秋天 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\n金黄 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\n冬天 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\n后悔 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\n可不要 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\n忽然 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n掉下来 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人连连摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来逃难的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处抓人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他知书达理，眉清目秀，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿心心相印，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n    成亲那天，孟家张灯结彩，宾客满堂，一派喜气洋洋的情景。眼看天快黑了，喝喜酒的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入洞房，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n    一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n        猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Pretty Meng rescued Fan XiLang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked the pretty Meng. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with many-colored lanterns, was jam-packed with guests, it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road.  好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n    一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n        猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng Jiang Nv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 11:45:31', '2012-07-22 15:45:31', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1178, 1, '2012-07-22 11:56:39', '2012-07-22 15:56:39', '[two_third]\nThis traditional story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be. If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty in the power of our heroine\'s tears, but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\nI happen to like sad stories, and I think the pace and level of this one is very nice, so I\'m translating another longer passage. \n\nI learned a few new words here, one of which is worth a giggle or two: 洞房 - meaning \"the marriage chamber\" - or literally \"Cave room\". \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\n深绿 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\n秋天 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\n金黄 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\n冬天 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\n后悔 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\n可不要 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\n忽然 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n掉下来 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人连连摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来逃难的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处抓人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他知书达理，眉清目秀，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿心心相印，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n    成亲那天，孟家张灯结彩，宾客满堂，一派喜气洋洋的情景。眼看天快黑了，喝喜酒的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入洞房，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n    一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n        猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Pretty Meng rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked the pretty Meng. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with many-colored lanterns, was jam-packed with guests, it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Pretty Meng heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s already dead, his corp 最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n        猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng Jiang Nv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 11:56:39', '2012-07-22 15:56:39', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1179, 1, '2012-07-22 12:08:17', '2012-07-22 16:08:17', '[two_third]\nThis traditional story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad. If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here, but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\nI happen to like sad stories, and I think the pace and reading level of this one is very nice, so I\'m it, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \n\nI learned a few new words here, one of which is worth a giggle or two: 洞房 - meaning \"the marriage chamber\" - or literally \"Cave room\" / \"Hole Room\". Weather that\'s because the bride and groom go in and don\'t want to come out of their, you know, cave for a while, or if that\'s more in reference to the <em>other</em> meaning of 洞 is beyond me, but I won\'t forget that in a hurry. (Thank goodness, because I say \'marriage chamber\' so often).\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\n深绿 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\n秋天 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\n金黄 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\n冬天 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\n后悔 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\n可不要 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\n忽然 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n掉下来 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人连连摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来逃难的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处抓人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他知书达理，眉清目秀，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿心心相印，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n    成亲那天，孟家张灯结彩，宾客满堂，一派喜气洋洋的情景。眼看天快黑了，喝喜酒的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入洞房，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n    一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n        猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Pretty Meng rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked the pretty Meng. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with many-colored lanterns, was jam-packed with guests, it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Pretty Meng heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \n\nWhen Meng heard this grevious news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been 天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng Jiang Nv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 12:08:17', '2012-07-22 16:08:17', '', 1176, 'http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
