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(2621, 1, '2017-01-12 18:28:01', '2017-01-12 23:28:01', 'In this legend, famous Jin Dynasty calligrapher 王羲之 [pinyin]Wang2 Xi1 zhi1[/pinyin] avoids death by throwing up on himself. Nice work, Mr. Wang. \n\nWhile I have no idea if this story is true - probably not - the real Wang Xizhi was quite a guy. You know what else he was into, besides calligraphy? Are you ready for this? Ducks. <a href=\"http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/calligraphy-wang-xizhi.php\" target=\"_blank\">He was really into ducks.</a> And fathering children, I guess, because he had seven. \n\n<h3>Sleeptalking - 呓呓</h3>\nWe\'re all acquainted with the common Chinese onomatopoeia by now, yes? 喵喵 [pinyin]miao1 miao1[/pinyin] is the sound a cat makes, etc? Here\'s a less familiar one: the Chinese onomatopoeia for talking in your sleep is \"呓呓\" [pinyin]yi4 yi4[/pinyin]. So, that\'s a thing. \n\n<h3>Adventures in Murder - 灭口</h3>\nLot of meaning packed into this one tiny word, 灭口 [pinyin]mie4 kou3[/pinyin]. Makes sense, though: 灭 means \"to snuff out\", 口 is that big hole in your face, the one you keep opening right when you shouldn\'t. Together, these character describe committing murder in order to protect a secret. \"To snuff out the mouth\", indeed. \n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\n1) 东晋时期著名书法家王羲之，七岁就开始练字，尚未成年，已经落笔不俗，被人誉为“小神笔”。  \n\n2) 当时，朝廷中有位名叫王敦的大将军，常常把王羲之带到军帐中表演书法，天色晚了，还让他在自己的床铺上睡觉。  \n\n3) 有一次，王敦起床了，王羲之还没有醒。一会儿，王敦的心腹谋士钱凤进来了，两人悄悄地商量事情，谈的是想造反的事，却忘记了王羲之还睡在帐中。王羲之醒来，听见了他们的谈话内容，非常吃惊，心想：“如果他们记起了自己睡在这里，一定会怀疑机密泄露，说不定要杀人<strong>灭口</strong>呢！怎么办？” 恰好昨天喝了点酒，于是，他就假装酩酊大醉，把床上吐得遍处都是，接着，又蒙头盖脸，发出轻轻的鼾声，好像睡熟了似的。  \n\n4) 王敦和钱凤密谈了多时，忽然想起了王羲之，不由得心惊肉跳，脸色骤变。钱凤咬着牙根，恶狠狠地说：“这小子，不能不除掉。不然，我们都要遭灭门之祸了。” 两人手握尖刀，掀开帐子，正要下手，忽听王羲之“呓呓”地说起梦话来，再一看，崭新的被褥吐满了饭菜，散发出一股呛鼻的酒味。王敦和钱凤相视片刻，都以为王羲之酒后熟睡未醒，也就算了。\n\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/mingrenqushi/2008-09-05/7960.html\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n1) During the Eastern Jin Dynasty there was a famous calligrapher named Wang Xizhi, who by the age of seven had already begun to practice writing, and when he was still not fully grown, he was already producing original work, and was acclaimed as \"Little God of the Pen\". \n\n2) At that time, there was a great general in the imperial court named Wang Dun, who often brought Wang Xizhi back to his army tent to perform calligraphy, and when it grew dark, would let him lay down to sleep in his [the general\'s] bed. \n\n2One time, when Wang Dun awoke, Wang Zhixi had not yet arisen. Soon, Wang Dun\'s trusted advisor Qian Feng entered, and the two of them quietly discussed their affairs, they talked about starting a revolt, but they forgot that Wang Xizhi was still sleeping in the tent. Wang Zhixi woke up, heard what they were talking about, and was extremely startled, thinking inwardly: \"If they remember that I\'m sleeping in here, they\'ll surely wonder if their secret is out, they might kill me to keep me silent! What do I do?\" It just so happened that the day before they\'d had a bit to drink, so, he pretended to be drop-dead drunk, threw up all over the bed, and covered his face, then let out light snores, as if he was thoroughly asleep. \n\nWang Dun and Qian Feng spoke secretly for some time, then suddenly remembered Wang Xizhi, and could not but be extremely alarmed, their faces changing suddenly. Qian Feng gritted his teeth, and said fiercely, \"This guy must be gotten rid of. Otherwise, both of our families will be exterminated.\" Both men gripped sharp blades, lifted up the tent flap, and were just about to act, when they suddenly heard Wang Xizhi talking in his sleep, and looking closely, saw that the brand new bedding was covered in thrown-up food, and the pungent smell of alcohol emanated from within. Wang Dun and Qian Feng traded glances, both thinking that Wang Xizhi had slept soundly after drinking and hadn\'t woken, so they let the matter go.    \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\n', '[Famous People] 王羲之 - Calligrapher Wang Xizhi Pretends to be Drunk', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2443-autosave-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 18:28:01', '2017-01-12 23:28:01', '', 2443, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2443-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2622, 1, '2017-01-12 18:28:19', '2017-01-12 23:28:19', 'In this legend, famous Jin Dynasty calligrapher 王羲之 [pinyin]Wang2 Xi1 zhi1[/pinyin] avoids death by throwing up on himself. Nice work, Mr. Wang. \r\n\r\nWhile I have no idea if this story is true - probably not - the real Wang Xizhi was quite a guy. You know what else he was into, besides calligraphy? Are you ready for this? Ducks. <a href=\"http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/calligraphy-wang-xizhi.php\" target=\"_blank\">He was really into ducks.</a> And fathering children, I guess, because he had seven. \r\n\r\n<h3>Sleeptalking - 呓呓</h3>\r\nWe\'re all acquainted with the common Chinese onomatopoeia by now, yes? 喵喵 [pinyin]miao1 miao1[/pinyin] is the sound a cat makes, etc? Here\'s a less familiar one: the Chinese onomatopoeia for talking in your sleep is \"呓呓\" [pinyin]yi4 yi4[/pinyin]. So, that\'s a thing. \r\n\r\n<h3>Adventures in Murder - 灭口</h3>\r\nLot of meaning packed into this one tiny word, 灭口 [pinyin]mie4 kou3[/pinyin]. Makes sense, though: 灭 means \"to snuff out\", 口 is that big hole in your face, the one you keep opening right when you shouldn\'t. Together, these character describe committing murder in order to protect a secret. \"To snuff out the mouth\", indeed. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 东晋时期著名书法家王羲之，七岁就开始练字，尚未成年，已经落笔不俗，被人誉为“小神笔”。  \r\n\r\n2) 当时，朝廷中有位名叫王敦的大将军，常常把王羲之带到军帐中表演书法，天色晚了，还让他在自己的床铺上睡觉。  \r\n\r\n3) 有一次，王敦起床了，王羲之还没有醒。一会儿，王敦的心腹谋士钱凤进来了，两人悄悄地商量事情，谈的是想造反的事，却忘记了王羲之还睡在帐中。王羲之醒来，听见了他们的谈话内容，非常吃惊，心想：“如果他们记起了自己睡在这里，一定会怀疑机密泄露，说不定要杀人<strong>灭口</strong>呢！怎么办？” 恰好昨天喝了点酒，于是，他就假装酩酊大醉，把床上吐得遍处都是，接着，又蒙头盖脸，发出轻轻的鼾声，好像睡熟了似的。  \r\n\r\n4) 王敦和钱凤密谈了多时，忽然想起了王羲之，不由得心惊肉跳，脸色骤变。钱凤咬着牙根，恶狠狠地说：“这小子，不能不除掉。不然，我们都要遭灭门之祸了。” 两人手握尖刀，掀开帐子，正要下手，忽听王羲之“呓呓”地说起梦话来，再一看，崭新的被褥吐满了饭菜，散发出一股呛鼻的酒味。王敦和钱凤相视片刻，都以为王羲之酒后熟睡未醒，也就算了。\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/mingrenqushi/2008-09-05/7960.html\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) During the Eastern Jin Dynasty there was a famous calligrapher named Wang Xizhi, who by the age of seven had already begun to practice writing, and when he was still not fully grown, he was already producing original work, and was acclaimed as \"Little God of the Pen\". \r\n\r\n2) At that time, there was a great general in the imperial court named Wang Dun, who often brought Wang Xizhi back to his army tent to perform calligraphy, and when it grew dark, would let him lay down to sleep in his [the general\'s] bed. \r\n\r\n3) One time, when Wang Dun awoke, Wang Zhixi had not yet arisen. Soon, Wang Dun\'s trusted advisor Qian Feng entered, and the two of them quietly discussed their affairs, they talked about starting a revolt, but they forgot that Wang Xizhi was still sleeping in the tent. Wang Zhixi woke up, heard what they were talking about, and was extremely startled, thinking inwardly: \"If they remember that I\'m sleeping in here, they\'ll surely wonder if their secret is out, they might kill me to keep me silent! What do I do?\" It just so happened that the day before they\'d had a bit to drink, so, he pretended to be drop-dead drunk, threw up all over the bed, and covered his face, then let out light snores, as if he was thoroughly asleep. \r\n\r\n4) Wang Dun and Qian Feng spoke secretly for some time, then suddenly remembered Wang Xizhi, and could not but be extremely alarmed, their faces changing suddenly. Qian Feng gritted his teeth, and said fiercely, \"This guy must be gotten rid of. Otherwise, both of our families will be exterminated.\" Both men gripped sharp blades, lifted up the tent flap, and were just about to act, when they suddenly heard Wang Xizhi talking in his sleep, and looking closely, saw that the brand new bedding was covered in thrown-up food, and the pungent smell of alcohol emanated from within. Wang Dun and Qian Feng traded glances, both thinking that Wang Xizhi had slept soundly after drinking and hadn\'t woken, so they let the matter go.    \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n', '[Famous People] 王羲之 - Calligrapher Wang Xizhi Pretends to be Drunk', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2443-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 18:28:19', '2017-01-12 23:28:19', '', 2443, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2443-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2623, 1, '2017-01-13 03:11:54', '2017-01-13 08:11:54', 'Ever gotten so distracted by trivialities that you\'ve missed the core issue? Haven\'t we all. 买椟还珠 [pinyin]mai3 du2 huan2 zhu1[/pinyin] means \"to trade the pearl for the box it came in\", and means \r\n\r\n<h3>Usage Examples</h3>\r\n\r\n<ol>\r\n<li>学习上我们要有主次之分，千万不能买椟还珠。 - In our studies we must distinguish between primary and secondary, we certainly mustn\'t trade the pearl for the box it came in.</li>\r\n</ol>\r\n谢谢\r\n\r\n<h3>Pay attention to...</h3>\r\n<strong>动脑筋 [pinyin]ding4 nao3 jin1[/pinyin] - Use your brains</strong>\r\nYes, do. \r\n\r\n<strong>身份 - [pinyin]shen4 fen4[/pinyin]</strong>\r\n身份 translates directly as \"identity\", in both the abstract and practical senses. In modern Chinese, \"身份证\" is your \"ID Card\", for example. But in this case, the English word \"identity\" doesn\'t translate well. \r\n\r\n<h3>His (Dark?) Materials</h3>\r\nA couple of the words in this text don\'t appear in the dictionary, or if they do, the definitions don\'t make a ton of sense. 木兰 [pinyin]mu4 lan2[/pinyin], for one example. 桂椒香料 [pinyin]gui4 jiao1 xiang1 liao4[/pinyin] for another. \r\n\r\nThe most basic definition of 木兰 is a flower - magnolia, if we\'re splitting hairs. This is also the given name of 花木兰, the Chinese warrior princess of Disney movie fame (originally a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Mulan\" target=\"_blank\">poem</a> from the Northern Dynasties). \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n1) 一个楚国人，他有一颗漂亮的珍珠，他打算把这颗珍珠卖出去。为了卖个好价钱，他便<strong>动脑筋</strong>要将珍珠好好包装一下，他觉得有了高贵的包装，那么珍珠的“<strong>身份</strong>”就自然会高起来。\r\n\r\n2) 这个楚国人找来名贵的<strong>木兰</strong>，又请来手艺高超的匠人，为珍珠做了一个盒子（即椟），用<strong>桂椒香料</strong>把盒子熏得香气扑鼻。然后，在盒子的外面精雕细刻了许多好看的花纹，还镶上漂亮的金属花边，看上去，闪闪发亮，实在是一件精致美观的工艺品。 \r\n\r\n3) 这样，楚人将珍珠小心翼翼地放进盒子里，拿到市场上去卖。\r\n\r\n4) 到市场上不久，很多人都围上来欣赏楚人的盒子。一个郑国人将盒子拿在手里看了半天，爱不释手，终于出高价将楚人的盒子买了下来。郑人交过钱后，便拿着盒子往回走。可是没走几步他又回来了。楚人以为郑人后悔了要退货，没等楚人想完，郑人已走到楚人跟前。只见郑人将打开的盒子里的珍珠取出来交给楚人说：“先生，您将一颗珍珠忘放在盒子里了，我特意回来还珠子的。”于是郑人将珍珠交给了楚人，然后低着头一边欣赏着木盒子，一边往回走去。\r\n\r\n5) 楚人拿着被退回的珍珠，十分尴尬地站在那里。他原本以为别人会欣赏他的珍珠，可是没想到精美的外包装超过了包装盒内的价值，以致于“喧宾夺主”，令楚人哭笑不得。\r\n\r\n6) 郑人只重外表而不顾实质，使他做出了舍本求末的不当取舍；而楚人的“过分包装”也有些可笑。\r\n\r\nSee the <a href=\"http://cy.5156edu.com/showzip.php?id=18359\" target=\"_blank\">source</a>.\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\n1) There was a man from the State of Chu, who had a beautiful pearl, which he decided to sell. In order to sell it for a good price, he went all-out packaging it up well, so that the pearl\'s value seemed naturally increased.\r\n\r\n2) This man of Chu called for rare magnolia wood and invited highly skilled craftsmen in order to make a box for the pearl, scenting the box with the finest spices to tickle the nose. Then, on the outside of the box he engraved many lovely patterns inlayed in metal so that it sparkled before one\'s eyes, truly an exquisitely-wraught work of art.\r\n\r\n3) Just so, the man from Chu carefully placed the pearl inside the box, and went off to market to conduct the sale. \r\n\r\n4) Not long after he reached the market, many people gathered around to admire the Man from Chu\'s box. One man from the State of Zheng held it in his hand and examined it for what seemed like half the day, unable to put it down, and finally bought it for a steep price. After the man from Zheng had paid, he walked away carrying it. But he hadn\'t gone but a few steps before he headed back [towards the man from Chu] again. The man from Chu thought the man from Zheng regretted his purchase and wished to return it, but before he\'d had time to think it through, the man from Zheng was already standing before him. The man from Zheng opened the box, took out the pearl and held it out to him, saying, \"Sir, you forgot a jewel inside this box, I came with the particular purpose of returning it.\" And so the man from Zheng gave the pearl back to the man from Chu, then strolled away, head down, admiring the wooden box. \r\n\r\n5) The man from Chu took the returned pearl, and stood there looking rather embarrassed. He\'d thought other would admire his pearl, but he never thought the fine packaging might exceed the value of what was inside, to the extent that \"the voice of the guest was louder than the voice of the host\", and he wasn\'t sure whether to laugh or cry.  \r\n\r\n6) The man from Zheng looked at the outer appearance and didn\'t see the true value, causing him to make a choice that placed importance on inessential details rather than on the central issue, and the man from Chu\'s excessive packaging was also a bit ridiculous. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 买椟还珠 - To show poor judgement', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1785-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-13 03:11:54', '2017-01-13 08:11:54', '', 1785, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/1785-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2619, 1, '2017-01-12 18:25:15', '2017-01-12 23:25:15', 'In this legend, famous Jin Dynasty calligrapher 王羲之 [pinyin]Wang2 Xi1 zhi1[/pinyin] avoids death by throwing up on himself. Nice work, Mr. Wang. \r\n\r\nWhile I have no idea if this story is true - probably not - the real Wang Xizhi was quite a guy. You know what else he was into, besides calligraphy? Are you ready for this? Ducks. <a href=\"http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/calligraphy-wang-xizhi.php\" target=\"_blank\">He was really into ducks.</a> And fathering children, I guess, because he had seven. \r\n\r\n<h3>Sleeptalking - 呓呓</h3>\r\nWe\'re all acquainted with the common Chinese onomatopoeia by now, yes? 喵喵 [pinyin]miao1 miao1[/pinyin] is the sound a cat makes, etc? Here\'s a less familiar one: the Chinese onomatopoeia for talking in your sleep is \"呓呓\" [pinyin]yi4 yi4[/pinyin]. So, that\'s a thing. \r\n\r\n<h3>Adventures in Murder - 灭口</h3>\r\nLot of meaning packed into this one tiny word, 灭口 [pinyin]mie4 kou3[/pinyin]. Makes sense, though: 灭 means \"to snuff out\", 口 is that big hole in your face, the one you keep opening right when you shouldn\'t. Together, these character describe committing murder in order to protect a secret. \"To snuff out the mouth\", indeed. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n东晋时期著名书法家王羲之，七岁就开始练字，尚未成年，已经落笔不俗，被人誉为“小神笔”。  \r\n\r\n当时，朝廷中有位名叫王敦的大将军，常常把王羲之带到军帐中表演书法，天色晚了，还让他在自己的床铺上睡觉。  \r\n\r\n有一次，王敦起床了，王羲之还没有醒。一会儿，王敦的心腹谋士钱凤进来了，两人悄悄地商量事情，谈的是想造反的事，却忘记了王羲之还睡在帐中。王羲之醒来，听见了他们的谈话内容，非常吃惊，心想：“如果他们记起了自己睡在这里，一定会怀疑机密泄露，说不定要杀人<strong>灭口</strong>呢！怎么办？” 恰好昨天喝了点酒，于是，他就假装酩酊大醉，把床上吐得遍处都是，接着，又蒙头盖脸，发出轻轻的鼾声，好像睡熟了似的。  \r\n\r\n王敦和钱凤密谈了多时，忽然想起了王羲之，不由得心惊肉跳，脸色骤变。钱凤咬着牙根，恶狠狠地说：“这小子，不能不除掉。不然，我们都要遭灭门之祸了。” 两人手握尖刀，掀开帐子，正要下手，忽听王羲之“呓呓”地说起梦话来，再一看，崭新的被褥吐满了饭菜，散发出一股呛鼻的酒味。王敦和钱凤相视片刻，都以为王羲之酒后熟睡未醒，也就算了。\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/mingrenqushi/2008-09-05/7960.html\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Eastern Jin Dynasty there was a famous calligrapher named Wang Xizhi, who by the age of seven had already begun to practice writing, and when he was still not fully grown, he was already producing original work, and was acclaimed as \"Little God of the Pen\". \r\n\r\nAt that time, there was a great general in the imperial court named Wang Dun, who often brought Wang Xizhi back to his army tent to perform calligraphy, and when it grew dark, would let him lay down to sleep in his [the general\'s] bed. \r\n\r\nOne time, when Wang Dun awoke, Wang Zhixi had not yet arisen. Soon, Wang Dun\'s trusted advisor Qian Feng entered, and the two of them quietly discussed their affairs, they talked about starting a revolt, but they forgot that Wang Xizhi was still sleeping in the tent. Wang Zhixi woke up, heard what they were talking about, and was extremely startled, thinking inwardly: \"If they remember that I\'m sleeping in here, they\'ll surely wonder if their secret is out, they might kill me to keep me silent! What do I do?\" It just so happened that the day before they\'d had a bit to drink, so, he pretended to be drop-dead drunk, threw up all over the bed, and covered his face, then let out light snores, as if he was thoroughly asleep. \r\n\r\nWang Dun and Qian Feng spoke secretly for some time, then suddenly remembered Wang Xizhi, and could not but be extremely alarmed, their faces changing suddenly. Qian Feng gritted his teeth, and said fiercely, \"This guy must be gotten rid of. Otherwise, both of our families will be exterminated.\" Both men gripped sharp blades, lifted up the tent flap, and were just about to act, when they suddenly heard Wang Xizhi talking in his sleep, and looking closely, saw that the brand new bedding was covered in thrown-up food, and the pungent smell of alcohol emanated from within. Wang Dun and Qian Feng traded glances, both thinking that Wang Xizhi had slept soundly after drinking and hadn\'t woken, so they let the matter go.    \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n', '[Famous People] 王羲之 - Calligrapher Wang Xizhi Pretends to be Drunk', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2443-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 18:25:15', '2017-01-12 23:25:15', '', 2443, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2443-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2637, 1, '2017-01-15 03:51:13', '2017-01-15 08:51:13', '', '201701-how-to-read-mandarin-sheep', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', '201701-how-to-read-mandarin-sheep', '', '', '2017-01-15 03:52:00', '2017-01-15 08:52:00', '', 2384, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/201701-how-to-read-mandarin-sheep.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2638, 1, '2017-01-15 03:52:40', '2017-01-15 08:52:40', 'I can\'t decide who\'s at fault in this passage. I mean, poor Mother Sheep. She clearly does not have a little Einstein on her hands. Then again, maybe she should give her child some clearer instructions before she gets all passive-aggressive on him. So your kid didn\'t come out of the womb knowing how to forage for radishes. Relax. Enjoy the teachable moment. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>Enough already - 才...呢</h3> \r\nAs Little Lamb tries to stuff inedible tuber after inedible tuber into his stupid mouth, Mother Sheep gets increasingly exasperated. How do we know this? Because of the sentence structure \"才...呢\". Compare the difference in Mother Sheep\'s tone. The first time Little Lamb screws up, she says:\r\n\r\n\"萝卜的根最好吃。\"\r\n\r\nThis is a straightforward, laid-back statement: \"The radish\'s roots taste the best.\" Mama Sheep isn\'t annoyed yet. But the next time Little Lamb messes up, we hear notes of aggravation:\r\n\r\n“白菜的叶子<strong>才</strong>好吃<strong>呢</strong>！”\r\n\r\nThe character 才 [pinyin]cai2[/pinyin] has a ton of usages in Chinese, but almost all of those usages have something to do with lateness, or something taking a long time, or something happening after a long interval. For example:\r\n\r\n你怎么两个小时<strong>才</strong>回来了?\r\nHow did it take you <strong>an entire</strong> two hours to get back here? \r\n\r\nIn today\'s reading, we might translate as \"Cabbages are <strong>only</strong> good <strong>when</strong> you eat the leaves!\" Like, when you finally eat the cabbage leaves, cabbages will be delicious. \r\n\r\nSo what function does 呢 [pinyin]ne[/pinyin] serve at the end there? In this case, the 呢 gives the whole preceding sentence an overtone of obviousness. Like, \"what I just said is self-evident, duh.\" \r\n\r\nSo the whole statement is a little snippy, right? A little bit of ire there for sure. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n1) 羊妈妈带着小羊到菜园去收菜。\r\n\r\n2) 他们走到萝卜地里。羊妈妈拔了一个萝卜。小羊要吃萝卜叶子。羊妈妈说：“萝卜的根最好吃。”\r\n\r\n3) 他们走到白菜地里。羊妈妈拔了一棵小白菜。小羊要吃白菜的根。羊妈妈说：“白菜的叶子才好吃呢！”\r\n\r\n4) 他们走到西红柿地里。小羊要吃西红柿的叶子。羊妈妈说：“要吃西红柿的果实<strong>呀</strong>！”\r\n\r\n\r\nSee the <a href=\"http://www.360doc.com/content/12/0624/17/1764012_220163890.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">source</a>.\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\n1) Mother Sheep brought Little Lamb to the vegetable field to gather vegetables. \r\n\r\n2) They walked to the radish patch. Mother Sheep pulled up a radish. Little Lamb wanted to eat the radish leaves. Mother Sheep said: \"The roots of the radish taste the best.\" \r\n\r\n3) They walked to the cabbage patch. Mother Sheep pulled up a little cabbage. Little Lamb wanted to eat the cabbage root. Mother Sheep said: \"Only the leaves of the cabbage are tasty!\"  \r\n\r\n4) They walked to the tomato patch. Little Lamb wanted to eat the tomato leaves. Mother Sheep said: \"You eat the fruit of the tomato!\"\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n', '[Chinese Short Stories] 《羊妈妈收菜》Mother Sheep Gathers Vegetables', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2384-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-15 03:52:40', '2017-01-15 08:52:40', '', 2384, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2384-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2618, 1, '2017-01-12 17:56:32', '2017-01-12 22:56:32', '', 'study-simplified-chinese-characters-201701', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'study-simplified-chinese-characters-201701', '', '', '2017-01-12 17:57:12', '2017-01-12 22:57:12', '', 2443, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/study-simplified-chinese-characters-201701.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2616, 1, '2017-01-12 17:22:27', '2017-01-12 22:22:27', 'http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=Sx3mX8w6aJ8_0COvgSh3DrKGi4FHbhTjTj5oJ8huu6VEL96khdeV_o32z-DaGDlxEmQxwTQLp3_ctuiLPCOqaIaVfSYtYNAahk-PAI2WJ88oB5qMzBwy0pAQGRbbKwhr\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n东晋时期著名书法家王羲之，七岁就开始练字，尚未成年，已经落笔不俗，被人誉为“小神笔”。  \r\n\r\n当时，朝廷中有位名叫王敦的大将军，常常把王羲之带到军帐中表演书法，天色晚了，还让他在自己的床铺上睡觉。  \r\n\r\n有一次，王敦起床了，王羲之还没有醒。一会儿，王敦的心腹谋士钱凤进来了，两人悄悄地商量事情，谈的是想造反的事，却忘记了王羲之还睡在帐中。王羲之醒来，听见了他们的谈话内容，非常吃惊，心想：如果他们记起了自己睡在这里，一定会怀疑机密泄露，说不定要杀人灭口呢！怎么办？恰好昨天喝了点酒，于是，他就假装酩酊大醉，把床上吐得遍处都是，接着，又蒙头盖脸，发出轻轻的鼾声，好像睡熟了似的。  \r\n\r\n王敦和钱凤密谈了多时，忽然想起了王羲之，不由地心惊肉跳，脸色骤变。钱凤咬着牙根，恶狠狠地说：“这小子，不能不除掉。不然，我们都要遭灭门之祸了。”   两人手握尖刀，掀开帐子，正要下手，忽听王羲之“呓呓”地说起梦话来，再一看，崭新的被褥吐满了饭菜，散发出一股呛鼻的酒味。王敦和钱凤相视片刻，都以为王羲之酒后熟睡未醒，也就算了。\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/mingrenqushi/2008-09-05/7960.html\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Eastern Jin Dynasty there was a famous calligrapher named Wang Xizhi, who by the age of seven had already begun to practice writing, and when he was still not fully grown, he was already producing original work, and was acclaimed as \"Little God of the Pen\". \r\n\r\nAt that time, there was a great general in the imperial court named Wang Dun, who often brought Wang Xizhi back to his army tent to PERFORM calligraphy, and when it grew dark, would let him lay down to [the calligrapher] sleep in his [the general\'s] bed. \r\n\r\nOne time, when Wang Dun awoke, Wang Zhixi had not yet arisen. Soon, Wang Dun\'s trusted advisor Qian Feng entered, and the two of them quietly discussed some things, talked about starting a revolt, but foretting that Wang Xizhi was still sleeping in the tent. Wang Zhixi woke up, heard what they were talking about, and was extremely startled, thinking inwardly: \"If they remember that I\'m sleeping in here, they\'ll surely wonder if their secret is out, they might kill me to keep me silent! What do I do?\" 有一次，王敦起床了，王羲之还没有醒。一会儿，王敦的心腹谋士钱凤进来了，两人悄悄地商量事情，谈的是想造反的事，却忘记了王羲之还睡在帐中。王羲之醒来，听见了他们的谈话内容，非常吃惊，心想：如果他们记起了自己睡在这里，一定会怀疑机密泄露，说不定要杀人灭口呢！怎么办？恰好昨天喝了点酒，于是，他就假装酩酊大醉，把床上吐得遍处都是，接着，又蒙头盖脸，发出轻轻的鼾声，好像睡熟了似的。  \r\n\r\n王敦和钱凤密谈了多时，忽然想起了王羲之，不由地心惊肉跳，脸色骤变。钱凤咬着牙根，恶狠狠地说：“这小子，不能不除掉。不然，我们都要遭灭门之祸了。”   两人手握尖刀，掀开帐子，正要下手，忽听王羲之“呓呓”地说起梦话来，再一看，崭新的被褥吐满了饭菜，散发出一股呛鼻的酒味。王敦和钱凤相视片刻，都以为王羲之酒后熟睡未醒，也就算了。\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nhttp://wenku.baidu.com/link?url=1Ik36il1QlMtTweU2bfr4IGN2uCf0CHHmCOV9OkmS62Y5_sHUYn_G3N2ddJ4W3GI-nW1YutoUNmJPLI8EVFwRQKFPsZaJVl-bjqupItlpPm###\r\n', '[Famous People] 王羲之 - Calligrapher Wang Xizhi Pretends to be Drunk', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2443-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 17:22:27', '2017-01-12 22:22:27', '', 2443, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2443-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2617, 1, '2017-01-12 17:49:04', '2017-01-12 22:49:04', 'http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=Sx3mX8w6aJ8_0COvgSh3DrKGi4FHbhTjTj5oJ8huu6VEL96khdeV_o32z-DaGDlxEmQxwTQLp3_ctuiLPCOqaIaVfSYtYNAahk-PAI2WJ88oB5qMzBwy0pAQGRbbKwhr\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n东晋时期著名书法家王羲之，七岁就开始练字，尚未成年，已经落笔不俗，被人誉为“小神笔”。  \r\n\r\n当时，朝廷中有位名叫王敦的大将军，常常把王羲之带到军帐中表演书法，天色晚了，还让他在自己的床铺上睡觉。  \r\n\r\n有一次，王敦起床了，王羲之还没有醒。一会儿，王敦的心腹谋士钱凤进来了，两人悄悄地商量事情，谈的是想造反的事，却忘记了王羲之还睡在帐中。王羲之醒来，听见了他们的谈话内容，非常吃惊，心想：如果他们记起了自己睡在这里，一定会怀疑机密泄露，说不定要杀人灭口呢！怎么办？恰好昨天喝了点酒，于是，他就假装酩酊大醉，把床上吐得遍处都是，接着，又蒙头盖脸，发出轻轻的鼾声，好像睡熟了似的。  \r\n\r\n王敦和钱凤密谈了多时，忽然想起了王羲之，不由得心惊肉跳，脸色骤变。钱凤咬着牙根，恶狠狠地说：“这小子，不能不除掉。不然，我们都要遭灭门之祸了。” 两人手握尖刀，掀开帐子，正要下手，忽听王羲之“呓呓”地说起梦话来，再一看，崭新的被褥吐满了饭菜，散发出一股呛鼻的酒味。王敦和钱凤相视片刻，都以为王羲之酒后熟睡未醒，也就算了。\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/mingrenqushi/2008-09-05/7960.html\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Eastern Jin Dynasty there was a famous calligrapher named Wang Xizhi, who by the age of seven had already begun to practice writing, and when he was still not fully grown, he was already producing original work, and was acclaimed as \"Little God of the Pen\". \r\n\r\nAt that time, there was a great general in the imperial court named Wang Dun, who often brought Wang Xizhi back to his army tent to perform calligraphy, and when it grew dark, would let him lay down to sleep in his [the general\'s] bed. \r\n\r\nOne time, when Wang Dun awoke, Wang Zhixi had not yet arisen. Soon, Wang Dun\'s trusted advisor Qian Feng entered, and the two of them quietly discussed their affairs, they talked about starting a revolt, but they forgot that Wang Xizhi was still sleeping in the tent. Wang Zhixi woke up, heard what they were talking about, and was extremely startled, thinking inwardly: \"If they remember that I\'m sleeping in here, they\'ll surely wonder if their secret is out, they might kill me to keep me silent! What do I do?\" It just so happened that the day before they\'d had a bit to drink, so, he pretended to be drop-dead drunk, threw up all over the bed, and all over his face and head besides, then let out light snores, as if he was thoroughly asleep. \r\n\r\nWang Dun and Qian Feng spoke secretly for some time, then suddenly remembered Wang Xizhi, and could not but be extremely alarmed, their faces changing suddenly. Qian Feng gritted his teeth, and said fiercely, \"This guy must be gotten rid of. Otherwise, both of our families will be exterminated.\" Both men gripped sharp blades, lifted up the tent flap, and were just about to act, when they suddenly heard Wang Xizhi talking in his sleep, and looking closely, saw that the brand new bedding was covered in thrown-up food, and the pungent smell of alcohol emanated from within. Wang Dun and Qian Feng traded glances, both thinking that Wang Xizhi had slept soundly after drinking and hadn\'t woken, so they let the matter go.    \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n', '[Famous People] 王羲之 - Calligrapher Wang Xizhi Pretends to be Drunk', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2443-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 17:49:04', '2017-01-12 22:49:04', '', 2443, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2443-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2614, 1, '2017-01-12 16:45:40', '2017-01-12 21:45:40', 'I started translating this post thinking that it was going to be about sunflowers, the big, yellow, pinwheel-type dealies. I mean, 太阳花 [pinyin]tai4 yang2 hua1[/pinyin], right? Literally translates into \"sun flower\". But then I got to the bit where the flowers are described as \"pink-red\", and scrambled for the Baidu encyclopedia. Turns out, 太阳花 are not \"sunflowers\" as we know them. Those are <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=ZwBLj_xEUc2SQjtjtvyV5Z2vfemLXe6qi8OxRI5jjH-O2jlCSQVYKxOmShSH0HCPdXOjVnYg1GY4UHRRlILQzKElzIB5ql04-OpG_mCJ5uPpg4kHpEHxwuBhP4HOOsDhtbw4VXl_RhN2mbIHvs0ISJkwtnh3AUzp9WB2iTfjoLyWe9ezNzYBbw2FhCO3fXiq\">向日葵</a> [pinyin]xiang4 ri4 kui2[/pinyin]. No, <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=zpubNiUxxGf23KiltWjqfeeAdcLvVTbuPCPTs-jn7m7X0DbonwgWjo--LwPcw97ZnihvWLpPAJZ7W-xNfAIhmoF2_R8o0Jbb3FkpJLYBmXi\" target=\"_blank\">太阳花</a> is actually something called a \"moss rose\" (<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_grandiflora\" target=\"_blank\">English Wikipedia entry</a>). They look like this: \r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/20170113-learn-chinese-sunflowers-science-baidu.png\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters\" width=\"1581\" height=\"1118\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2611\" />\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 太阳花是一种很美丽的小花，细细的小花瓣，粉红粉红的，鲜艳极了。叶子呢，也是细细的，嫩嫩的，像含着一包绿汁。\r\n\r\n2) 早上，太阳一升起，太阳花就兴冲冲地开放了。傍晚，太阳一下山，太阳花就慢慢合拢花瓣睡觉了。\r\n\r\n3) 太阳花的颜色可多了！有粉红的，有黄黄的、蓝蓝的，还有紫紫的。\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.mofangge.com/html/qDetail/01/x2/201105/5mq5x20125268.html\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) Moss roses are a very pretty type of flower, with thin petals, all pinkish-red, very colorful. And the leaves, they\'re also thin and tender, as if containing a sack of green juice.  \r\n\r\n2) In the morning, when the sun rises, moss roses excitedly open. In the evening, when the sun falls behind the mountains, moss roses slowly close up their petals and sleep. \r\n\r\n3) How many colors of moss roses there are! There are pink-red, yellow, blue and also purple. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Facts in Chinese] 太阳花 - Sun... flowers?', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2406-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 16:45:40', '2017-01-12 21:45:40', '', 2406, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2406-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2610, 1, '2017-01-12 16:32:47', '2017-01-12 21:32:47', '', '20170113-learn-chinese-sunflowers-science', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', '20170113-learn-chinese-sunflowers-science', '', '', '2017-01-12 16:33:11', '2017-01-12 21:33:11', '', 2406, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/20170113-learn-chinese-sunflowers-science.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2611, 1, '2017-01-12 16:37:05', '2017-01-12 21:37:05', '', '20170113-learn-chinese-sunflowers-science-baidu', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', '20170113-learn-chinese-sunflowers-science-baidu', '', '', '2017-01-12 16:37:05', '2017-01-12 21:37:05', '', 2406, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/20170113-learn-chinese-sunflowers-science-baidu.png', 0, 'attachment', 'image/png', 0),
(2612, 1, '2017-01-12 16:38:24', '2017-01-12 21:38:24', 'I started translating this post thinking that it was going to be about sunflowers, the big, yellow, pinwheel-type dealies. I mean, 太阳花 [pinyin]tai4 yang2 hua1[/pinyin], right? Literally translates into \"sun flower\". But then I got to the bit where the flowers are described as \"pink-red\", and scrambled for the Baidu encyclopedia. Turns out, 太阳花 are not \"sunflowers\" as we know them. Those are <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=ZwBLj_xEUc2SQjtjtvyV5Z2vfemLXe6qi8OxRI5jjH-O2jlCSQVYKxOmShSH0HCPdXOjVnYg1GY4UHRRlILQzKElzIB5ql04-OpG_mCJ5uPpg4kHpEHxwuBhP4HOOsDhtbw4VXl_RhN2mbIHvs0ISJkwtnh3AUzp9WB2iTfjoLyWe9ezNzYBbw2FhCO3fXiq\">向日葵</a> [pinyin]xiang4 ri4 kui2[/pinyin]. No, <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=zpubNiUxxGf23KiltWjqfeeAdcLvVTbuPCPTs-jn7m7X0DbonwgWjo--LwPcw97ZnihvWLpPAJZ7W-xNfAIhmoF2_R8o0Jbb3FkpJLYBmXi\" target=\"_blank\">太阳花</a> is actually something called a \"moss rose\" (<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_grandiflora\" target=\"_blank\">English Wikipedia entry</a>). They look like this: \r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/20170113-learn-chinese-sunflowers-science-baidu.png\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters\" width=\"1581\" height=\"1118\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2611\" />\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 太阳花是一种很美丽的小花，细细的小花瓣，粉红粉红的，鲜艳极了。叶子呢，也是细细的，嫩嫩的，像含着一包绿汁。\r\n\r\n2) 早上，太阳一升起，太阳花就兴冲冲地开放了。傍晚，太阳一下山，太阳花就慢慢合拢花瓣睡觉了。\r\n\r\n3) 太阳花的颜色可多了！有粉红的，有黄黄的、蓝蓝的，还有紫紫的。\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.mofangge.com/html/qDetail/01/x2/201105/5mq5x20125268.html\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) Sunflowers are a very pretty type of flower, with thin petals, 太阳花是一种很美丽的小花，细细的小花瓣，粉红粉红的，鲜艳极了。叶子呢，也是细细的，嫩嫩的，像含着一包绿汁。\r\n\r\n2) 早上，太阳一升起，太阳花就兴冲冲地开放了。傍晚，太阳一下山，太阳花就慢慢合拢花瓣睡觉了。\r\n\r\n3) 太阳花的颜色可多了！有粉红的，有黄黄的、蓝蓝的，还有紫紫的。\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Facts in Chinese] 太阳花 - Sun... flowers?', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2406-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 16:38:24', '2017-01-12 21:38:24', '', 2406, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2406-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2609, 1, '2017-01-12 05:35:31', '2017-01-12 10:35:31', 'Man, this kid Kong Rong (孔融 [pinyin]kong3 rong2[/pinyin]). What a cutie. What a humble little guy. This is a kid that knows all about r-e-s-p-e-c-t. He knows that you gotta save all the best pears for the older kids. No one told him, he just knew. He probably also learned to tie his shoes before everyone else, and got nothing but gold stars on his homework, and started chewing with his mouth closed while he was still breastfeeding.\r\n\r\n... Wait, you know what, actually? I take it all back. I\'m not into it. Those Kong Rong kids made the rest of us look bad. Get a life, Kong Rong. Grab the big pear for yourself next time. Live a little. \r\n\r\nSo, Kong Rong isn\'t just a random made-up name - Kong Rong (153-208AD) was actually a famous poet, and it\'s pretty common to see fictional stories about legendary people in ancient history, stories that illuminate their character, along the lines of \"George Washington and the Cherry Tree\". And that, my friends, is what this is. \r\n\r\nNow, grammar: \r\n\r\n<h3>When... 的时候</h3>\r\n<strong>When</strong> we talk about things that happened in the past or might happen in the future, we typically start our sentence with \"when\". \r\n\r\n\"When I was ten years old, I got my first dog.\"\r\n\"When I go to the store, do you want me to get you something?\"\r\n\r\nIn Chinese, the \"when\" is placed after the time, using 的时候 [pinyin]de5 shi2 hou4[/pinyin]. The same sentences, following a Chinese pattern, would be sound like this:\r\n\r\n\"I was ten years old when, ....\"\r\n我十岁<strong>的时候</strong>，\r\n\r\n\"I go to the store when, ...?\"\r\n我去商店<strong>的时候</strong>,\r\n\r\nMake sense?\r\n\r\n<h3>So much togetherness 一块儿</h3>\r\nDepending on how long you\'ve been studying, you may or may not have run across the word 一起 [pinyin]yi1 qi3[/pinyin], which means \"together\", as in \"We ate dinner together.\" (我们<strong>一起</strong>吃了晚饭).  一块儿 [pinyin]yi1 kuai4 er5[/pinyin] actually has two meanings. The first meaning is \"a block (of something)\", so like \"A block of cheese\" or \"A . But its second definition is very similar to 一起: in this case it also means \"together\" or more precisely \"<strong>as a block</strong>\". \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 太阳花是一种很美丽的小花，细细的小花瓣，粉红粉红的，鲜艳极了。叶子呢，也是细细的，嫩(nèn)嫩的，像含着一包绿汁(zhī)。\r\n\r\n2) 早上，太阳一升起，太阳花就兴冲冲地开放了。傍晚，太阳一下山，太阳花就慢慢合拢(lǒnɡ)花瓣睡觉了。\r\n\r\n3) 太阳花的颜色可多了！有粉红的，有黄黄的、蓝蓝的，还有紫紫的。\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.1010jiajiao.com/yuedu_page_20986/\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) Once, there was a child named Kong Rong. When he was 4 years old, one day he and his brother were eating pears. On the plate were big pears, and small pears, and Kong Rong grabbed a small pear. \r\n\r\n2) His father saw this and asked him, \"Why didn\'t you take a big pear?\" \r\n\r\n3) Kong Rong said: \"I\'m the little brother, I should eat the small one.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n\r\nhttp://www.360doc.com/content/12/0624/17/1764012_220163890.shtml', '[Facts in Chinese] 太阳花 - Sunflowers', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2406-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 05:35:31', '2017-01-12 10:35:31', '', 2406, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2406-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2613, 1, '2017-01-12 16:44:45', '2017-01-12 21:44:45', 'I started translating this post thinking that it was going to be about sunflowers, the big, yellow, pinwheel-type dealies. I mean, 太阳花 [pinyin]tai4 yang2 hua1[/pinyin], right? Literally translates into \"sun flower\". But then I got to the bit where the flowers are described as \"pink-red\", and scrambled for the Baidu encyclopedia. Turns out, 太阳花 are not \"sunflowers\" as we know them. Those are <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=ZwBLj_xEUc2SQjtjtvyV5Z2vfemLXe6qi8OxRI5jjH-O2jlCSQVYKxOmShSH0HCPdXOjVnYg1GY4UHRRlILQzKElzIB5ql04-OpG_mCJ5uPpg4kHpEHxwuBhP4HOOsDhtbw4VXl_RhN2mbIHvs0ISJkwtnh3AUzp9WB2iTfjoLyWe9ezNzYBbw2FhCO3fXiq\">向日葵</a> [pinyin]xiang4 ri4 kui2[/pinyin]. No, <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=zpubNiUxxGf23KiltWjqfeeAdcLvVTbuPCPTs-jn7m7X0DbonwgWjo--LwPcw97ZnihvWLpPAJZ7W-xNfAIhmoF2_R8o0Jbb3FkpJLYBmXi\" target=\"_blank\">太阳花</a> is actually something called a \"moss rose\" (<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_grandiflora\" target=\"_blank\">English Wikipedia entry</a>). They look like this: \r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/20170113-learn-chinese-sunflowers-science-baidu.png\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters\" width=\"1581\" height=\"1118\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2611\" />\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 太阳花是一种很美丽的小花，细细的小花瓣，粉红粉红的，鲜艳极了。叶子呢，也是细细的，嫩嫩的，像含着一包绿汁。\r\n\r\n2) 早上，太阳一升起，太阳花就兴冲冲地开放了。傍晚，太阳一下山，太阳花就慢慢合拢花瓣睡觉了。\r\n\r\n3) 太阳花的颜色可多了！有粉红的，有黄黄的、蓝蓝的，还有紫紫的。\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.mofangge.com/html/qDetail/01/x2/201105/5mq5x20125268.html\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) Moss roses are a very pretty type of flower, with thin petals, all pinkish-red, very colorful. And the leaves, they\'re also thin and tender, as if containing a sack of green juice.  \r\n\r\n2) In the morning, when the sun rises, moss roses excitedly open. In the evening, when the sun falls behind the mountains, moss flowers slowly close up their petals and sleep. \r\n\r\n3) How many colors the moss roses have! There are pink-red, yellow, blue and also purple. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Facts in Chinese] 太阳花 - Sun... flowers?', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2406-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 16:44:45', '2017-01-12 21:44:45', '', 2406, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2406-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2606, 1, '2017-01-12 05:27:36', '2017-01-12 10:27:36', 'This passage comes out of a science-for-little-kids document library, and describes - shocker - dragonflies. How do I know it was written for kids? Because \"dragonflies\" (蜻蜓 [pinyin]qing1 ting2[/pinyin] are referred to as \"小蜻蜓\" [pinyin]xiao3 qing1 ting2[/pinyin], or \"little dragonflies\", so the whole thing has a cutsie-face overtone.  \r\n\r\nThere are definitely two or three advanced verb characters in the passage, like 飞舞 [pinyin]fei1 wu3[/pinyin], which literally translates to \"fly dance\", but which might be better translated as \"to flit\" (through the air); and 掠 [pinyin]lve4[/pinyin], meaning \"skim\" or \"graze\". \r\n\r\n<h3>Verb Doubling</h3>\r\nDid you know that doubling up a verb in Chinese changes the tone of the verb? Yup. When you double up a verb, it implies that the action is done casually or in a carefree, offhand way. So this bit: 这里飞飞，那里停停，implies laid back \"flying\" and \"stopping\", as in, \"Flying here, stopping there\", or, \"Casually flying here and there\".\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 清清的小河边长满了绿油油的草，夹杂着许多不知名的野花。这就是小蜻蜓活动的天地。\r\n\r\n2) 小蜻蜓，身体轻，看上去好像一架小飞机。\r\n\r\n3) 它们有时在花间飞舞，有时轻轻掠过水面。这里飞飞，那里停停，小蜻蜓过者悠闲的日子。\r\n<a href=\"\r\nhttp://www.360doc.com/content/12/0624/17/1764012_220163890.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) The clear riverbank is covered with lush green grass, and scattered with nameless wildflowers. This is the little dragonfly\'s world (lit: activity world). \r\n\r\n2) Little dragonflies have light bodies, they look just like little airplanes.\r\n\r\n3) Sometimes they flit amongst the flowers, sometimes they skim across the surface of the water. Flying here, stopping there, little dragonflies rest in the sun. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n', '[Facts in Chinese] 小蜻蜓 - Dragonflies', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2407-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 05:27:36', '2017-01-12 10:27:36', '', 2407, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2407-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2604, 1, '2017-01-12 03:17:59', '2017-01-12 08:17:59', 'Man, this kid Kong Rong (孔融 [pinyin]kong3 rong2[/pinyin]). What a cutie. What a humble little guy. This is a kid that knows all about r-e-s-p-e-c-t. He knows that you gotta save all the best pears for the older kids. No one told him, he just knew. He probably also learned to tie his shoes before everyone else, and got nothing but gold stars on his homework, and started chewing with his mouth closed while he was still breastfeeding.\n\n... Wait, you know what, actually? I take it all back. I\'m not into it. Those Kong Rong kids made the rest of us look bad. Get a life, Kong Rong. Grab the big pear for yourself next time. Live a little. \n\nSo, Kong Rong isn\'t just a random made-up name - Kong Rong (153-208AD) was actually a famous poet, and it\'s pretty common to see fictional stories about legendary people in ancient history, stories that illuminate their character, along the lines of \"George Washington and the Cherry Tree\". And that, my friends, is what this is. Now, for som\n\n<h3>When... 的时候</h3>\n<strong>When</strong> we talk about things that happened in the past or might happen in the future, we typically start our sentence with \"when\". \n\n\"When I was ten years old, I got my first dog.\"\n\"When I go to the store, do you want me to get you something?\"\n\nIn Chinese, the \"when\" is placed after the time, using 的时候 [pinyin]de5 shi2 hou4[/pinyin]. The same sentences, following a Chinese pattern, would be sound like this:\n\n\"I was ten years old when, ....\"\n我十岁<strong>的时候</strong>，\n\n\"I go to the store when, ...?\"\n我去商店<strong>的时候</strong>,\n\nMake sense?\n\n<h3>So much togetherness 一块儿</h3>\nDepending on how long you\'ve been studying, you may or may not have run across the word 一起 [pinyin]yi1 qi3[/pinyin], which means \"together\", as in \"We ate dinner together.\" (我们<strong>一起</strong>吃了晚饭).  一块儿 [pinyin]yi1 kuai4 er5[/pinyin] actually has two meanings. The first meaning is \"a block (of something)\", so like \"A block of cheese\" or \"A . But its second definition is very similar to 一起: in this case it also means \"together\" or more precisely \"<strong>as a block</strong>\". \n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\n1) 从前，有个孩子叫孔融。他四岁<strong>的时候</strong>，有一天和哥哥<strong>一块儿</strong>吃梨。盘子里的梨有大的，也有小的，孔融拿了一个小梨。\n\n2) 爸爸看见了，问道：“你为什么不拿大的呢？”\n\n3) 孔融说：“我是弟弟，应该吃小的。”\n\n<a href=\"http://www.1010jiajiao.com/yuedu_page_20986/\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n1) Once, there was a child named Kong Rong. When he was 4 years old, one day he and his brother were eating pears. On the plate were big pears, and small pears, and Kong Rong grabbed a small pear. \n\n2) His father saw this and asked him, \"Why didn\'t you take a big pear?\" \n\n3) Kong Rong said: \"I\'m the little brother, I should eat the small one.\" \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\n', '[Chinese Short Stories] 《孔融让梨》Kong Rong Gives up the Pears', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2402-autosave-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 03:17:59', '2017-01-12 08:17:59', '', 2402, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2402-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2605, 1, '2017-01-12 03:18:16', '2017-01-12 08:18:16', 'Man, this kid Kong Rong (孔融 [pinyin]kong3 rong2[/pinyin]). What a cutie. What a humble little guy. This is a kid that knows all about r-e-s-p-e-c-t. He knows that you gotta save all the best pears for the older kids. No one told him, he just knew. He probably also learned to tie his shoes before everyone else, and got nothing but gold stars on his homework, and started chewing with his mouth closed while he was still breastfeeding.\r\n\r\n... Wait, you know what, actually? I take it all back. I\'m not into it. Those Kong Rong kids made the rest of us look bad. Get a life, Kong Rong. Grab the big pear for yourself next time. Live a little. \r\n\r\nSo, Kong Rong isn\'t just a random made-up name - Kong Rong (153-208AD) was actually a famous poet, and it\'s pretty common to see fictional stories about legendary people in ancient history, stories that illuminate their character, along the lines of \"George Washington and the Cherry Tree\". And that, my friends, is what this is. \r\n\r\nNow, grammar: \r\n\r\n<h3>When... 的时候</h3>\r\n<strong>When</strong> we talk about things that happened in the past or might happen in the future, we typically start our sentence with \"when\". \r\n\r\n\"When I was ten years old, I got my first dog.\"\r\n\"When I go to the store, do you want me to get you something?\"\r\n\r\nIn Chinese, the \"when\" is placed after the time, using 的时候 [pinyin]de5 shi2 hou4[/pinyin]. The same sentences, following a Chinese pattern, would be sound like this:\r\n\r\n\"I was ten years old when, ....\"\r\n我十岁<strong>的时候</strong>，\r\n\r\n\"I go to the store when, ...?\"\r\n我去商店<strong>的时候</strong>,\r\n\r\nMake sense?\r\n\r\n<h3>So much togetherness 一块儿</h3>\r\nDepending on how long you\'ve been studying, you may or may not have run across the word 一起 [pinyin]yi1 qi3[/pinyin], which means \"together\", as in \"We ate dinner together.\" (我们<strong>一起</strong>吃了晚饭).  一块儿 [pinyin]yi1 kuai4 er5[/pinyin] actually has two meanings. The first meaning is \"a block (of something)\", so like \"A block of cheese\" or \"A . But its second definition is very similar to 一起: in this case it also means \"together\" or more precisely \"<strong>as a block</strong>\". \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 从前，有个孩子叫孔融。他四岁<strong>的时候</strong>，有一天和哥哥<strong>一块儿</strong>吃梨。盘子里的梨有大的，也有小的，孔融拿了一个小梨。\r\n\r\n2) 爸爸看见了，问道：“你为什么不拿大的呢？”\r\n\r\n3) 孔融说：“我是弟弟，应该吃小的。”\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.1010jiajiao.com/yuedu_page_20986/\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) Once, there was a child named Kong Rong. When he was 4 years old, one day he and his brother were eating pears. On the plate were big pears, and small pears, and Kong Rong grabbed a small pear. \r\n\r\n2) His father saw this and asked him, \"Why didn\'t you take a big pear?\" \r\n\r\n3) Kong Rong said: \"I\'m the little brother, I should eat the small one.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n', '[Chinese Short Stories] 《孔融让梨》Kong Rong Gives up the Pears', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2402-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 03:18:16', '2017-01-12 08:18:16', '', 2402, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2402-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2607, 1, '2017-01-12 05:29:52', '2017-01-12 10:29:52', '', 'learn-simplified-chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'learn-simplified-chinese', '', '', '2017-01-12 05:30:10', '2017-01-12 10:30:10', '', 2407, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/learn-simplified-chinese.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0);
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(2600, 1, '2017-01-12 02:38:46', '2017-01-12 07:38:46', '', '201701012-learn-to-read-chinese-pears', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', '201701012-learn-to-read-chinese-pears', '', '', '2017-01-12 02:39:10', '2017-01-12 07:39:10', '', 2402, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/201701012-learn-to-read-chinese-pears.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2601, 1, '2017-01-12 02:42:02', '2017-01-12 07:42:02', 'Man, this kid Kong Rong (孔融 [pinyin][/pinyin]). What a cutie. What a humble little guy. This is a kid that knows all about r-e-s-p-e-c-t. He knows that you gotta save all the best pears for the older kids. No one told him, he just knew. He probably also learned to tie his shoes before everyone else, and got nothing but gold stars on his homework, and started chewing with his mouth closed while he was still breastfeeding.\r\n\r\n... Wait, you know what, actually? I take it all back. I\'m not into it. Those Kong Rong kids made the rest of us look bad. Get a life, Kong Rong. Grab the big pear for yourself next time. Live a little. \r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<h3>When... 的时候</h3>\r\n<strong>When</strong> we talk about things that happened in the past or might happen in the future, we typically start our sentence with \"when\". \r\n\r\n\"When I was ten years old, I got my first dog.\"\r\n\"When I go to the store, do you want me to get you something?\"\r\n\r\nIn Chinese, the \"when\" is placed after the time, using 的时候 [pinyin]de5 shi2 hou4[/pinyin]. The same sentences, following a Chinese pattern, would be sound like this:\r\n\r\n\"I was ten years old when, ....\"\r\n我十岁<strong>的时候</strong>，\r\n\r\n\"I go to the store when, ...?\"\r\n我去商店<strong>的时候</strong>,\r\n\r\nMake sense?\r\n\r\n<h3>So much togetherness 一块儿</h3>\r\nDepending on how long you\'ve been studying, you may or may not have run across the word 一起 [pinyin]yi1 qi3[/pinyin], which means \"together\", as in \"We ate dinner together.\" (我们<strong>一起</strong>吃了晚饭).  一块儿 [pinyin]yi1 kuai4 er5[/pinyin] actually has two meanings. The first meaning is \"a block (of something)\", so like \"A block of cheese\" or \"A . But its second definition is very similar to 一起: in this case it also means \"together\" or more precisely \"<strong>as a block</strong>\". \r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 从前，有个孩子叫孔融。他四岁<strong>的时候</strong>，有一天和哥哥<strong>一块儿</strong>吃梨。盘子里的梨有大的，也有小的，孔融拿了一个小梨。\r\n\r\n2) 爸爸看见了，<strong>问道</strong>：“你为什么不拿大的呢？”\r\n\r\n3) 孔融说：“我是弟弟，应该吃小的。”\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.1010jiajiao.com/yuedu_page_20986/\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) Once, there was a child named Kong Rong. When he was 4 years old, one day he and his brother were eating pears. On the plate were big pears, and small pears, and Kong Rong grabbed a small pear. \r\n\r\n2) His father saw this and asked him, \"Why didn\'t you take a big pear?\" \r\n\r\n3) Kong Rong said: \"I\'m the little brother, I should eat the small one.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n', '[Chinese Short Stories] 《孔融让梨》Kong Rong Gives up the Pears', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2402-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 02:42:02', '2017-01-12 07:42:02', '', 2402, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2402-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2603, 1, '2017-01-12 03:01:53', '2017-01-12 08:01:53', 'Man, this kid Kong Rong (孔融 [pinyin][/pinyin]). What a cutie. What a humble little guy. This is a kid that knows all about r-e-s-p-e-c-t. He knows that you gotta save all the best pears for the older kids. No one told him, he just knew. He probably also learned to tie his shoes before everyone else, and got nothing but gold stars on his homework, and started chewing with his mouth closed while he was still breastfeeding.\r\n\r\n... Wait, you know what, actually? I take it all back. I\'m not into it. Those Kong Rong kids made the rest of us look bad. Get a life, Kong Rong. Grab the big pear for yourself next time. Live a little. \r\n\r\n<h3>When... 的时候</h3>\r\n<strong>When</strong> we talk about things that happened in the past or might happen in the future, we typically start our sentence with \"when\". \r\n\r\n\"When I was ten years old, I got my first dog.\"\r\n\"When I go to the store, do you want me to get you something?\"\r\n\r\nIn Chinese, the \"when\" is placed after the time, using 的时候 [pinyin]de5 shi2 hou4[/pinyin]. The same sentences, following a Chinese pattern, would be sound like this:\r\n\r\n\"I was ten years old when, ....\"\r\n我十岁<strong>的时候</strong>，\r\n\r\n\"I go to the store when, ...?\"\r\n我去商店<strong>的时候</strong>,\r\n\r\nMake sense?\r\n\r\n<h3>So much togetherness 一块儿</h3>\r\nDepending on how long you\'ve been studying, you may or may not have run across the word 一起 [pinyin]yi1 qi3[/pinyin], which means \"together\", as in \"We ate dinner together.\" (我们<strong>一起</strong>吃了晚饭).  一块儿 [pinyin]yi1 kuai4 er5[/pinyin] actually has two meanings. The first meaning is \"a block (of something)\", so like \"A block of cheese\" or \"A . But its second definition is very similar to 一起: in this case it also means \"together\" or more precisely \"<strong>as a block</strong>\". \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 从前，有个孩子叫孔融。他四岁<strong>的时候</strong>，有一天和哥哥<strong>一块儿</strong>吃梨。盘子里的梨有大的，也有小的，孔融拿了一个小梨。\r\n\r\n2) 爸爸看见了，问道：“你为什么不拿大的呢？”\r\n\r\n3) 孔融说：“我是弟弟，应该吃小的。”\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.1010jiajiao.com/yuedu_page_20986/\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a> \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) Once, there was a child named Kong Rong. When he was 4 years old, one day he and his brother were eating pears. On the plate were big pears, and small pears, and Kong Rong grabbed a small pear. \r\n\r\n2) His father saw this and asked him, \"Why didn\'t you take a big pear?\" \r\n\r\n3) Kong Rong said: \"I\'m the little brother, I should eat the small one.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n', '[Chinese Short Stories] 《孔融让梨》Kong Rong Gives up the Pears', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2402-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-12 03:01:53', '2017-01-12 08:01:53', '', 2402, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/2402-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2594, 1, '2017-01-10 00:57:29', '2017-01-10 05:57:29', 'Choices, choices. Choices don\'t always present themselves in the clearest terms, and they aren\'t necessarily fair. This tortured little piece represents one dude\'s introspection on the sad reality of choice. <!--more-->\n\n<h3>纷纷 - [pinyin]fen1 fen1[/pinyin]</h3>\nThis word probably the most useful take-away here. It means \"one after the other\", or \"in quick succession\", but it\'s got a little bit of a messy overtone to it, like batches of things are happening around the same time. \n\nFor example, you could say, 落叶纷纷 [pinyin]luo4 ye4 fen1 fen1[/pinyin], meaning \"the leaves fell in profusion\". Leaves wouldn\'t fall off a tree in measured order, right? But they wouldn\'t all fall off in a synchronized bunch, either. They\'d kind of, you know, fall off generally around the same time, around the same season, some today, some tomorrow. Or you might also say, 同学们纷纷发言 - \"the students spoke up one after another\". \n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\n1) 一个农民从洪水中救起了他的妻子，他的孩子却被淹死了。\n\n2) 事后，人们议论<strong>纷纷</strong>。有的说他做得对，因为孩子可以再生一个，妻子却不能死而复活。有的说他做错了，因为妻子可以另娶一个，孩子却不能死而复活。\n\n3) 我听了人们的议论，也感到疑惑难决：如果只能救活一人，究竟应该救妻子呢，还是救孩子?\n\n4) 于是我去拜访那个农民，问他当时是怎么想的。\n\n5) 他答道：“我什么也没想。洪水袭来，妻子在我身过，我抓住她就往附近的山坡游。当我返回时，孩子已经被洪水冲走了。”\n\n6) 归途上，我琢磨着农民的话，对自己说：如果当时这个农民稍有迟疑，可能一个都救不了；所谓人生的抉择不少便是如此。\n\n7)【经典小故事心得】：很多事情根本没有错与对，也容不得你去细想错与对，如果过于犹豫或过于在乎别人的想法，你可能什么事也做不成。\n \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n1) A farmer saved his wife from a flood, but his child drowned. \n\n2) Afterwards, everyone offered up one opinion after another. Some said he did the right thing, since he could always have another child, but his wife couldn\'t be revived from the dead. Some said he did the wrong thing, because he could always marry again, but his child could never return. \n\n3) I listened to everyone\'s opinion, and felt myself at a loss: if only one person could be saved, should the wife be saved, or should the child be saved? \n\n4) So I went to visit the farmer, and asked him what he\'d been thinking at the time. \n\n5) He answered: \"I wasn\'t thinking anything. The flood rushed in unexpectedly, and my wife was by my side, so I grabbed her and swam for a nearby hill. When I went back, my child had already been swept away by the flood waters.\" \n\n6) On the road back, I was tormented by the farmer\'s words, and said to myself: if that farmer had hesitated, he might have been unable to save even one of them; so many of the so-called choices in our lives happen this way.\n\n7) Moral of the story: In many matters there is no right and wrong, and those matters don\'t lend themselves well to deeper consideration of right and wrong. If you hesitate too long or worry too much about the opinions of others, you may be unable to do anything at all. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\n\n\n 　', '[Short Story] 选择 - Choices', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1797-autosave-v1', '', '', '2017-01-10 00:57:29', '2017-01-10 05:57:29', '', 1797, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/1797-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2595, 1, '2017-01-10 00:57:36', '2017-01-10 05:57:36', 'Choices, choices. Choices don\'t always present themselves in the clearest terms, and they aren\'t necessarily fair. This tortured little piece represents one dude\'s introspection on the sad reality of choice. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>纷纷 - [pinyin]fen1 fen1[/pinyin]</h3>\r\nThis word probably the most useful take-away here. It means \"one after the other\", or \"in quick succession\", but it\'s got a little bit of a messy overtone to it, like batches of things are happening around the same time. \r\n\r\nFor example, you could say, 落叶纷纷 [pinyin]luo4 ye4 fen1 fen1[/pinyin], meaning \"the leaves fell in profusion\". Leaves wouldn\'t fall off a tree in measured order, right? But they wouldn\'t all fall off in a synchronized bunch, either. They\'d kind of, you know, fall off generally around the same time, around the same season, some today, some tomorrow. Or you might also say, 同学们纷纷发言 - \"the students spoke up one after another\". \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 一个农民从洪水中救起了他的妻子，他的孩子却被淹死了。\r\n\r\n2) 事后，人们议论<strong>纷纷</strong>。有的说他做得对，因为孩子可以再生一个，妻子却不能死而复活。有的说他做错了，因为妻子可以另娶一个，孩子却不能死而复活。\r\n\r\n3) 我听了人们的议论，也感到疑惑难决：如果只能救活一人，究竟应该救妻子呢，还是救孩子?\r\n\r\n4) 于是我去拜访那个农民，问他当时是怎么想的。\r\n\r\n5) 他答道：“我什么也没想。洪水袭来，妻子在我身过，我抓住她就往附近的山坡游。当我返回时，孩子已经被洪水冲走了。”\r\n\r\n6) 归途上，我琢磨着农民的话，对自己说：如果当时这个农民稍有迟疑，可能一个都救不了；所谓人生的抉择不少便是如此。\r\n\r\n7)【经典小故事心得】：很多事情根本没有错与对，也容不得你去细想错与对，如果过于犹豫或过于在乎别人的想法，你可能什么事也做不成。\r\n\r\nGo straight to the <a href=\"http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/gb/2015/09/20/a1162360.html\" target=\"_blank\">source</a>.\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\n1) A farmer saved his wife from a flood, but his child drowned. \r\n\r\n2) Afterwards, everyone offered up one opinion after another. Some said he did the right thing, since he could always have another child, but his wife couldn\'t be revived from the dead. Some said he did the wrong thing, because he could always marry again, but his child could never return. \r\n\r\n3) I listened to everyone\'s opinion, and felt myself at a loss: if only one person could be saved, should the wife be saved, or should the child be saved? \r\n\r\n4) So I went to visit the farmer, and asked him what he\'d been thinking at the time. \r\n\r\n5) He answered: \"I wasn\'t thinking anything. The flood rushed in unexpectedly, and my wife was by my side, so I grabbed her and swam for a nearby hill. When I went back, my child had already been swept away by the flood waters.\" \r\n\r\n6) On the road back, I was tormented by the farmer\'s words, and said to myself: if that farmer had hesitated, he might have been unable to save even one of them; so many of the so-called choices in our lives happen this way.\r\n\r\n7) Moral of the story: In many matters there is no right and wrong, and those matters don\'t lend themselves well to deeper consideration of right and wrong. If you hesitate too long or worry too much about the opinions of others, you may be unable to do anything at all. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n\r\n 　', '[Short Story] 选择 - Choices', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1797-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-10 00:57:36', '2017-01-10 05:57:36', '', 1797, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/1797-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2596, 1, '2017-01-10 02:16:20', '2017-01-10 07:16:20', '', 'learn-chinese-reading-20171001-yu', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'learn-chinese-reading-20171001-yu', '', '', '2017-01-10 02:16:20', '2017-01-10 07:16:20', '', 1787, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/learn-chinese-reading-20171001-yu.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2597, 1, '2017-01-10 02:24:32', '2017-01-10 07:24:32', '', 'learn-simplified-chinese-characters-20170110-yu2', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'learn-simplified-chinese-characters-20170110-yu2', '', '', '2017-01-10 02:25:01', '2017-01-10 07:25:01', '', 1787, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/learn-simplified-chinese-characters-20170110-yu2.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2598, 1, '2017-01-10 02:25:35', '2017-01-10 07:25:35', 'Ever forget the words to your national anthem, so you stand there moving your mouth around so no one can tell you\'re not really singing? That\'s 滥竽充数 right there, my friend.<!--more-->\r\n \r\nLet\'s take a look at the character breakdown we\'ve got here: \r\n\r\n[pinyin]lan4[/pinyin] - Indiscriminately (without qualification)\r\n[pinyin]yu2[/pinyin] - An ancient wind instrument\r\n[pinyin]chong1[/pinyin] - To fill in for, to fill out\r\n[pinyin]shu4[/pinyin] - Numbers\r\n\r\nTaken together, the idiom means \"to be a faker hiding amongst people with actual talent.\" Why these four characters? Doesn\'t really make a lot of sense until you read the story, but you\'ll get it afterwards. I don\'t wanna spoil the read, just like, have a look. \r\n\r\n<h3>Usage Examples</h3>\r\nYou\'ll often hear this idiom used as a way to politely make less of one\'s own talents, or to humbly respond to flattery. In English, 滥竽充数 might crop up in a conversation like these:\r\n\r\nA: You\'re really great at your job. \r\nB: Not at all, I\'m just <strong>a talentless hack concealed amongst masters</strong>. \r\n\r\nOr \r\n\r\nA: That guy sure can play ball. \r\nB: Please, he\'s just there to <strong>fill out the team</strong>.  \r\n\r\nHere are some example usages in Chinese:\r\n\r\n老师让我们背诵课文，总有些同学滥竽充数。\r\n<em>\"The teacher asked us to recite the text, but there\'s always some students pretending to mouth along with the rest of us.\"</em>\r\n\r\n我从来不滥竽充数，总是认认真真做事。\r\n<em>I\'ve never just dialed it in, I always diligently handle my affairs. </em>\r\n\r\n<h3>竽 － Reed organs for [pinyin]yu2[/pinyin] and me</h3>\r\nSooo, they had a lot of weird musical instruments in ancient China. This one, the [pinyin]yu2[/pinyin], was kind of like a set of panpipes. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 据《韩非子》记载，齐宣王爱听吹竽，又好<strong>讲排场</strong>。为他吹竽的就有三百人。他常常叫这三百人一起吹竽给他听。有个南郭先生，根本就不会吹竽，看到这个机会，就到齐宣王那里去，请求参加这个吹竽队。齐宣王就把他编在吹竽队里，并且给他很高的薪水。这位根本不会吹竽的南郭先生，每逢吹竽，就混在队里，拿着竽装腔作势。这样一天天混过去，不曾被人发现。\r\n\r\n2) 等到齐宣王死了，齐泯王接替王位。他和齐宣王不同，不喜欢听大家一起吹竽，而是喜欢叫吹竽的人一个一个地来吹给他听。南郭先生听到这个消息，只好逃之夭夭，不敢再冒充吹竽人了。\r\n\r\n3)【释读】\r\n\r\n4) 西方谚语说，你可以在某时欺骗某一些人，却不能一直欺骗所有的人。南郭先生不会吹竽硬装做会吹竽，终有露出马脚之时。\r\n　　\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hzqsn.com/html/main/cygsview/20070710116407.html\" target=\"_blank\">See the source</a>\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) As recorded in the \"Han Feizi\", King Xuan of Qi loved to listen to the <em>yu</em>, and enjoyed a good show of ostentation. 300 people played the <em>yu</em> for him. He often called for these 300 people to play together for his listening enjoyment. [Amongst them] was a Mr. Nanguo, who couldn\'t play the yu at all, but he saw an opportunity, and went to the king asking to be allowed to play yu with the group. The king placed him in with the <em>yu</em> players, and gave him a high salary. So this Mr. Nanguo who couldn\'t play the <em>yu</em> at all, whenever he was made to perform, simply mixed in with the group and pretended to play along. This way the days passed, and no one found him out. \r\n\r\n2) One day King Xuan of Qi died, and King Min of Qi succeeded him on the throne. Unlike King Xuan, King Qi didn\'t like to listen to everyone playing the yu at the same time, but rather preferred to hear players perform one by one. Mr. Nanguo heard this news, and had no choice but to make a getaway, not daring to keep posing at a <em>yu</em> player.  \r\n\r\n3)【Explanation of the Reading】\r\n\r\n4) A western proverb states, \"you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can\'t fool all the people all of the time\". Mr. Nanguo couldn\'t play the <em>yu</em> but pretended to do so, and was unmasked in the end. \r\n　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n', '[Chinese Idioms] 滥竽充数 - A Talentless Hack Hiding Amongst Masters', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1787-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-10 02:25:35', '2017-01-10 07:25:35', '', 1787, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/1787-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2591, 1, '2017-01-10 00:31:04', '2017-01-10 05:31:04', '', 'Learn to Read Intermediate Chinese: Intermediate Chinese Lessons', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'learn-to-read-chinese-20170110', '', '', '2017-01-10 00:31:42', '2017-01-10 05:31:42', '', 1794, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/learn-to-read-chinese-20170110.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2592, 1, '2017-01-10 00:52:25', '2017-01-10 05:52:25', 'Teaching is all about walking that fine line between guiding students around pitfalls while letting them make enough of their own mistakes that the lesson sticks. Try telling that to this fisherman, though. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>被...称为... - [pinyin]bei4 ... cheng4 wei2...[/pinyin]</h3>\r\nIn the first sentence, we see the emergence of this pretty common word group. 被, as we know, means \"by\", as in \"I was slapped in the face <strong>被</strong> a ginormous fish.\" 称, in this context, means \"to be called\" or \"to be named\", and 为 means \"as\". \r\n\r\nTaken together, this word group means \"To be called ... by ...\", except that in Chinese, the \"by...\" bit comes first. For example: \r\n\r\n我的想法<strong>被</strong>大家<strong>称为</strong>异想天开。\r\n<em>\"Everyone called my idea a wild fantasy.\" / \"My idea was called a wild fantasy by everyone.\"</em>\r\n\r\n她<strong>被</strong>老师<strong>称为</strong>得力助手的小女孩。\r\n<em>\"The teacher called her a capable assistant.\" / \"She was called a capable assistant by the teacher.\"</em>\r\n\r\nMake sense? Cool. On with the story.\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 有个渔人有着一流的捕鱼技术，被人们尊称为‘渔王’。然而‘渔王’年老的时候非常苦恼，因为他的三个儿子的渔技都很平庸。\r\n\r\n2) 于是经常向人诉说心中的苦恼：“我真不明白，我捕鱼的技术这么好，我的儿子们为什么这么差？我从他们懂事起就传授捕鱼技术给他们，从最基本的东西教起，告诉他们怎样织网最容易捕捉到鱼，怎样划船最不会惊动鱼，怎样下网最容易请鱼入瓮。他们长大了，我又教他们怎样识潮汐，等等。。。凡是我长年辛辛苦苦总结出来的经验，我都毫无保留地传授给了他们，可他们的捕鱼技术竟然赶不上技术比我差的渔民的儿子！”\r\n\r\n3) 一位路人听了他的诉说后，问：“你一直手把手地教他们吗？”\r\n\r\n4) “是的，为了让他们得到一流的捕鱼技术，我教得很仔细很耐心。”\r\n\r\n5) “他们一直跟随着你吗？”\r\n\r\n6) “是的，为了让他们少走弯路，我一直让他们跟着我学。”\r\n\r\n7) 路人说：“这样说来，你的错误就很明显了。你只传授给了他们技术，却没传授给他们教训。\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/177933022648653564.html\" target=\"_blank\">See the source</a></div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) There once was a fisherman who possessed consummate skill in catching fish, and everyone respectfully called him \"Fisher King\". However, as the \"Fisher King\" got on in years he was quite vexed, because his three sons were very mediocre at fishing.\r\n\r\n2) So he often told others of the troubles in his heart: \"I just don\'t understand, my fishing skills are this good, why are my sons\' skills so poor? As soon as they were old enough to understand I began imparting these skills to them, starting from the most basic things, I told them how to weave next to catch fish with the most ease, how to row your boat so that the fish are not startled, how to lower the net so as to best entice fish in. As they grew older, I also taught them how to read the tides, and more... all this is the experience I attained through long years of hard work, I imparted this to them in full, but surprisingly their skills are no match for the sons of fisherman who are less skilled than I!\" \r\n\r\n3) One traveller heard him speak and asked: \"You\'ve always handheld them through your teachings?\"  \r\n\r\n4) \"That\'s right, so that they might achieve consummate skill, I taught them thoroughly and patiently.\" \r\n\r\n5) \"And they\'ve always followed you?\"\r\n\r\n6) \"That\'s right, so that they would take fewer wrong turns, they\'ve always studied at my side.\"\r\n\r\n7) The traveller said: \"From what you say, your mistake is very evident. You only imparted skills to them, but you didn\'t teach them any real lessons.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n', '[Chinese Fable] 鱼王的儿子 - The Fisherman\'s Sons', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1794-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-10 00:52:25', '2017-01-10 05:52:25', '', 1794, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/1794-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2593, 1, '2017-01-10 00:54:16', '2017-01-10 05:54:16', 'Teaching is all about walking that fine line between guiding students around pitfalls while letting them make enough of their own mistakes that the lesson sticks. Try telling that to this fisherman, though. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>被...称为... - [pinyin]bei4 ... cheng4 wei2...[/pinyin]</h3>\r\nIn the first sentence, we see the emergence of this pretty common word group. 被, as we know, means \"by\", as in \"I was slapped in the face <strong>被</strong> a ginormous fish.\" 称, in this context, means \"to be called\" or \"to be named\", and 为 means \"as\". \r\n\r\nTaken together, this word group means \"To be called ... by ...\", except that in Chinese, the \"by...\" bit comes first. For example: \r\n\r\n我的想法<strong>被</strong>大家<strong>称为</strong>异想天开。\r\n<em>\"Everyone called my idea a wild fantasy.\" / \"My idea was called a wild fantasy by everyone.\"</em>\r\n\r\n她<strong>被</strong>老师<strong>称为</strong>得力助手的小女孩。\r\n<em>\"The teacher called her a capable assistant.\" / \"She was called a capable assistant by the teacher.\"</em>\r\n\r\nMake sense? Cool. On with the story.\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 有个渔人有着一流的捕鱼技术，被人们尊称为‘渔王’。然而‘渔王’年老的时候非常苦恼，因为他的三个儿子的渔技都很平庸。\r\n\r\n2) 于是经常向人诉说心中的苦恼：“我真不明白，我捕鱼的技术这么好，我的儿子们为什么这么差？我从他们懂事起就传授捕鱼技术给他们，从最基本的东西教起，告诉他们怎样织网最容易捕捉到鱼，怎样划船最不会惊动鱼，怎样下网最容易请鱼入瓮。他们长大了，我又教他们怎样识潮汐，等等。。。凡是我长年辛辛苦苦总结出来的经验，我都毫无保留地传授给了他们，可他们的捕鱼技术竟然赶不上技术比我差的渔民的儿子！”\r\n\r\n3) 一位路人听了他的诉说后，问：“你一直手把手地教他们吗？”\r\n\r\n4) “是的，为了让他们得到一流的捕鱼技术，我教得很仔细很耐心。”\r\n\r\n5) “他们一直跟随着你吗？”\r\n\r\n6) “是的，为了让他们少走弯路，我一直让他们跟着我学。”\r\n\r\n7) 路人说：“这样说来，你的错误就很明显了。你只传授给了他们技术，却没传授给他们教训。\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/177933022648653564.html\" target=\"_blank\">See the source</a></div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) There once was a fisherman who possessed consummate skill in catching fish, and everyone respectfully called him \"Fisher King\". However, as the \"Fisher King\" got on in years he was quite vexed, because his three sons were very mediocre at fishing.\r\n\r\n2) So he often told others of the troubles in his heart: \"I just don\'t understand, my fishing skills are this good, why are my sons\' skills so poor? As soon as they were old enough to understand I began imparting these skills to them, starting from the most basic things, I told them how to weave next to catch fish with the most ease, how to row your boat so that the fish are not startled, how to lower the net so as to best entice fish in. As they grew older, I also taught them how to read the tides, and more... all this is the experience I attained through long years of hard work, I imparted this to them in full, but surprisingly their skills are no match for the sons of fisherman who are less skilled than I!\" \r\n\r\n3) One traveller heard him speak and asked: \"You\'ve always handheld them through your teachings?\"  \r\n\r\n4) \"That\'s right, so that they might achieve consummate skill, I taught them thoroughly and patiently.\" \r\n\r\n5) \"And they\'ve always followed you?\"\r\n\r\n6) \"That\'s right, so that they would take fewer wrong turns, they\'ve always studied at my side.\"\r\n\r\n7) The traveller said: \"From what you say, your mistake is very evident. You only imparted skills to them, but you didn\'t teach them any real lessons.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n', '[Chinese Fable] 鱼王的儿子 - The Fisherman\'s Sons', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1794-autosave-v1', '', '', '2017-01-10 00:54:16', '2017-01-10 05:54:16', '', 1794, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/1794-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2587, 1, '2017-01-08 04:42:32', '2017-01-08 09:42:32', 'Tackling green recruits that are standing in the line of fire is listed as an absolute must on Time Out China\'s \"Top 10 Things to do in the Heat of Battle\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h3>Martial vocab</h3>\r\nWe pick up some battle-stations vocab in this paragraph, namely: \r\n<ul>\r\n<li>战斗 [pinyin]zhan4 dou4[/pinyin] - fight, combat</li>\r\n<li>上尉 [pinyin]shang4 wei4[/pinyin] - captain</li>\r\n<li>敌机 [pinyin]di4 ji1[/pinyin] - enemy plane</li>\r\n<li>战士 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4[/pinyin] - soldier</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\nWe\'ve also got a bit of a rough sentence in there at the end. I\'ve highlighted what I believe are the hard bits: \r\n\r\n他<strong>顾不上</strong>多想，<strong>一个鱼跃飞身</strong>将小战士紧紧地压在了身下。\r\n\r\nThe first part, 顾不上, means to not have the resources to attend to something. In this sentence, the resource that we don\'t have is \"time\", though the word \"time\" never explicitly appears. The second part, 一个鱼跃飞身, is a lively description of how the captain jumps towards the soldier. How does he jump? He flies like a fish leaping out of the water, his body, we can presume, horizontal in the air, parallel to the ground. So this sentence might read as:\r\n\r\n<em>He didn\'t have time to think, but leapt into the air like a fish flying straight at the young soldier and pressed him tightly beneath his body.</em>\r\n\r\nReady? Cool, let\'s read.\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 在一场激烈的<strong>战斗</strong>中，<strong>上尉</strong>忽然发现一架<strong>敌机</strong>向阵地俯冲下来。照常理，发现敌机俯冲时要毫不犹豫地卧倒。可上尉并没有立刻卧倒，他发现离他四五米远处有一个小<strong>战士</strong>还站在那儿。他顾不上多想，一个鱼跃飞身将小战士紧紧地压在了身下。此时一声巨响，飞溅起来的泥土纷纷落在他们的身上。上尉拍拍身上的尘土，回头一看，顿时惊呆了：刚才自己所处的那个位置被炸成了一个大坑。\r\n\r\n2)【小故事大道理】：在帮助别人的同时也帮助了自己！ \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/430979909812804364.html\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a>\r\n\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\n1) In the middle of an intense battle, a captain noticed an enemy plane swooping down upon his position. According to common sense, when you see an enemy plan swooping down on you, you should throw yourself flat without hesitation. But the captain didn\'t immediately lie down, as he saw that 4 or 5 meters away from him a young soldier was still just standing there. He didn\'t have time to think, but leapt into the air like a fish flying straight at the young soldier and pressed him tightly beneath his body. Just then there was a tremendously loud sound, and flying droplets of mud fell all over them. When the captain brushed the dust off himself, he looked back, and was immediately dumbstruck: the spot where he\'d just been [standing] had exploded and had become [nothing more than] a big hole [in the ground].  \r\n\r\n2)【The big moral of this little story】：When you help others, you simultaneously help yourself! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n\r\n 　   \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n     ', '[Chinese Short Story] 救人 - When you help others, you also help yourself', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1792-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-08 04:42:32', '2017-01-08 09:42:32', '', 1792, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/1792-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2641, 1, '2017-01-15 04:06:25', '2017-01-15 09:06:25', 'Tackling green recruits that are standing in the line of fire is listed as an absolute must on Time Out China\'s \"Top 10 Things to do in the Heat of Battle\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>Martial vocab</h3>\r\nWe pick up some battle-stations vocab in this paragraph, namely: \r\n<ul>\r\n<li>战斗 [pinyin]zhan4 dou4[/pinyin] - fight, combat</li>\r\n<li>上尉 [pinyin]shang4 wei4[/pinyin] - captain</li>\r\n<li>敌机 [pinyin]di4 ji1[/pinyin] - enemy plane</li>\r\n<li>战士 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4[/pinyin] - soldier</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\nWe\'ve also got a bit of a rough sentence in there at the end. I\'ve highlighted what I believe are the hard bits: \r\n\r\n他<strong>顾不上</strong>多想，<strong>一个鱼跃飞身</strong>将小战士紧紧地压在了身下。\r\n\r\nThe first part, 顾不上, means to not have the resources to attend to something. In this sentence, the resource that we don\'t have is \"time\", though the word \"time\" never explicitly appears. The second part, 一个鱼跃飞身, is a lively description of how the captain jumps towards the soldier. How does he jump? He flies like a fish leaping out of the water, his body, we can presume, horizontal in the air, parallel to the ground. So this sentence might read as:\r\n\r\n<em>He didn\'t have time to think, but leapt into the air like a fish flying straight at the young soldier and pressed him tightly beneath his body.</em>\r\n\r\nReady? Cool, let\'s read.\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 在一场激烈的<strong>战斗</strong>中，<strong>上尉</strong>忽然发现一架<strong>敌机</strong>向阵地俯冲下来。照常理，发现敌机俯冲时要毫不犹豫地卧倒。可上尉并没有立刻卧倒，他发现离他四五米远处有一个小<strong>战士</strong>还站在那儿。他顾不上多想，一个鱼跃飞身将小战士紧紧地压在了身下。此时一声巨响，飞溅起来的泥土纷纷落在他们的身上。上尉拍拍身上的尘土，回头一看，顿时惊呆了：刚才自己所处的那个位置被炸成了一个大坑。\r\n\r\n2)【小故事大道理】：在帮助别人的同时也帮助了自己！ \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/430979909812804364.html\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a>\r\n\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\n1) In the middle of an intense battle, a captain noticed an enemy plane swooping down upon his position. According to common sense, when you see an enemy plan swooping down on you, you should throw yourself flat without hesitation. But the captain didn\'t immediately lie down, as he saw that 4 or 5 meters away from him a young soldier was still just standing there. He didn\'t have time to think, but leapt into the air like a fish flying straight at the young soldier and pressed him tightly beneath his body. Just then there was a tremendously loud sound, and flying droplets of mud fell all over them. When the captain brushed the dust off himself, he looked back, and was immediately dumbstruck: the spot where he\'d just been [standing] had exploded and had become [nothing more than] a big hole [in the ground].  \r\n\r\n2)【The big moral of this little story】：When you help others, you simultaneously help yourself! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n', '[Chinese Short Story] 救人 - When you help others, you also help yourself', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1792-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-15 04:06:25', '2017-01-15 09:06:25', '', 1792, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/1792-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2590, 1, '2017-01-10 00:20:27', '2017-01-10 05:20:27', 'What\'s the difference between hearing something and learning it? \r\n\r\n<h3>被...称为 - [pinyin]bei4 cheng4 wei2[/pinyin]</h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 有个渔人有着一流的捕鱼技术，被人们尊称为‘渔王’。然而‘渔王’年老的时候非常苦恼，因为他的三个儿子的渔技都很平庸。\r\n\r\n2) 于是经常向人诉说心中的苦恼：“我真不明白，我捕鱼的技术这么好，我的儿子们为什么这么差？我从他们懂事起就传授捕鱼技术给他们，从最基本的东西教起，告诉他们怎样织网最容易捕捉到鱼，怎样划船最不会惊动鱼，怎样下网最容易请鱼入瓮。他们长大了，我又教他们怎样识潮汐，等等。。。凡是我长年辛辛苦苦总结出来的经验，我都毫无保留地传授给了他们，可他们的捕鱼技术竟然赶不上技术比我差的渔民的儿子！”\r\n\r\n3) 一位路人听了他的诉说后，问：“你一直手把手地教他们吗？”\r\n\r\n4) “是的，为了让他们得到一流的捕鱼技术，我教得很仔细很耐心。”\r\n\r\n5) “他们一直跟随着你吗？”\r\n\r\n6) “是的，为了让他们少走弯路，我一直让他们跟着我学。”\r\n\r\n7) 路人说：“这样说来，你的错误就很明显了。你只传授给了他们技术，却没传授给他们教训。\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/177933022648653564.html\" target=\"_blank\">See the source</a></div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) There once was a fisherman who possessed consummate skill in catching fish, and everyone respectfully called him \"Fisher King\". However, as the \"Fisher King\" got on in years he was quite vexed, because his three sons were very mediocre at fishing.\r\n\r\n2) So he often told others of the troubles in his heart: \"I just don\'t understand, my fishing skills are this good, why are my sons\' skills so poor? As soon as they were old enough to understand I began imparting these skills to them, starting from the most basic things, I told them how to weave next to catch fish with the most ease, how to row your boat so that the fish are not startled, how to lower the net so as to best entice fish in. As they grew older, I also taught them how to read the tides, and more... all this is the experience I attained through long years of hard work, I imparted this to them in full, but surprisingly their skills are no match for the sons of fisherman who are less skilled than I!\" \r\n\r\n3) One traveller heard him speak and asked: \"You\'ve always handheld them through your teachings?\"  \r\n\r\n4) \"That\'s right, so that they might achieve consummate skill, I taught them thoroughly and patiently.\" \r\n\r\n5) \"And they\'ve always followed you?\"\r\n\r\n6) \"That\'s right, so that they would take fewer wrong turns, they\'ve always studied at my side.\"\r\n\r\n7) The traveller said: \"From what you say, your mistake is very evident. You only imparted skills to them, but you didn\'t teach them any real lessons.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n', '[Chinese Fable] 鱼王的儿子 - The Fisherman\'s Sons', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1794-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-10 00:20:27', '2017-01-10 05:20:27', '', 1794, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/1794-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1176, 1, '2012-07-22 21:04:58', '2012-07-23 01:04:58', 'Seeing 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\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese Text</h3>\r\n1) 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人连连摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来逃难的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处抓>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他知书达理，眉清目秀，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿心心相印，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n2) 成亲那天，孟家>张灯结彩，宾客满堂，一派喜气洋洋<的情景。眼看天快黑了，喝喜酒的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入洞房，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n3) 一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n4) 猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) During 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\n2) On 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\n3) On 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\n4) When Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Legends] 孟姜女哭长城 - Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'meng-jiangnv-cries-the-great-wall-down', '', '', '2016-11-04 09:02:41', '2016-11-04 13:02:41', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1176', 0, 'post', '', 4);
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(2091, 1, '2016-11-04 08:57:55', '2016-11-04 12:57:55', 'Seeing 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\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese Text</h3>\r\n1) 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人连连摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来逃难的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处抓>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他知书达理，眉清目秀，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿心心相印，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n2) 成亲那天，孟家>张灯结彩，宾客满堂，一派喜气洋洋<的情景。眼看天快黑了，喝喜酒的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入洞房，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n3) 一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n4) 猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) During 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\n2) On 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\n3) On 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\n4) When Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Legends] 孟姜女哭长城 - Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 08:57:55', '2016-11-04 12:57:55', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1176-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://devenv.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://devenv.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://devenv.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://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1181, 1, '2012-07-22 12:11:04', '2012-07-22 16:11:04', '[two_third]\r\nThis traditional story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad. If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here, but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI happen to like sad stories, and I think the pace and reading level of this one is very nice, so I\'m it, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nI learned a few new words here, one of which is worth a giggle or two: 洞房 - meaning \"the marriage chamber\" - or literally \"Cave room\" / \"Hole Room\". Weather that\'s because the bride and groom go in and don\'t want to come out of their, you know, cave for a while, or if that\'s more in reference to the <em>other</em> meaning of 洞 is beyond me, but I won\'t forget that in a hurry. (Thank goodness, because I say \'marriage chamber\' so often).\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\r\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\r\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\r\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\r\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\r\n深绿 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\r\n秋天 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\r\n金黄 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\r\n冬天 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\r\n后悔 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\r\n可不要 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\r\n忽然 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n掉下来 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人连连摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来逃难的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处抓人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他知书达理，眉清目秀，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿心心相印，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n    成亲那天，孟家张灯结彩，宾客满堂，一派喜气洋洋的情景。眼看天快黑了，喝喜酒的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入洞房，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n    一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n        猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Pretty Meng rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked the pretty Meng. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with many-colored lanterns, was jam-packed with guests, it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Pretty Meng heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng heard this grevious news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the brutality of Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng Jiang Nv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 12:11:04', '2012-07-22 16:11:04', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1180, 1, '2012-07-22 12:10:52', '2012-07-22 16:10:52', '[two_third]\nThis traditional story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad. If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here, but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\nI happen to like sad stories, and I think the pace and reading level of this one is very nice, so I\'m it, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \n\nI learned a few new words here, one of which is worth a giggle or two: 洞房 - meaning \"the marriage chamber\" - or literally \"Cave room\" / \"Hole Room\". Weather that\'s because the bride and groom go in and don\'t want to come out of their, you know, cave for a while, or if that\'s more in reference to the <em>other</em> meaning of 洞 is beyond me, but I won\'t forget that in a hurry. (Thank goodness, because I say \'marriage chamber\' so often).\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\n深绿 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\n秋天 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\n金黄 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\n冬天 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\n后悔 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\n可不要 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\n忽然 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n掉下来 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人连连摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来逃难的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处抓人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他知书达理，眉清目秀，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿心心相印，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n    成亲那天，孟家张灯结彩，宾客满堂，一派喜气洋洋的情景。眼看天快黑了，喝喜酒的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入洞房，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n    一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n        猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Pretty Meng rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked the pretty Meng. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with many-colored lanterns, was jam-packed with guests, it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Pretty Meng heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \n\nWhen Meng heard this grevious news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the brutality of Qin ShiHuang. 天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng Jiang Nv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 12:10:52', '2012-07-22 16:10:52', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1182, 1, '2012-07-22 12:14:26', '2012-07-22 16:14:26', '[two_third]\nThis traditional story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad. If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\nI happen to like sad stories, and I think the pace and reading level of this one is very nice, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \n\nI learned a few new words here, one of which is worth a giggle or two: 洞房 - meaning \"the marriage chamber\" - or literally \"Cave room\" / \"Hole Room\". Weather that\'s because the bride and groom go in and don\'t want to come out of their, you know, cave for a while, or if that\'s more in reference to the <em>other</em> meaning of 洞 is beyond me, but I won\'t forget that in a hurry. (Thank goodness, because I say \'marriage chamber\' so often).\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\n深绿 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\n秋天 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\n金黄 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\n冬天 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\n后悔 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\n可不要 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\n忽然 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n掉下来 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人连连摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来逃难的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处抓人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他知书达理，眉清目秀，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿心心相印，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n 成亲那天，孟家张灯结彩，宾客满堂，一派喜气洋洋的情景。眼看天快黑了，喝喜酒的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入洞房，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里干着急，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，跋涉过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着顽强的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个工地组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的踪影。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，尸首都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n        猛地听到这个噩耗，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越猛烈，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with many-colored lanterns, was jam-packed with guests, it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \n\nWhen Meng  heard this grevious news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the brutality of Qin ShiHuang. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 12:14:26', '2012-07-22 16:14:26', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1183, 1, '2012-07-22 20:34:49', '2012-07-23 00:34:49', '[two_third]\nThis traditional story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad. If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\nI happen to enjoy stories, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \n\nThis story describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女, and her love, 范喜良, who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 during the building of the Great Wall. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒, meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房, or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). \n\nAn interesting word here is 眼看, which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \n\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n连连  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\n逃难 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\n抓 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\n知书达理 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\n心心相印 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\n成亲 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\n满堂 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\n干着急 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\n跋涉 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\n顽强 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\n工地\n踪影\n尸首\n噩耗\n猛烈\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他血肉模糊的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被残暴的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with many-colored lanterns, was jam-packed with guests, it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \n\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the brutality of Qin ShiHuang. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 20:34:49', '2012-07-23 00:34:49', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1184, 1, '2012-07-22 21:01:20', '2012-07-23 01:01:20', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese - Learn Intermediate Chinese Reading Passages with Famous Chinese Fables and Myths', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120723', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:01:20', '2012-07-23 01:01:20', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1185, 1, '2012-07-22 21:01:21', '2012-07-23 01:01:21', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120723-inline', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:01:21', '2012-07-23 01:01:21', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1186, 1, '2012-07-22 21:03:42', '2012-07-23 01:03:42', '[two_third]\nThis traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \n\nThis story describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女, and her love, 范喜良, who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 during the building of the Great Wall. The story describe how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒, meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房, or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\n\nAn interesting word here is 眼看, which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \n\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \n\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:03:42', '2012-07-23 01:03:42', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-8/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1187, 1, '2012-07-22 21:04:26', '2012-07-23 01:04:26', '[two_third]\r\nThis traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女, and her love, 范喜良, who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 during the building of the Great Wall. The story describe how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒, meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房, or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看, which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\r\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\r\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\r\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\r\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\r\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\r\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\r\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\r\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\r\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\r\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\r\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\r\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\r\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\r\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\r\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\r\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\r\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\r\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\r\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:04:26', '2012-07-23 01:04:26', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-9/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1188, 1, '2012-08-13 01:36:02', '2012-08-13 05:36:02', '[two_third]\nSeeing as how I just got back from a trip to the Wall myself, I figured I\'d stay on that theme. This traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城 [pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3 ku1 chang2 cheng2[/pinyin], is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \n\nThis story happens between 259 B.C. and 210 B.C., and describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女[pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3[/pinyin], and her love, 范喜良 [pinyin]fan4 xi3 liang2[/pinyin], who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 [pinyin]qin2 shi3 huang2[/pinyin] during the building of the Great Wall. The story describes how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒 [pinyin]xi3 jiu3[/pinyin], meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房 [pinyin]dong4 fang2[/pinyin], or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\n\nAn interesting word here is 眼看 [pinyin]yan3 kan4[/pinyin], which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \n\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" [pinyin]bu4 rong2 fen1 shuo1[/pinyin] charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\n\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\n\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\n\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \n\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \n\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \n\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-autosave-v1', '', '', '2012-08-13 01:36:02', '2012-08-13 05:36:02', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1189, 1, '2012-07-22 21:04:58', '2012-07-23 01:04:58', '[two_third]\r\nThis traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女, and her love, 范喜良, who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 during the building of the Great Wall. The story describe how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒, meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房, or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看, which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\r\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\r\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\r\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\r\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\r\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\r\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\r\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\r\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\r\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\r\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\r\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\r\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\r\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\r\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\r\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\r\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\r\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\r\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\r\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:04:58', '2012-07-23 01:04:58', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-10/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1190, 1, '2012-07-22 21:07:06', '2012-07-23 01:07:06', '[two_third]\r\nSeeing as how I just got back from a trip to the Wall myself, I figured I\'d stay on that theme. This traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城, is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女, and her love, 范喜良, who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 during the building of the Great Wall. The story describe how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒, meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房, or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看, which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\r\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\r\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\r\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\r\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\r\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\r\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\r\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\r\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\r\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\r\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\r\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\r\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\r\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\r\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\r\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\r\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\r\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\r\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\r\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:07:06', '2012-07-23 01:07:06', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-11/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1192, 1, '2012-08-03 23:03:13', '2012-08-04 03:03:13', 'This very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian. \r\n\r\nI\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\n<h3>又 and 再</h3>\r\n\r\nOne other notable point is the word 又, which means \"again\". But did you know that in Chinese, there are two ways to say \"again\"? There\'s 又, and there\'s also 再. It\'s a little alien to a native English speaker that there might be two different ways to say \"again\", so let me explain the difference:\r\n\r\n又 - Indicates that the action has already been repeated in the past. Example: \"<strong>You forgot your homework again? You\'re going to get in trouble.</strong>\" The person being scolded forgot their homework once, then already forgot it again (maybe many times). The forgetting of homework again has already happened. So we use 又.\r\n\r\n再 - Indicates that something will happen again <em>in the future</em>. An example of this would be: <strong>Don\'t forget your homework again or you\'ll get in trouble.</strong> In other words, you forgot your homework at least once already, don\'t repeat that action again in the future. Another example of this is would be a sentence like, \"When will I see you again?\" The seeing again hasn\'t yet happened - it may happen in the future. So we would use 再. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n<strong>青蛙捉害虫，是庄稼的好朋友。可我爸爸成天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是消灭害虫的能手，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，煮了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我却一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多可怜呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 爸爸是个大坏蛋 - My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'my-dads-a-scoundrel', '', '', '2016-11-04 23:43:10', '2016-11-05 03:43:10', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1192', 0, 'post', '', 9),
(2131, 1, '2016-11-04 23:37:03', '2016-11-05 03:37:03', 'This very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian. \r\n\r\nI\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\n<h3>又 and 再</h3>\r\n\r\nOne other notable point is the word 又, which means \"again\". But did you know that in Chinese, there are two ways to say \"again\"? There\'s 又, and there\'s also 再. It\'s a little alien to a native English speaker that there might be two different ways to say \"again\", so let me explain the difference:\r\n\r\n又 - Indicates that the action has already been repeated in the past. Example: \"<strong>You forgot your homework again? You\'re going to get in trouble.</strong>\" The person being scolded forgot their homework once, then already forgot it again (maybe many times). The forgetting of homework again has already happened. So we use 又.\r\n\r\n再 - Indicates that something will happen again <em>in the future</em>. An example of this would be: <strong>Don\'t forget your homework again or you\'ll get in trouble.</strong> In other words, you forgot your homework at least once already, don\'t repeat that action again in the future. Another example of this is would be a sentence like, \"When will I see you again?\" The seeing again hasn\'t yet happened - it may happen in the future. So we would use 再. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙捉害虫，是庄稼的好朋友。可我爸爸成天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是消灭害虫的能手，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，煮了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我却一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多可怜呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essay] 爸爸是个大坏蛋 - My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 23:37:03', '2016-11-05 03:37:03', '', 1192, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1192-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2130, 1, '2016-11-04 23:36:29', '2016-11-05 03:36:29', 'This very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\n<h3>又 and 再</h3>\r\n\r\nOne other notable point is the word 又, which means \"again\". But did you know that in Chinese, there are two ways to say \"again\"? There\'s 又, and there\'s also 再. It\'s a little alien to a native English speaker that there might be two different ways to say \"again\", so let me explain the difference:\r\n\r\n又 - Indicates that the action has already been repeated in the past. Example: \"<strong>You forgot your homework again? You\'re going to get in trouble.</strong>\" The person being scolded forgot their homework once, then already forgot it again (maybe many times). The forgetting of homework again has already happened. So we use 又.\r\n\r\n再 - Indicates that something will happen again <em>in the future</em>. An example of this would be: <strong>Don\'t forget your homework again or you\'ll get in trouble.</strong> In other words, you forgot your homework at least once already, don\'t repeat that action again in the future. Another example of this is would be a sentence like, \"When will I see you again?\" The seeing again hasn\'t yet happened - it may happen in the future. So we would use 再. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙捉害虫，是庄稼的好朋友。可我爸爸成天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是消灭害虫的能手，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，煮了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我却一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多可怜呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essay] 爸爸是个大坏蛋 - My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 23:36:29', '2016-11-05 03:36:29', '', 1192, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1192-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1731, 1, '2016-10-31 03:16:51', '2016-10-31 07:16:51', 'This very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\nOne other notable point is the word 又, which means \"again\". But did you know that in Chinese, there are two ways to say \"again\"? There\'s 又, and there\'s also 再. It\'s a little alien to a native English speaker that there might be two different ways to say \"again\", so let me explain the difference:\r\n\r\n又 - Indicates that the action has already been repeated in the past. Example: \"<strong>You forgot your homework again? You\'re going to get in trouble.</strong>\" The person being scolded forgot their homework once, then already forgot it again (maybe many times). The forgetting of homework again has already happened. So we use 又.\r\n\r\n再 - Indicates that something will happen again <em>in the future</em>. An example of this would be: <strong>Don\'t forget your homework again or you\'ll get in trouble.</strong> In other words, you forgot your homework at least once already, don\'t repeat that action again in the future. Another example of this is would be a sentence like, \"When will I see you again?\" The seeing again hasn\'t yet happened - it may happen in the future. So we would use 再. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸成天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essays] 爸爸是个大坏蛋 - My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:16:51', '2016-10-31 07:16:51', '', 1192, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1192-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1193, 1, '2012-08-03 23:01:02', '2012-08-04 03:01:02', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120804-inline', '', '', '2012-08-03 23:01:02', '2012-08-04 03:01:02', '', 1192, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1194, 1, '2012-08-03 23:01:05', '2012-08-04 03:01:05', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120804', '', '', '2012-08-03 23:01:05', '2012-08-04 03:01:05', '', 1192, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1195, 1, '2012-08-03 22:55:50', '2012-08-04 02:55:50', '[two_third]\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\n\nI\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\n\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\n\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \n\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\n消灭 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\n能手 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸在天出去捉青蛙。\n\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\n\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \n\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\n\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad\'s A Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-03 22:55:50', '2012-08-04 02:55:50', '', 1192, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1192-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1196, 1, '2012-08-03 23:03:13', '2012-08-04 03:03:13', '[two_third]\r\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\r\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\r\n消灭 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n能手 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\r\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\r\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\r\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸在天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad\'s A Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-03 23:03:13', '2012-08-04 03:03:13', '', 1192, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1192-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1197, 1, '2016-11-04 09:14:20', '2016-11-04 13:14:20', '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. 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? \n\nIn this case, that could be translated as, \"Maybe it\'s because we have your little sister,\" or \"It\'s because I had your little sister [to look after]\", though \"because\" is never actually used in the sentence, it becomes that much harder to read. \n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\n9月24日星期六\n\n1) 今天，开完家长会，妈妈闷闷不乐，我小心地问：“妈妈，您怎么了？”妈妈看着我，叹了口气说：“你暑假作业完成的不好，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\n2) 看着妈妈自责的样子，我心里特别难过，我对妈妈说：“妈妈，您不要自责了，这根本就不是你的错，而是我自己不努力，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！”妈妈盯着我的眼睛，攥着我的手说：“好孩子，妈妈相信你，让我们共同努力！”\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nSeptember 24, Saturday\n\n1) Today, after my parent-teacher conference, mama looked moody, and I carefully asked her, \"Mama, what\'s wrong?\" Looking at me, mother sighed and said: \"Your summer vacation homework is not close to being done, and your writing is poor. I think, because [I\'ve been spending so much time with] your little sister, I haven\'t been paying as much attention to you during this time.\" As I listened, I hung my head in embarrassment. \n\n2) When I saw the self-blame on mama\'s face, I was very sad, and I said to mama: \"Mama, don\'t blame yourself, it 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]', '[Chinese Essays] 妈妈相信我 - Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1113-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 09:14:20', '2016-11-04 13:14:20', '', 1113, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1113-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2097, 1, '2016-11-04 09:14:41', '2016-11-04 13:14:41', '', 'mama-please-believe-me-featured', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'mama-please-believe-me-featured', '', '', '2016-11-04 09:14:41', '2016-11-04 13:14:41', '', 1113, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/mama-please-believe-me-featured.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2098, 1, '2016-11-04 09:27:14', '2016-11-04 13:27:14', 'This is a much longer read than I typically put up here, so I hope you\'re up for a slog. 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. \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\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese Text</h3>\n1) 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\n2) 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\n3) 沙吾提卡巴克说: “世界上是没有这么个地方的，只天上有吧！听说天上的神仙最快活。”\n\n4) 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\n5) 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\n6) 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\n7) 沙吾提卡巴克惊奇地问道: “怎么上去？”\n\n8) 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\n9) 沙吾提卡巴克说: “好办法，我们就这样办好了。”\n\n10) 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\n11) 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\n12) 沙吾提卡巴克问道: “嘿！到了吗？我的手吃不消啦！”\n\n13) 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\n14) 沙吾提卡巴克问道: “窟窿有多大？我们能不能钻进去呀？”\n\n15) 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\n16) 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\"]\n1) Long 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\n2) One 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?\"\n\n3) Shawutikabake said: \"There\'s no such place on this earth, only in heaven! I heard that the immortals in heaven are the happiest.\" \n\n4) Hashandaiwulaike 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\n5) Shawutikabake said:  \"That\'s all very well and good, but how will we get up there? Can we find a ladder that long?\" \n\n6) Hashandaiwulaike said: \"We could never find a ladder that long, but you can still get up there without a ladder.\" \n\n7) Shawutikabake said: \"How?\"\n\n8) Hashandaiwulaike 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\n9) Shawutikabake said:  \"That\'s a great idea, we\'ll do it that way.\" \n\n10) So 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\n11) So 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\n12) Shawutikabake asked,\" Hey! Are we there yet? I can\'t hold on much longer!\" \n\n13) Hashandaiwulaike looked into a gap between the clouds and said, \"Almost! I can already see the opening!\" \n\n14) Shawutikabake asked, \"How big is the opening? Can we fit into it?\" \n\n15) Hashandaiwulaike answered, \"It\'s this big.\"   As Hashandaiwulaike answered, he used his hands to demonstrate how big the opening [to heaven] was. \n\n16) But 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]', '[Chinese Fables] 两个懒汉 - The Two Lazybones', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1086-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 09:27:14', '2016-11-04 13:27:14', '', 1086, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1086-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1198, 1, '2012-05-07 09:40:34', '2012-05-07 13:40:34', '[two_third]\r\nAnd now a break from all the intermediate and advanced exercises I\'ve been posting lately. This one is a straightforward beginner Chinese diary-style essay about a student whose mother is displeased with his (or her, it\'s never clarified) homework. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120503-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading Materials: Learn Chinese Reading for Beginners\" title=\"Easy Chinese Passages: Easy Chinese Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> There\'s only one thing that particularly stands out to me as confusing here, which is when the mother says: 可能是<strong>有了</strong>小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。 Literally, this translates as \"Maybe it\'s have small sister, I during this time towards you care little.\" The last clause we can translate into less literal and more readable English as \"I haven\'t looked after you much during this time,\" but the first bit, \"<strong><em>have </em></strong>small sister\" (有了), is confusing. Why \"have\" 有了? \r\n\r\nIn this case, that could be translated as, \"Maybe it\'s because we have your little sister,\" or \"It\'s because I had your little sister [to look after]\", though \"because\" is never actually used in the sentence, it becomes that much harder to read. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n闷闷不乐 - [pinyin]men4 men4 bu4 le4[/pinyin] - Sulky, moody, unhappy\r\n怎么了 - [pinyin]zen3 me5 le4[/pinyin] - What\'s wrong?\r\n叹 - [pinyin]tan4[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n暑假 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Summer vacation\r\n自责 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - To blame oneself\r\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - absolutely (not)\r\n努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  To strive, work hard\r\n盯 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Stare at\r\n攥 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - To grasp\r\n共同 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Together\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n9月24日星期六\r\n\r\n今天，开完家长会，妈妈<strong>闷闷不乐</strong>，我小心地问：“妈妈，您<strong>怎么了</strong>？”妈妈看着我，<strong>叹</strong>了口气说：“你<strong>暑假</strong>作业完成的不好，字也写的不好。我想，可能是有了小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。”我听了，不好意思地低下了头。\r\n\r\n看着妈妈<strong>自责</strong>的样子，我心里特别难过，我对妈妈说：“妈妈，您不要自责了，这<strong>根本</strong>就不是你的错，而是我自己不<strong>努力</strong>，请您不要生气了，从现在开始，我一定认真完成老师交给的每项作业，争取取得好成绩。请您相信我！”妈妈<strong>盯</strong>着我的眼睛，<strong>攥</strong>着我的手说：“好孩子，妈妈相信你，让我们<strong>共同</strong>努力！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nSeptember 24, Saturday\r\n\r\nToday, as we were finishing our family meeting, mama looked moody, and I carefully asked her, \"Mama, what\'s wrong?\" Looking at me, mother sighed and said: \"Your summer vacation homework is not close to being done, and your writing is poor. I think, because [I\'ve been spending so much time with] your little sister, I haven\'t been paying as much attention to you during this time.\" As I listened, I hung my head in embarrassment. \r\n\r\nWhen I saw the self-blame on mama\'s face, I was very sad, and I said to mama: \"Mama, don\'t blame yourself, is isn\'t your fault at all, it\'s that I haven\'t worked hard enough, so please don\'t be angry, starting now, I\'ll earnestly finish all the homework teacher gave me, and I\'ll fight to get good grades. Please believe me!\" Mama stared into my eyes, grasped my hand and said, \"Good child, mother believes you, let us work hard together.\" \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Dear Diary: Mama Please Believe Me', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1113-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-05-07 09:40:34', '2012-05-07 13:40:34', '', 1113, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/05/07/1113-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1199, 1, '2016-11-04 23:35:01', '2016-11-05 03:35:01', 'This very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\n\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\n\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \n\nOne other notable point is the word 又, which means \"again\". But did you know that in Chinese, there are two ways to say \"again\"? There\'s 又, and there\'s also 再. It\'s a little alien to a native English speaker that there might be two different ways to say \"again\", so let me explain the difference:\n\n又 - Indicates that the action has already been repeated in the past. Example: \"<strong>You forgot your homework again? You\'re going to get in trouble.</strong>\" The person being scolded forgot their homework once, then already forgot it again (maybe many times). The forgetting of homework again has already happened. So we use 又.\n\n再 - Indicates that something will happen again <em>in the future</em>. An example of this would be: <strong>Don\'t forget your homework again or you\'ll get in trouble.</strong> In other words, you forgot your homework at least once already, don\'t repeat that action again in the future. Another example of this is would be a sentence like, \"When will I see you again?\" The seeing again hasn\'t yet happened - it may happen in the future. So we would use 再. \n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸成天出去捉青蛙。\n\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\n\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \n\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\n\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essay] 爸爸是个大坏蛋 - My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 23:35:01', '2016-11-05 03:35:01', '', 1192, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1192-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1200, 1, '2012-08-03 23:03:55', '2012-08-04 03:03:55', '[two_third]\r\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\r\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\r\n消灭 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n能手 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\r\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\r\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\r\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸在天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-03 23:03:55', '2012-08-04 03:03:55', '', 1192, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1192-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1201, 1, '2012-08-10 22:36:21', '2012-08-11 02:36:21', 'This melancholy kid doesn\'t seem to have very much luck with pets or siblings. You may or may not have a little difficulty with the sentence 楼区不让养, which is said in regards to a pet dog. Looking at each word...\r\n\r\n楼 - [pinyin]lou2[/pinyin] Building\r\n区 - [pinyin]qu1[/pinyin] District / region / area\r\n不 - [pinyin]bu4[/pinyin] No, not, doesn\'t\r\n让 - [pinyin]rang4[/pinyin] Allow, let\r\n养 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] Raise, take care of (as in a child or a pet)\r\n\r\n... the meaning isn\'t too hard to decipher \"the building doesn\'t allow raising [of dogs]\". But while the meaning isn\'t difficult, some of the words are used a little bit differently than they are in English. For example, in English, when we say someone \"raises dogs\", or \"raises\" any type of animal, it usually indicates some kind of professional or large-scale dedication to breeding that type of animal. When people casually keep a pet or pets, we say they \"have a dog\", or \"own a dog\". Not so in Chinese. The correct Chinese term for having a pet dog (or many types of pet) is \"raising a dog\" - 养狗. So, for example, saying \"I want to raise a dog\" (我想养一只狗) is the equivalent of saying \"I want a dog\" in English. \r\n\r\nThe other question this raises is \"what do they mean by 楼区, \'building district\'\"? You\'d assume this means the area around your apartment building, and you\'d be right - but why \"区\"? This is because in China, many older apartment blocks are much more like tiny districts or communities than they are in the western world. In one complex, there may be several buildings that make up your block, with little numbered sub-staircases (单元) that each contain 12 or so apartments, and they may include small playgrounds inside the block or have other amenities. 楼区 refers to all buildings in the apartment block, any outdoor areas or amenities for that apartment area. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n我是个<strong>独生子</strong>，家里没有兄弟，只好养动物来解闷。可是，小黄狗，楼区不让养，只好放走；大白鹅，被人偷走了；小松鼠，不小心从窗台上摔了下来，死了。就这样，我的小动物死的死，放的放。现在只有两只小乌龟<陪伴着我。我心想：你们俩可算得上“忠臣”了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nI\'m an only child, I have no brothers, so I have to raise pets to relieve my boredom. But as to the little yellow dog, the building [management] doesn\'t allow [people to have dogs], so we had to set it free; the big white goose was stolen, and the little squirrel accidentally leaped from the window ledge and died. In these ways, my pets have died, or been let go. Right now I only have two turtles to accompany me. In my heart I think: \"You two are my only \"loyal ministers\".  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 我孤独 - I am All Alone', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'im-all-alone', '', '', '2016-11-04 23:53:27', '2016-11-05 03:53:27', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1201', 0, 'post', '', 12),
(2140, 1, '2016-11-04 23:47:57', '2016-11-05 03:47:57', 'This melancholy kid doesn\'t seem to have very much luck with pets or siblings. You may or may not have a little difficulty with the sentence 楼区不让养, which is said in regards to a pet dog. Looking at each word...\r\n\r\n楼 - [pinyin]lou2[/pinyin] Building\r\n区 - [pinyin]qu1[/pinyin] District / region / area\r\n不 - [pinyin]bu4[/pinyin] No, not, doesn\'t\r\n让 - [pinyin]rang4[/pinyin] Allow, let\r\n养 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] Raise, take care of (as in a child or a pet)\r\n\r\n... the meaning isn\'t too hard to decipher \"the building doesn\'t allow raising [of dogs]\". But while the meaning isn\'t difficult, some of the words are used a little bit differently than they are in English. For example, in English, when we say someone \"raises dogs\", or \"raises\" any type of animal, it usually indicates some kind of professional or large-scale dedication to breeding that type of animal. When people casually keep a pet or pets, we say they \"have a dog\", or \"own a dog\". Not so in Chinese. The correct Chinese term for having a pet dog (or many types of pet) is \"raising a dog\" - 养狗. So, for example, saying \"I want to raise a dog\" (我想养一只狗) is the equivalent of saying \"I want a dog\" in English. \r\n\r\nThe other question this raises is \"what do they mean by 楼区, \'building district\'\"? You\'d assume this means the area around your apartment building, and you\'d be right - but why \"区\"? This is because in China, many older apartment blocks are much more like tiny districts or communities than they are in the western world. In one complex, there may be several buildings that make up your block, with little numbered sub-staircases (单元) that each contain 12 or so apartments, and they may include small playgrounds inside the block or have other amenities. 楼区 refers to all buildings in the apartment block, any outdoor areas or amenities for that apartment area. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n我是个<strong>独生子</strong>，家里没有兄弟，只好养动物来解闷。可是，小黄狗，楼区不让养，只好放走；大白鹅，被人偷走了；小松鼠，不小心从窗台上摔了下来，死了。就这样，我的小动物死的死，放的放。现在只有两只小乌龟<陪伴着我。我心想：你们俩可算得上“忠臣”了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nI\'m an only child, I have no brothers, so I have to raise pets to relieve my boredom. But as to the little yellow dog, the building [management] doesn\'t allow [people to have dogs], so we had to set it free; the big white goose was stolen, and the little squirrel accidentally leaped from the window ledge and died. In these ways, my pets have died, or been let go. Right now I only have two turtles to accompany me. In my heart I think: \"You two are my only \"loyal subjects\".  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 我孤独 - I am All Alone', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1201-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 23:47:57', '2016-11-05 03:47:57', '', 1201, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1201-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1729, 1, '2016-10-31 03:16:08', '2016-10-31 07:16:08', 'This melancholy kid doesn\'t seem to have very much luck with pets or siblings. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120810-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Mandarin Chinese Bginner Passages: Learning Mandarin Reading for Beginners\" title=\"Learn Beginner Chinese Characters: Chinese Character Practice for Beginner Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> You may or may not have a little difficulty with the sentence 楼区不让养, which is said in regards to a pet dog. Looking at each word...\r\n\r\n楼 - [pinyin]lou2[/pinyin] Building\r\n区 - [pinyin]qu1[/pinyin] District / region / area\r\n不 - [pinyin]bu4[/pinyin] No, not, doesn\'t\r\n让 - [pinyin]rang4[/pinyin] Allow, let\r\n养 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] Raise, take care of (as in a child or a pet)\r\n\r\n... the meaning isn\'t too hard to decipher \"the building doesn\'t allow raising [of dogs]\". But while the meaning isn\'t difficult, some of the words are used a little bit differently than they are in English. For example, in English, when we say someone \"raises dogs\", or \"raises\" any type of animal, it usually indicates some kind of professional or large-scale dedication to breeding that type of animal. When people casually keep a pet or pets, we say they \"have a dog\", or \"own a dog\". Not so in Chinese. The correct Chinese term for having a pet dog (or many types of pet) is \"raising a dog\" - 养狗. So, for example, saying \"I want to raise a dog\" (我想养一只狗) is the equivalent of saying \"I want a dog\" in English. \r\n\r\nThe other question this raises is \"what do they mean by 楼区, \'building district\'\"? You\'d assume this means the area around your apartment building, and you\'d be right - but why \"区\"? This is because in China, many older apartment blocks are much more like tiny districts or communities than they are in the western world. In one complex, there may be several buildings that make up your block, with little numbered sub-staircases (单元) that each contain 12 or so apartments, and they may include small playgrounds inside the block or have other amenities. 楼区 refers to all buildings in the apartment block, any outdoor areas or amenities for that apartment area. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n我是个<strong>独生子</strong>，家里没有兄弟，只好<strong>养</strong>动物来<strong>解闷</strong>。可是，小黄狗，楼区不让养，只好<strong>放走</strong>；大白鹅，被人偷走了；小松鼠，不小心从窗台上摔了下来，死了。就这样，我的小动物死的死，放的放。现在只有两只小乌龟<strong>陪伴</strong>着我。我心想：你们俩可算得上“<strong>忠臣</strong>”了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nI\'m an only child, I have no brothers, so I have to raise pets to relieve my boredom. But as to the little yellow dog, the building [management] doesn\'t allow [people to have dogs], so we had to set it free; the big white goose was stolen, and the little squirrel accidentally leaped from the window ledge and died. In these ways, my pets have died, or been let go. Right now I only have two turtles to accompany me. In my heart I think: \"You two are my only \"loyal subjects\".  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essay] 我孤独 - I am All Alone', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1201-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:16:08', '2016-10-31 07:16:08', '', 1201, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1201-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1202, 1, '2012-08-04 23:23:46', '2012-08-05 03:23:46', '', 'Learn Beginner Chinese Characters: Chinese Character Practice for Beginner Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120810', '', '', '2012-08-04 23:23:46', '2012-08-05 03:23:46', '', 1201, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120810.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1203, 1, '2012-08-04 23:23:50', '2012-08-05 03:23:50', '', 'Learn Beginner Chinese Characters: Chinese Character Practice for Beginner Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120810-inline', '', '', '2012-08-04 23:23:50', '2012-08-05 03:23:50', '', 1201, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120810-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1204, 1, '2012-08-04 23:20:27', '2012-08-05 03:20:27', '[two_third]\nThis melancholy kid doesn\'t seem to have very much luck with pets or siblings. \n\nYou may or may not have a little difficulty with the sentence 楼区不让养, which is said in regards to a pet dog. Looking at each word...\n\n楼 - [pinyin]lou2[/pinyin] Building\n区 - [pinyin]qu1[/pinyin] District / region / area\n不 - [pinyin]bu4[/pinyin] No, not, doesn\'t\n让 - [pinyin]rang4[/pinyin] Allow, let\n养 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] Raise, take care of (as in a child or a pet)\n\n... the meaning isn\'t too hard to decipher \"the building doesn\'t allow raising [of dogs]\". But while the meaning isn\'t difficult, some of the words are used a little bit differently than they are in English. For example, in English, when we say someone \"raises dogs\", or \"raises\" any type of animal, it usually indicates some kind of professional or large-scale dedication to breeding that type of animal. When people casually keep a pet or pets, we say they \"have a dog\", or \"own a dog\". Not so in Chinese. The correct Chinese term for having a pet dog (or many types of pet) is \"raising a dog\" - 养狗. So, for example, saying \"I want to raise a dog\" (我想养一只狗) is the equivalent of saying \"I want a dog\" in English. \n\nThe other question this raises is \"what do they mean by 楼区, \'building district\'\"? You\'d assume this means the area around your apartment building, and you\'d be right - but why \"区\"? This is because in China, many older apartment blocks are much more like tiny districts or communities than they are in the western world. In one complex, there may be several buildings that make up your block, with little numbered sub-staircases (单元) that each contain 12 or so apartments, and they may include small playgrounds inside the block or have other amenities. 楼区 refers to all buildings in the apartment block, any outdoor areas or amenities for that apartment area. \n\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n独生子 - [pinyin]du2 sheng1 zi3[/pinyin] - Only child\n养 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To raise\n解闷 - [pinyin]jie3 men4[/pinyin] - Relieve bordom\n放走 - [pinyin]fang4 zou3[/pinyin] - To let go, to free (an animal)\n陪伴 - [pinyin]pei ban4[/pinyin] - To accompany, be with\n忠臣 - [pinyin]zhong1 chen2[/pinyin] - Loyal subject\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n我是个<strong>独生子</strong>，家里没有兄弟，只好<strong>养</strong>动物来<strong>解闷</strong>。可是，小黄狗，楼区不让养，只好<strong>放走</strong>；大白鹅，被人偷走了；小松鼠，不小心从窗台上摔了下来，死了。就这样，我的小动物死的死，放的放。现在只有两只小乌龟<strong>陪伴</strong>着我。我心想：你们俩可算得上“<strong>忠臣</strong>”了。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nI\'m an only child, I have no brothers, so I have to raise pets to relieve my boredom. But as to the little yellow dog, the building [management] doesn\'t allow [people to have dogs], so we had to set it free; the big white goose was stolen, and the little squirrel accidentally leaped from the window ledge and died. In these ways, my pets have died, or been let go. Right now I only have two turtles to accompany me. In my heart I think: \"You two are my only \"loyal subjects\".  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'I\'m All Alone', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1201-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-04 23:20:27', '2012-08-05 03:20:27', '', 1201, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/04/1201-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1205, 1, '2012-08-04 23:26:00', '2012-08-05 03:26:00', '[two_third]\r\nThis melancholy kid doesn\'t seem to have very much luck with pets or siblings. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120810-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Mandarin Chinese Bginner Passages: Learning Mandarin Reading for Beginners\" title=\"Learn Beginner Chinese Characters: Chinese Character Practice for Beginner Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> You may or may not have a little difficulty with the sentence 楼区不让养, which is said in regards to a pet dog. Looking at each word...\r\n\r\n楼 - [pinyin]lou2[/pinyin] Building\r\n区 - [pinyin]qu1[/pinyin] District / region / area\r\n不 - [pinyin]bu4[/pinyin] No, not, doesn\'t\r\n让 - [pinyin]rang4[/pinyin] Allow, let\r\n养 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] Raise, take care of (as in a child or a pet)\r\n\r\n... the meaning isn\'t too hard to decipher \"the building doesn\'t allow raising [of dogs]\". But while the meaning isn\'t difficult, some of the words are used a little bit differently than they are in English. For example, in English, when we say someone \"raises dogs\", or \"raises\" any type of animal, it usually indicates some kind of professional or large-scale dedication to breeding that type of animal. When people casually keep a pet or pets, we say they \"have a dog\", or \"own a dog\". Not so in Chinese. The correct Chinese term for having a pet dog (or many types of pet) is \"raising a dog\" - 养狗. So, for example, saying \"I want to raise a dog\" (我想养一只狗) is the equivalent of saying \"I want a dog\" in English. \r\n\r\nThe other question this raises is \"what do they mean by 楼区, \'building district\'\"? You\'d assume this means the area around your apartment building, and you\'d be right - but why \"区\"? This is because in China, many older apartment blocks are much more like tiny districts or communities than they are in the western world. In one complex, there may be several buildings that make up your block, with little numbered sub-staircases (单元) that each contain 12 or so apartments, and they may include small playgrounds inside the block or have other amenities. 楼区 refers to all buildings in the apartment block, any outdoor areas or amenities for that apartment area. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n独生子 - [pinyin]du2 sheng1 zi3[/pinyin] - Only child\r\n养 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To raise\r\n解闷 - [pinyin]jie3 men4[/pinyin] - Relieve bordom\r\n放走 - [pinyin]fang4 zou3[/pinyin] - To let go, to free (an animal)\r\n陪伴 - [pinyin]pei ban4[/pinyin] - To accompany, be with\r\n忠臣 - [pinyin]zhong1 chen2[/pinyin] - Loyal subject\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n我是个<strong>独生子</strong>，家里没有兄弟，只好<strong>养</strong>动物来<strong>解闷</strong>。可是，小黄狗，楼区不让养，只好<strong>放走</strong>；大白鹅，被人偷走了；小松鼠，不小心从窗台上摔了下来，死了。就这样，我的小动物死的死，放的放。现在只有两只小乌龟<strong>陪伴</strong>着我。我心想：你们俩可算得上“<strong>忠臣</strong>”了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nI\'m an only child, I have no brothers, so I have to raise pets to relieve my boredom. But as to the little yellow dog, the building [management] doesn\'t allow [people to have dogs], so we had to set it free; the big white goose was stolen, and the little squirrel accidentally leaped from the window ledge and died. In these ways, my pets have died, or been let go. Right now I only have two turtles to accompany me. In my heart I think: \"You two are my only \"loyal subjects\".  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'I\'m All Alone', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1201-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-04 23:26:00', '2012-08-05 03:26:00', '', 1201, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/04/1201-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1206, 1, '2012-08-03 23:33:39', '2012-08-04 03:33:39', '[two_third]\r\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\nOne other notable point is the word 又, which means \"again\". But did you know that in Chinese, there are two ways to say \"again\"? There\'s 又, and there\'s also 再. It\'s a little alien to a native English speaker that there might be two different ways to say \"again\", so let me explain the difference:\r\n\r\n又 - Indicates that the action has already been repeated in the past. Example: \"<strong>You forgot your homework again? You\'re going to get in trouble.</strong>\" The person being scolded forgot their homework once, then already forgot it again (maybe many times). The forgetting of homework again has already happened. So we use 又.\r\n\r\n再 - Indicates that something will happen again <em>in the future</em>. An example of this would be: <strong>Don\'t forget your homework again or you\'ll get in trouble.</strong> In other words, you forgot your homework at least once already, don\'t repeat that action again in the future. Another example of this is would be a sentence like, \"When will I see you again?\" The seeing again hasn\'t yet happened - it may happen in the future. So we would use 再. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\r\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\r\n消灭 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n能手 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\r\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\r\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\r\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸在天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-03 23:33:39', '2012-08-04 03:33:39', '', 1192, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/03/1192-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1207, 1, '2012-08-07 20:39:44', '2012-08-08 00:39:44', '[two_third]\r\nThis very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'d say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 \"Everyone in the family...\", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don\'t have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let\'s break it down:\r\n\r\n吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat\r\n得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between \"吃\" and \"香\", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)\r\n很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very\r\n香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory\r\n\r\nAnother interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both \"fragrant\" (smells good) and / or \"savory\" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. \r\n\r\nOne other notable point is the word 又, which means \"again\". But did you know that in Chinese, there are two ways to say \"again\"? There\'s 又, and there\'s also 再. It\'s a little alien to a native English speaker that there might be two different ways to say \"again\", so let me explain the difference:\r\n\r\n又 - Indicates that the action has already been repeated in the past. Example: \"<strong>You forgot your homework again? You\'re going to get in trouble.</strong>\" The person being scolded forgot their homework once, then already forgot it again (maybe many times). The forgetting of homework again has already happened. So we use 又.\r\n\r\n再 - Indicates that something will happen again <em>in the future</em>. An example of this would be: <strong>Don\'t forget your homework again or you\'ll get in trouble.</strong> In other words, you forgot your homework at least once already, don\'t repeat that action again in the future. Another example of this is would be a sentence like, \"When will I see you again?\" The seeing again hasn\'t yet happened - it may happen in the future. So we would use 再. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)\r\n庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop\r\n消灭 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile\r\n能手 - [pinyin]neng2 shou3[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate\r\n煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil\r\n却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however\r\n可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸在天出去捉青蛙。\r\n\r\n我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。\r\n\r\n爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nFrogs catch pests, so they\'re a farm crop\'s good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. \r\n\r\nI said to dad: \"Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can\'t catch them!\" But my dad only smiled and said: \"Children should stay out of adult business.\" I\'m very worried.\r\n\r\nOnce again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn\'t even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they\'re crying for their mother, it\'s such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Dad is a Scoundrel!', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1192-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-07 20:39:44', '2012-08-08 00:39:44', '', 1192, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/07/1192-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1209, 1, '2012-08-16 02:00:50', '2012-08-16 06:00:50', 'This excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here\'s the Chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But I learned that 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 大于 was a new word for me, and I didn\'t know that 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越狭窄，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃穹顶的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n灰蒙蒙的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被戳了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就矗立在这座孤零零的山丘上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是光秃秃的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被杂草所掩埋。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Books] 《惊恐小虎队》Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'tiger-team-ghost-hotel', '', '', '2016-11-04 08:35:30', '2016-11-04 12:35:30', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1209', 0, 'post', '', 3),
(2085, 1, '2016-11-04 08:32:32', '2016-11-04 12:32:32', 'This excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here\'s the Chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But I learned that 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 大于 was a new word for me, and I didn\'t know that 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越狭窄，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃穹顶的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n灰蒙蒙的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被戳了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就矗立在这座孤零零的山丘上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是光秃秃的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被杂草所掩埋。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Books] 《惊恐小虎队》Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 08:32:32', '2016-11-04 12:32:32', '', 1209, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1209-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1214, 1, '2012-08-12 23:50:22', '2012-08-13 03:50:22', '[two_third]\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. \n\nI found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describes a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel: the location of this horror novel. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n独生子 - [pinyin]du2 sheng1 zi3[/pinyin] - Only child\n养 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To raise\n解闷 - [pinyin]jie3 men4[/pinyin] - Relieve bordom\n放走 - [pinyin]fang4 zou3[/pinyin] - To let go, to free (an animal)\n陪伴 - [pinyin]pei ban4[/pinyin] - To accompany, be with\n忠臣 - [pinyin]zhong1 chen2[/pinyin] - Loyal subject\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越狭窄，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃穹顶的尖塔了。\n\n灰蒙蒙的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被戳了好几个窟窿。\n\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，它们被开在高处， 上面还钉了好多木条。\n\n这栋房子从1911年起就矗立在这座孤零零的山丘上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\n\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是光秃秃的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\n\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被杂草所掩埋。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, to the topmost floor was just a small glass domed-topped minaret. \n\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark 灰蒙蒙的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被戳了好几个窟窿。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-12 23:50:22', '2012-08-13 03:50:22', '', 1209, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/12/1209-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1215, 1, '2012-08-13 00:54:29', '2012-08-13 04:54:29', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Practice Exercizes and Passages for Advanced Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120817', '', '', '2012-08-13 00:54:29', '2012-08-13 04:54:29', '', 1209, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120817.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1216, 1, '2012-08-13 00:54:31', '2012-08-13 04:54:31', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Practice Exercizes and Passages for Advanced Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120817-inline', '', '', '2012-08-13 00:54:31', '2012-08-13 04:54:31', '', 1209, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120817-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1217, 1, '2012-08-13 00:50:05', '2012-08-13 04:50:05', '[two_third]\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\n\nI found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here the chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \n\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But thanks to my Chinese friend Anna, I learned that 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \n\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 大于 was a new word for me, and I didn\'t know that 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n狭窄 - [pinyin]xia2 zhai3[/pinyin] - Narrow\n穹顶 - [pinyin]qiong2 ding3[/pinyin] - Domed / vaulted roof\n尖塔 - [pinyin]jian1 ta3[/pinyin] - Minaret\n灰蒙蒙 - [pinyin]hui1 meng1 meng1[/pinyin] - Dusky\n戳 - [pinyin]chuo1[/pinyin] - poke, stab\n矗立 - [pinyin]chu4 li4[/pinyin] - To tower (of buildings)\n孤零零 - [pinyin]gu1 ling2 ling2[/pinyin] - Solitary\n山丘 - [pinyin]shan1 qiu1[/pinyin] - Hill\n光秃秃 - [pinyin]guang1 tu1 tu1[/pinyin] - Bare, bald\n杂草 - [pinyin]za2 cao3[/pinyin] - Weeds\n掩埋 - [pinyin]yan3 mai2[/pinyin] - Bury\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\n\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\n\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\n\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\n\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\n\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \n\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \n\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \n\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \n\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \n\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-13 00:50:05', '2012-08-13 04:50:05', '', 1209, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/13/1209-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1218, 1, '2012-08-13 00:58:27', '2012-08-13 04:58:27', '[two_third]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120817-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Beginner, Advanced and Intermediate Chinese: Exercises for Advanced Learners\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Practice Exercizes and Passages for Advanced Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here the chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But thanks to my Chinese friend Anna, I learned that 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 大于 was a new word for me, and I didn\'t know that 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n狭窄 - [pinyin]xia2 zhai3[/pinyin] - Narrow\r\n穹顶 - [pinyin]qiong2 ding3[/pinyin] - Domed / vaulted roof\r\n尖塔 - [pinyin]jian1 ta3[/pinyin] - Minaret\r\n灰蒙蒙 - [pinyin]hui1 meng1 meng1[/pinyin] - Dusky\r\n戳 - [pinyin]chuo1[/pinyin] - poke, stab\r\n矗立 - [pinyin]chu4 li4[/pinyin] - To tower (of buildings)\r\n孤零零 - [pinyin]gu1 ling2 ling2[/pinyin] - Solitary\r\n山丘 - [pinyin]shan1 qiu1[/pinyin] - Hill\r\n光秃秃 - [pinyin]guang1 tu1 tu1[/pinyin] - Bare, bald\r\n杂草 - [pinyin]za2 cao3[/pinyin] - Weeds\r\n掩埋 - [pinyin]yan3 mai2[/pinyin] - Bury\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-13 00:58:27', '2012-08-13 04:58:27', '', 1209, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/13/1209-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1219, 1, '2012-08-04 23:26:48', '2012-08-05 03:26:48', '[two_third]\r\nThis melancholy kid doesn\'t seem to have very much luck with pets or siblings. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120810-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Mandarin Chinese Bginner Passages: Learning Mandarin Reading for Beginners\" title=\"Learn Beginner Chinese Characters: Chinese Character Practice for Beginner Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> You may or may not have a little difficulty with the sentence 楼区不让养, which is said in regards to a pet dog. Looking at each word...\r\n\r\n楼 - [pinyin]lou2[/pinyin] Building\r\n区 - [pinyin]qu1[/pinyin] District / region / area\r\n不 - [pinyin]bu4[/pinyin] No, not, doesn\'t\r\n让 - [pinyin]rang4[/pinyin] Allow, let\r\n养 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] Raise, take care of (as in a child or a pet)\r\n\r\n... the meaning isn\'t too hard to decipher \"the building doesn\'t allow raising [of dogs]\". But while the meaning isn\'t difficult, some of the words are used a little bit differently than they are in English. For example, in English, when we say someone \"raises dogs\", or \"raises\" any type of animal, it usually indicates some kind of professional or large-scale dedication to breeding that type of animal. When people casually keep a pet or pets, we say they \"have a dog\", or \"own a dog\". Not so in Chinese. The correct Chinese term for having a pet dog (or many types of pet) is \"raising a dog\" - 养狗. So, for example, saying \"I want to raise a dog\" (我想养一只狗) is the equivalent of saying \"I want a dog\" in English. \r\n\r\nThe other question this raises is \"what do they mean by 楼区, \'building district\'\"? You\'d assume this means the area around your apartment building, and you\'d be right - but why \"区\"? This is because in China, many older apartment blocks are much more like tiny districts or communities than they are in the western world. In one complex, there may be several buildings that make up your block, with little numbered sub-staircases (单元) that each contain 12 or so apartments, and they may include small playgrounds inside the block or have other amenities. 楼区 refers to all buildings in the apartment block, any outdoor areas or amenities for that apartment area. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title of this text is 我孤独.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n独生子 - [pinyin]du2 sheng1 zi3[/pinyin] - Only child\r\n养 - [pinyin]yang3[/pinyin] - To raise\r\n解闷 - [pinyin]jie3 men4[/pinyin] - Relieve bordom\r\n放走 - [pinyin]fang4 zou3[/pinyin] - To let go, to free (an animal)\r\n陪伴 - [pinyin]pei ban4[/pinyin] - To accompany, be with\r\n忠臣 - [pinyin]zhong1 chen2[/pinyin] - Loyal subject\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n我是个<strong>独生子</strong>，家里没有兄弟，只好<strong>养</strong>动物来<strong>解闷</strong>。可是，小黄狗，楼区不让养，只好<strong>放走</strong>；大白鹅，被人偷走了；小松鼠，不小心从窗台上摔了下来，死了。就这样，我的小动物死的死，放的放。现在只有两只小乌龟<strong>陪伴</strong>着我。我心想：你们俩可算得上“<strong>忠臣</strong>”了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nI\'m an only child, I have no brothers, so I have to raise pets to relieve my boredom. But as to the little yellow dog, the building [management] doesn\'t allow [people to have dogs], so we had to set it free; the big white goose was stolen, and the little squirrel accidentally leaped from the window ledge and died. In these ways, my pets have died, or been let go. Right now I only have two turtles to accompany me. In my heart I think: \"You two are my only \"loyal subjects\".  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'I\'m All Alone', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1201-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-04 23:26:48', '2012-08-05 03:26:48', '', 1201, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/04/1201-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1221, 1, '2012-07-22 21:11:18', '2012-07-23 01:11:18', '[two_third]\r\nSeeing as how I just got back from a trip to the Wall myself, I figured I\'d stay on that theme. This traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城 [pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3 ku1 chang2 cheng2[/pinyin], is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story happens between 259 B.C. and 210 B.C., and describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女[pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3[/pinyin], and her love, 范喜良 [pinyin]fan4 xi3 liang2[/pinyin], who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 [pinyin]qin2 shi3 huang2[/pinyin] during the building of the Great Wall. The story describe how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒 [pinyin]xi3 jiu3[/pinyin], meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房 [pinyin]dong4 fang2[/pinyin], or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看 [pinyin]yan3 kan4[/pinyin], which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" [pinyin]bu4 rong2 fen1 shuo1[/pinyin] charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\r\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\r\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\r\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\r\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\r\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\r\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\r\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\r\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\r\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\r\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\r\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\r\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\r\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\r\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\r\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\r\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\r\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\r\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\r\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-07-22 21:11:18', '2012-07-23 01:11:18', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/07/22/1176-revision-12/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1222, 1, '2012-06-27 22:34:02', '2012-06-28 02:34:02', '[two_third]\r\nThis is an upper-beginner or low-intermediate level text. It\'s good for beginner readers in the sense that a) it\'s short, and b) it\'s extremely repetitive - if you can puzzle out the first two or three sentences, the rest should be clear. To get you going, it might be worth noting there that the protagonist is a small blade of (or lump of, or field of - it\'s never really defined) grass named \"YinYin\" (小草银银), who keeps asking one particular favor of each season. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/20120615-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" title=\"Simplified Chinese Literacy: Easy Passages in Chinese for Beginners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The seasons are personified as ladies - for example, \"The Lady of Spring\" (春姑娘) and \"the Lady of Summer\" (夏姑娘), etc. \r\n\r\nThere\'s so much metaphor going on in this I\'m not sure where to start. You could choose to interpret this as a statement about aging, about changing seasons, go nuts. \r\n\r\nAnd on a personal note, not 100% sure I\'m happy with the conclusion that\'s drawn here, considering I dye my hair all the time, but what the hell. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n春天  - [pinyin]chun1 tian1[/pinyin] - springtime\r\n染 - [pinyin]ran3[/pinyin] - dye\r\n青色 - [pinyin]qing1 se4[/pinyin] - A blue, green or blue-green the Chinese consider the \"color of nature\"\r\n伤心 - [pinyin]shang1 xin1[/pinyin] - Broken-hearted\r\n夏天 - [pinyin]xia4 tian1[/pinyin] - Summer\r\n深绿 - [pinyin]shen1 lv4[/pinyin] - Dark green\r\n秋天 - [pinyin]qiu1 tian1[/pinyin] - Autumn\r\n金黄 - [pinyin]jin1 huang2[/pinyin] - Golden yellow\r\n冬天 - [pinyin]dong1 tian1[/pinyin] -  Winter\r\n后悔 - [pinyin]hou4 hui3[/pinyin] - Regret\r\n可不要 - [pinyin]ke3 bu4 yao4[/pinyin] - Won\'t [you] be...(ex. sad?)\r\n忽然 - [pinyin]hu1 ran2[/pinyin] - Suddenly\r\n掉下来 - [pinyin]diao4 xia4 lai2[/pinyin] - fall, drop down\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小草银银喜欢银色。\r\n　　<strong>春天</strong>，小草银银让春姑娘把她的头发<strong>染</strong>成银色。春姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>青色</strong>”。银银非常<strong>伤心</strong>。\r\n　　<strong>夏天</strong>小草银银让夏姑娘把她的头发染成银色。夏姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成<strong>深绿</strong>色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>秋天</strong>小草银银让秋姑娘把她的头发染成银色。秋姑娘说：“对不起，银银，我只能把你的头发染成金黄色”。银银非常伤心。\r\n　　<strong>冬天</strong>小草银银让冬姑娘把她的头发染成银色。冬姑娘说：“好啊，不过你<strong>可不要</strong><strong>后悔</strong>呦”？银银说：“不会的，有了那么漂亮的头发我高兴还来不及呢”！\r\n　　就这样银银的头发变成了银色。<strong>忽然</strong>，银银的头发<strong>掉下来</strong>了，这是怎么回事呢？原来，头发染多了是会伤害身体的。这下银银真的后悔了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe little grass YinYin liked the color silver. \r\n　　In spring time, little grass Yinyin asked the Lady of Spring to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Spring said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair blue/green [see explanation]. YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn summer time, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Summer to to dye her hair silver. The lady of summer said, \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair green!\" YinYin was very broken-hearted. \r\n\r\nIn autumn, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Autumn to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Autumn said: \"I\'m sorry, YinYin, I can only dye your hair golden yellow.\" YinYin was very broken-hearted.\r\n\r\nIn winter, little grass YinYin asked the Lady of Winter to dye her hair silver. The Lady of Winter said, \"Okay, but won\'t you regret it?\" YinYin said, \"I won\'t, if I had hair that beautiful I couldn\'t be happier!\" And so YinYin\'s hair turned silver. Suddenly, YinYin\'s hair fell out - how could this be? Of course, if you dye your hair too often, it\'s not good for you. And after this YinYin was indeed regretful. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Grass\' Silver Hair', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1123-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-06-27 22:34:02', '2012-06-28 02:34:02', '', 1123, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/06/27/1123-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1282, 1, '2012-10-02 00:42:05', '2012-10-02 04:42:05', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 我们家的跳绳比赛</strong>\n\nA single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. <!--more-->\n\nHaven\'t had a ton of extra time in the last few weeks - just went on a trip to Dalian, and <img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121002-300x95.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" width=\"300\" height=\"95\" class=\"imgborder\" /> still catching up from that. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n跳 - [pinyin]lie4 ri4[/pinyin] - Scorching sun\n绳 - [pinyin]yan2 yan2[/pinyin] - Scorching\n失误 - [pinyin]bao4 shang4[/pinyin] - Pick up (the way one picks up a child, encircling them with both arms)\n砰砰 - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - Candy \n弃权 - [pinyin]zhong4[/pinyin] - To plant (eg. vegetable seeds)\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThis morning father and competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. So I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-02 00:42:05', '2012-10-02 04:42:05', '', 1277, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/02/1277-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1224, 1, '2012-08-13 01:05:11', '2012-08-13 05:05:11', '[two_third]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120817-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Beginner, Advanced and Intermediate Chinese: Exercises for Advanced Learners\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Practice Exercizes and Passages for Advanced Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel \"Ghost Hotel\" in my local bookstore, and I\'ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abandoned hotel, where most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading longer descriptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you\'re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There\'s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can\'t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you\'re not reading the official English translation. <a href=\"http://www.amazon.cn/%E6%83%8A%E6%81%90%E5%B0%8F%E8%99%8E%E9%98%9F-%E6%89%98%E9%A9%AC%E6%96%AF%C2%B7%E5%B8%83%E7%83%AD%E9%BD%90%E7%BA%B3/dp/product-description/B005EVSBFG\">Here\'s the Chinese version on Amazon China</a>. \r\n\r\nThere are a couple of difficult passages here that don\'t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is 木条都不知下落了. Originally, I read this as \"wooden slats scattered here and there\", or literally \"wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places\". But thanks to my Chinese friend Anna, I learned that 下落, in this case, doesn\'t mean \"fall down\". It means \"where is it?\" (the same as 在哪儿). So 不知下落 actually means \"to be missing\", or \"to be gone to who knows where\". \r\n\r\nAnother phrase I should note is 数目远远大于实际需要, \"an amount (数目) far (远远) greater (大于) than actually (实际) needed (需要)\". 大于 was a new word for me, and I didn\'t know that 远远 - meaning \"far away\" - can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean \"very\" (example: <strong><em>far </em></strong>above the normal amount). \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n狭窄 - [pinyin]xia2 zhai3[/pinyin] - Narrow\r\n穹顶 - [pinyin]qiong2 ding3[/pinyin] - Domed / vaulted roof\r\n尖塔 - [pinyin]jian1 ta3[/pinyin] - Minaret\r\n灰蒙蒙 - [pinyin]hui1 meng1 meng1[/pinyin] - Dusky\r\n戳 - [pinyin]chuo1[/pinyin] - poke, stab\r\n矗立 - [pinyin]chu4 li4[/pinyin] - To tower (of buildings)\r\n孤零零 - [pinyin]gu1 ling2 ling2[/pinyin] - Solitary\r\n山丘 - [pinyin]shan1 qiu1[/pinyin] - Hill\r\n光秃秃 - [pinyin]guang1 tu1 tu1[/pinyin] - Bare, bald\r\n杂草 - [pinyin]za2 cao3[/pinyin] - Weeds\r\n掩埋 - [pinyin]yan3 mai2[/pinyin] - Bury\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n那栋房子是木质结构的， 看起来就像是婚礼蛋糕。 它总共有四层，越向上越<strong>狭窄</strong>，所以最高的那层就只是一座带有小小玻璃<strong>穹顶</strong>的尖塔了。\r\n\r\n<strong>灰蒙蒙</strong>的木头外墙已经腐朽不堪， 黑色的穹顶上好像也被<strong>戳</strong>了好几个窟窿。\r\n\r\n窗户都是拱形，数目远远大于实际需要，上面还钉了好多木条。\r\n\r\n这栋房子从1911年起就<strong>矗立</strong>在这座<strong>孤零零</strong>的<strong>山丘</strong>上。有时候，附近的农民发现这栋房子会像磁铁一样，吸引着乌云，雷电，冰雹和风雨。\r\n\r\n如果谁在夏天的时候走近这栋房子，就会发现这里奇特现象：房子周围为数不多的那几棵树都是<strong>光秃秃</strong>的。 树枝如同黝黑的手臂， 高高地指向天空。\r\n\r\n这块地被低矮的木栅栏圈在当中， 有几处已经被人损坏， 木条都不知下落了。 甚至， 有的地方已经完全被<strong>杂草</strong>所<strong>掩埋</strong>。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThe building was constructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome. \r\n\r\nThe gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes. \r\n\r\nThe windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them. \r\n\r\nThe house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain. \r\n\r\nIf anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky. \r\n\r\nThe land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-13 01:05:11', '2012-08-13 05:05:11', '', 1209, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/13/1209-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1225, 1, '2012-08-22 07:00:48', '2012-08-22 11:00:48', 'A cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Bodhisattva of Medicine). \r\n\r\nShen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\r\n\r\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". So a very potent poison, then.\r\n\r\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. I made a tiny edit from the original to correct a mistake.\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese Text</h3>\r\n1) 神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，五脏六腑全都能看得一清二楚。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至丧命。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\r\n\r\n2) 第一次，神农尝了一片小嫩叶。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各器官擦洗得清清爽爽，象巡查似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，香味扑鼻，这是“甘草”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次中毒，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\r\n\r\n3) 但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还来不及吃茶解毒就死了。他是为了拯救人们而牺牲的，人们称他为“药王菩萨”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) All his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\r\n\r\n2) The first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he used tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \r\n\r\n3) But one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Bodhisattva of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Mythology] 神农尝百草- The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'the-farmer-god-shen-nong-tastes-all-the-plants', '', '', '2016-11-04 09:03:46', '2016-11-04 13:03:46', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1225', 0, 'post', '', 2),
(2089, 1, '2016-11-04 08:52:07', '2016-11-04 12:52:07', 'A cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Bodhisattva of Medicine). \r\n\r\nShen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\r\n\r\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". So a very potent poison, then.\r\n\r\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. I made a tiny edit from the original to correct a mistake.\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，五脏六腑全都能看得一清二楚。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至丧命。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\r\n\r\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各器官擦洗得清清爽爽，象巡查似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，香味扑鼻，这是“甘草”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次中毒，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\r\n\r\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还来不及吃茶解毒就死了。他是为了拯救人们而牺牲的，人们称他为“药王菩萨”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\r\n\r\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he used tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \r\n\r\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Bodhisattva of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Mythology] 神农尝百草- The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1225-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 08:52:07', '2016-11-04 12:52:07', '', 1225, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1225-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2583, 1, '2017-01-08 03:43:48', '2017-01-08 08:43:48', '', 'learn-to-read-chinese-20170107-kangaroo', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'learn-to-read-chinese-20170107-kangaroo', '', '', '2017-01-08 03:44:09', '2017-01-08 08:44:09', '', 1790, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/learn-to-read-chinese-20170107-kangaroo.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2584, 1, '2017-01-08 03:45:02', '2017-01-08 08:45:02', 'Absolute silliness: this har-har kid\'s joke features talking animals and a zoo manager that should probably be fired. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>Grammar: 将... 由... 到...</h3>\r\nIn the first paragraph there, we get a slightly complex grammatical structure in this sentence: \r\n\r\n所以他们决定将笼子的高度由原来的10米加高到20米。\r\n\r\nNow, I don\'t know if real grammarians would explain it this way, but for me, three key characters link this sentence together, and once we decipher those, the whole thing makes sense. I\'m highlighting those words in Chinese first, then highlighting the corresponding words in the English translation: \r\n\r\nChinese: 所以他们决定<strong>将</strong>笼子的高度<strong>由</strong>原来的10米加高<strong>到</strong>20米。\r\n\r\nEnglish: So they decided to <strong>take</strong> the cage <strong>from</strong> its original height of 10 meters and increase it <strong>to</strong> 20 meters.\r\n\r\nSee? These three characters link the sentence together - we \"take\" (将) something \"from\" (由) one state \"to\" (到) another. Now, this \"take\" isn\'t the same as 拿 [pinyin]na2[/pinyin], where we actually pick something up with our fingers (though 将 can be used that way). This is more of a figurative \"take\". \r\n\r\nIn this sentence, 由 serves the same purpose as the slightly more familiar 从 [pinyin]cong2[/pinyin]. \r\n\r\nGo straight to the <a href=\"hhttp://www.xuexila.com/success/story/6873.html\" target=\"_blank\">source</a>.\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 一天动物园管理员发现袋鼠从笼子里跑出来了，于是开会讨论，一致认为是笼子的高度过低。所以他们决定将笼子的高度由原来的10米加高到20米。结果第二天他们发现袋鼠还是跑到外面来，所以他们又决定再将高度加高到30米。\r\n\r\n2) 没想到隔天居然又看到袋鼠全跑到外面，于是管理员们大为紧张，决定一不做二不休，将笼子的高度加高到100米。\r\n\r\n3) 一天长颈鹿和几只袋鼠们在闲聊。\r\n\r\n4) \"你们看，这些人会不会再继续加高你们的笼子？长颈鹿问。\r\n\r\n5) 袋鼠说∶“很难说。如果他们再继续忘记关门的话!\"\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\n1) One day, the manager of the zoo discovered that the kangaroo had run out of his cage, so he called a meeting to discuss it, and everyone unanimously agreed that the height of the cage was too low. So they decided to take the cage from its original height of 10 meters and increase it to 20 meters. But on the second day they found that the kangaroo had gotten out again, so they decided to once again increase the height to 30 meters. \r\n\r\n2) Would know know it, but on the next day, to everyone\'s surprise, they once again saw that the kangaroos had all gotten out, so the zoo manager became quite anxious, and decided to go all out, raising the height of the cage to 100 meters.   \r\n\r\n3) One day the giraffes and several kangaroos were having a leisurely chat. \r\n\r\n4) \"Look here fellas, you think these folks are going to raise the height of the cage again?\" asked a giraffe. \r\n\r\n5) A kangaroo answered, \"Hard to say. Probably will if they keep leaving the cage door open!\" \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n\r\n 　   \r\n\r\n', '[Chinese Jokes] 袋鼠与笼子 - The Kangaroo and the Cage', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1790-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-08 03:45:02', '2017-01-08 08:45:02', '', 1790, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/1790-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2586, 1, '2017-01-08 04:41:56', '2017-01-08 09:41:56', '', 'learn-chinese-reading-20170107-war-pilot', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'learn-chinese-reading-20170107-war-pilot', '', '', '2017-01-08 04:42:25', '2017-01-08 09:42:25', '', 1792, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/learn-chinese-reading-20170107-war-pilot.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(2585, 1, '2017-01-08 04:35:56', '2017-01-08 09:35:56', 'Tackling green recruits that are standing in the line of fire is listed as an absolute must on Time Out China\'s \"Top 10 Things to do in the Heat of Battle\". \r\n\r\n<h3>Martial vocab</h3>\r\nWe pick up some battle-stations vocab in this paragraph, namely: \r\n<ul>\r\n<li>战斗 [pinyin]zhan4 dou4[/pinyin] - fight, combat</li>\r\n<li>上尉 [pinyin]shang4 wei4[/pinyin] - captain</li>\r\n<li>敌机 [pinyin]di4 ji1[/pinyin] - enemy plane</li>\r\n<li>战士 [pinyin]zhan4 shi4[/pinyin] - soldier</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\nWe\'ve also got a bit of a rough sentence in there at the end. I\'ve highlighted what I believe are the hard bits: \r\n\r\n他<strong>顾不上</strong>多想，<strong>一个鱼跃飞身</strong>将小战士紧紧地压在了身下。\r\n\r\nThe first part, 顾不上, means to not have the resources to attend to something. In this sentence, the resource that we don\'t have is \"time\", though the word \"time\" never directly appears. The second part, 一个鱼跃飞身, is a lively description of how the captain jumps towards the soldier. How does he jump? He flies like a fish leaping out of the water, his body, we can presume, horizontal in the air, parallel to the ground. So this sentence might read as:\r\n\r\n<em>He didn\'t have time to think, but leapt into the air like a fish flying straight at the young soldier and pressed him tightly beneath his body.</em>\r\n\r\nReady? Cool, let\'s read.\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) 在一场激烈的<strong>战斗</strong>中，<strong>上尉</strong>忽然发现一架<strong>敌机</strong>向阵地俯冲下来。照常理，发现敌机俯冲时要毫不犹豫地卧倒。可上尉并没有立刻卧倒，他发现离他四五米远处有一个小<strong>战士</strong>还站在那儿。他顾不上多想，一个鱼跃飞身将小战士紧紧地压在了身下。此时一声巨响，飞溅起来的泥土纷纷落在他们的身上。上尉拍拍身上的尘土，回头一看，顿时惊呆了：刚才自己所处的那个位置被炸成了一个大坑。\r\n\r\n2)【小故事大道理】：在帮助别人的同时也帮助了自己！ \r\n\r\n<a href=\"https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/430979909812804364.html\" target=\"_blank\">See source</a>\r\n\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\n1) In the middle of an intense battle, a captain noticed an enemy plane swooping down upon his position. According to common sense, when you see an enemy plan swooping down on you, you should throw yourself flat without hesitation. But the captain didn\'t immediately lie down, as he saw that 4 or 5 meters away from him a young soldier was still just standing there. He didn\'t have time to think, but leapt into the air like a fish flying straight at the young soldier and pressed him tightly beneath his body. Just then there was a tremendously loud sound, and flying droplets of mud fell all over them. When the captain brushed the dust off himself, he looked back, and was immediately dumbstruck: the spot where he\'d just been [standing] had exploded and had become [nothing more than] a big hole [in the ground].  \r\n\r\n2)【The big moral of this little story】：When you help others, you simultaneously help yourself! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n\r\n\r\n 　   \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n     ', '[Chinese Short Story] 救人 - When you help others, you also help yourself', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1792-revision-v1', '', '', '2017-01-08 04:35:56', '2017-01-08 09:35:56', '', 1792, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2017/01/1792-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1227, 1, '2012-08-14 02:30:43', '2012-08-14 06:30:43', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 神农尝百草</strong>\n\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Buddha of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants) but simple sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\n\nShen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say he \'had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\n\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hilltribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". \n\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n狭窄 - [pinyin]xia2 zhai3[/pinyin] - Narrow\n穹顶 - [pinyin]qiong2 ding3[/pinyin] - Domed / vaulted roof\n尖塔 - [pinyin]jian1 ta3[/pinyin] - Minaret\n灰蒙蒙 - [pinyin]hui1 meng1 meng1[/pinyin] - Dusky\n戳 - [pinyin]chuo1[/pinyin] - poke, stab\n矗立 - [pinyin]chu4 li4[/pinyin] - To tower (of buildings)\n孤零零 - [pinyin]gu1 ling2 ling2[/pinyin] - Solitary\n山丘 - [pinyin]shan1 qiu1[/pinyin] - Hill\n光秃秃 - [pinyin]guang1 tu1 tu1[/pinyin] - Bare, bald\n杂草 - [pinyin]za2 cao3[/pinyin] - Weeds\n掩埋 - [pinyin]yan3 mai2[/pinyin] - Bury\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，五脏六腑全都能看得一清二楚。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至丧命。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\n\n第一次，神农尝了一片小嫩叶。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各器官擦洗得清清爽爽，象巡查似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，香味扑鼻，这是“甘草”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次中毒，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\n\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还来不及吃茶解毒就死了。他是为了拯救人们而牺牲的，人们称他为“药王菩萨”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\n\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he [drank] the tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \n\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还来不及吃茶解毒就死了。他是为了拯救人们而牺牲的，人们称他为“药王菩萨”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1225-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 02:30:43', '2012-08-14 06:30:43', '', 1225, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1225-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1228, 1, '2012-08-14 02:46:03', '2012-08-14 06:46:03', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 神农尝百草</strong>\n\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Buddha of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants and Chinese medicine) but simple sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\n\nShen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\n\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". \n\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys\n一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear\n丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one\'s life\n嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves\n器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ\n清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one\'s rounds on patrol\n香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils\n甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice\n中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned\n来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...\n解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify\n拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue\n牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself\n菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，<strong>五脏六腑</strong>全都能看得<strong>一清二楚</strong>。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至<strong>丧命</strong>。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\n\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶</strong>。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各<strong>器官</strong>擦洗得<strong>清清爽爽</strong>，象<strong>巡查</strong>似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，<strong>香味扑鼻</strong>，这是“<strong>甘草</strong>”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次<strong>中毒</strong>，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\n\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还<strong>来不及</strong>吃茶<strong>解毒</strong>就死了。他是为了<strong>拯救</strong>人们而<strong>牺牲</strong>的，人们称他为“药王<strong>菩萨</strong>”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\n\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he [drank] the tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \n\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Buddha of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1225-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 02:46:03', '2012-08-14 06:46:03', '', 1225, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1225-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1229, 1, '2012-08-14 03:29:49', '2012-08-14 07:29:49', '', 'Chinese Buddhist Fables: Learn to Read Chinese ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120822', '', '', '2012-08-14 03:29:49', '2012-08-14 07:29:49', '', 1225, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120822.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1230, 1, '2012-08-14 03:29:55', '2012-08-14 07:29:55', '', 'Chinese Buddhist Fables: Learn to Read Chinese ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120822-inline', '', '', '2012-08-14 03:29:55', '2012-08-14 07:29:55', '', 1225, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120822-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1231, 1, '2012-08-14 03:31:57', '2012-08-14 07:31:57', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 神农尝百草</strong>\n\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Bodhisattva of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants and Chinese medicine) but intermediate sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120822-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Buddhist Stories and Legends: Learn to Read Simplified Chinese\" title=\"Chinese Buddhist Fables: Learn to Read Chinese \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder a\" /> Shen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\n\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". So a very potent poison, then.\n\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. I made a tiny edit from the original to correct a mistake.\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys\n一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear\n丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one\'s life\n嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves\n器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ\n清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one\'s rounds on patrol\n香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils\n甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice\n中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned\n来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...\n解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify\n拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue\n牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself\n菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，<strong>五脏六腑</strong>全都能看得<strong>一清二楚</strong>。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至<strong>丧命</strong>。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\n\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶</strong>。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各<strong>器官</strong>擦洗得<strong>清清爽爽</strong>，象<strong>巡查</strong>似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，<strong>香味扑鼻</strong>，这是“<strong>甘草</strong>”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次<strong>中毒</strong>，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\n\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还<strong>来不及</strong>吃茶<strong>解毒</strong>就死了。他是为了<strong>拯救</strong>人们而<strong>牺牲</strong>的，人们称他为“药王<strong>菩萨</strong>”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\n\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he used tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \n\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Bodhisattva of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1225-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 03:31:57', '2012-08-14 07:31:57', '', 1225, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1225-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1232, 1, '2016-11-04 08:46:43', '2016-11-04 12:46:43', 'A cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Bodhisattva of Medicine). \n\nShen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\n\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". So a very potent poison, then.\n\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. I made a tiny edit from the original to correct a mistake.\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，五脏六腑全都能看得一清二楚。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至丧命。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\n\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各器官擦洗得清清爽爽，象巡查似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，香味扑鼻，这是“甘草”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次中毒，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\n\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还来不及吃茶解毒就死了。他是为了拯救人们而牺牲的，人们称他为“药王菩萨”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\n\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he used tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \n\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Bodhisattva of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Mythology] 神农尝百草- The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1225-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 08:46:43', '2016-11-04 12:46:43', '', 1225, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1225-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2088, 1, '2016-11-04 08:50:47', '2016-11-04 12:50:47', '', 'Chinese Buddhist Fables: Learn to Read Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'shen-nong-tastes-the-plants', '', '', '2016-11-04 08:51:12', '2016-11-04 12:51:12', '', 1225, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/shen-nong-tastes-the-plants.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1233, 1, '2012-04-18 23:52:24', '2012-04-19 03:52:24', '[two_third]\r\nIn this essay you\'ll learn to read Chinese martial arts words - well, a few, anyway - but it\'s not really the vocabulary that places this in the \"advanced\" category. It\'s more that most of the text is full of wax-on, wax-off Karate Kid statements, as the martial arts master talks about how putting oneself in a position of inferiority allows you to attain superiority. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120419-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese Free - Martial Arts Mastery Essay\" title=\"Reading Chinese: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Chinese Practice Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />This kind of \"making logic out of illogical-sounding contradictions\" is very typical of martial arts and Eastern mysticism, and most of this type of stuff comes strait out of Taoist philosophy. \r\n\r\nThere are two phrases I found grammatically difficult to get past, the first being 处于劣势, or as the text has it, 处于一种劣势. \"处于\" [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] means to \"be in a state of...\", or \"to be in a position of...\". 劣势 [pinyin]lie4 shi4[/pinyin] means \"inferior\". Put together, this translates into English as \"to be at a disadvantage\", or in the case of 处于一种劣势, \"to be at some kind of disadvantage\".\r\n\r\nThe second and more difficult phrase is found in the third paragraph: 以剑招之长补兵器之短. The thing that makes this sentence difficult is all the accursed nebulous words that have many meanings - we\'ve got 以, 之, and 补 all smooshed together, and these words are the keys to unlocking the meaning of this sentence. So let\'s break this down word by word and see if all the definitions together don\'t give us a clue: \r\n\r\n以 - [pinyin]yi3[/pinyin] - The definition of 以 that\'s being used here is \"by means of\" or \"by way of\"\r\n剑招 - [pinyin]jian4 zhao1[/pinyin] - Swordsmanship maneuvers\r\n之 - [pinyin]zhi1[/pinyin] - of\r\n长 - [pinyin]chang2[/pinyin] - length\r\n补 - [pinyin]bu3[/pinyin] -   \"to make up for\"\r\n兵器 - [pinyin]bing1 qi4[/pinyin] -  Weapon\r\n之 - [pinyin]zhi1[/pinyin] - of\r\n短 - [pinyin]duan3[/pinyin] - shortness\r\n\r\nAh hah! Though this is still a little convoluted, once we know the meaning of 以 and 补 in this instance, this now becomes much simpler to read. It says: \"By means of the \'length\' of [my] swordsmanship maneuvers, [I] make up for the shortness of [my] weapon.\" We can see here that \"length\" doesn\'t really mean how \"long\" something is - \"length\" here means a high level of skill. The word \"length\" is just being used to juxtapose against the word \"short\". \r\n\r\nYou\'ll enjoy this if you\'re an upper-intermediate or advanced reader, and are interested in some specialized vocabulary. \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://gushi365.com/info/6017.html\">See the original</a>\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n剑客 - [pinyin]jian4 ke4[/pinyin] - Swordsman, fencer\r\n武林泰斗 - [pinyin]wu3 lin2 tai4 dou3[/pinyin] - Martial arts master - lit: leading scholar in martial arts circles\r\n请教 - [pinyin]qing3 jiao4[/pinyin] - Ask for guidance\r\n多亏 - [pinyin]duo1 kui1[/pinyin] - Thanks to\r\n大为不解 - [pinyin]da4 wei4 bu4 jie3[/pinyin] - Bewildered\r\n兵器 - [pinyin]bing1 qi4[/pinyin] - Department of Women, Family and Community Development\r\n谱 - [pinyin]pu3[/pinyin] - Chart, table, register\r\n处于 - [pinyin]chu3 yu2[/pinyin] - To be in a state of...\r\n劣势 - [pinyin]lie4 shi4[/pinyin] - Inferior, disadvantaged\r\n对阵 - [pinyin]dui4 zhen4[/pinyin] - Poised for battle\r\n招 - [pinyin]zhao1[/pinyin] - Square up for a fight\r\n补 - [pinyin]bu3[/pinyin] - To make up for\r\n优势 - [pinyin]you1 shi4[/pinyin] - Advantage, superior\r\n注入 - [pinyin]zhu4 ru4[/pinyin] - To pour into\r\n敢于 - [pinyin]gan3 yu2[/pinyin] - To dare to\r\n胜利 - [pinyin]sheng4 li4[/pinyin] - Victory\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n一名<strong>剑客</strong>去拜访一位<strong>武林泰斗</strong>，<strong>请教</strong>他是如何练就非凡武艺的。武林泰斗拿出一把只有一尺长的剑，说:“<strong>多亏</strong>了它，才让我有了今天的成就。”\r\n\r\n 剑客<strong>大为不解</strong>，问:“别人的剑都是三尺三寸长的，而你的剑为什么只有一尺长呢?<strong>兵器</strong><strong>谱</strong>上说:剑短一分，险增三分。拿着这么短的剑无疑是<strong>处于</strong>一种<strong>劣势</strong>，你怎么还说这剑好呢?”\r\n\r\n武林泰斗说:“就因为在兵器上我处于劣势，所以我才会时时刻刻想到，如果与别人<strong>对阵</strong>，我会是多么的危险，所以我只有勤练剑<strong>招</strong>，以剑招之长<strong>补</strong>兵器之短，这样一来，我的剑招不断进步，劣势就转化为<strong>优势</strong>了。”\r\n\r\n    的确，优势和劣势有时候并不是绝对的。把自己放在劣势，就是给自己压力，为自己<strong>注入</strong>进取的动力，<strong>敢于</strong>把自己放在劣势的人，最终就有可能把劣势转化成为优势，从而取得<strong>胜利</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nA swordsman went to pay a visit to a martial arts master [literally: a leading figure in martial arts circles] to ask for guidance on how to train [so as to attain] exceptional martial skill. The martial arts master took out a sword that was only 1 foot long, and said: \"Thanks to this, I\'ve accomplished what I have today.\" \r\n\r\nBewildered, the swordsman asked, \"Other people\'s swords are all 3 feet 3 inches long, so why is yours only one foot long? The weapons chart says that: if your sword is one-fold shorter, the danger to you is threefold greater. Using this short of a sword undoubtedly places you at a disadvantage, how can you say this is a good sword?\" \r\n\r\nThe martial arts master said: \"That\'s precisely it - my weapon puts me at a disadvantage, so I must always be thinking that if I\'m up against another person in a fight, the danger to me is greater, and all I have is my diligently practiced sword maneuvers, so the \"length\" of my maneuvers must make up for the shortness of my sword; thus, I\'m always improving, and a disadvantage is transformed into an advantage.    \r\n\r\nIndeed, \"advantage\" and \"disadvantage\" really isn\'t always set in stone. If you put yourself at a disadvantage, you put pressure on yourself, pouring into yourself the power to forge ahead; those who dare to place themselves in an inferior position, can perhaps in the end turn their disadvantage into an advantage, and thereby achieve victory. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Martial Arts Mastery: Put Yourself at a Disadvantage', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '989-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-04-18 23:52:24', '2012-04-19 03:52:24', '', 989, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/04/18/989-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1234, 1, '2012-08-13 01:36:08', '2012-08-13 05:36:08', '[two_third]\r\nSeeing as how I just got back from a trip to the Wall myself, I figured I\'d stay on that theme. This traditional and very famous story, called 孟姜女哭长城 [pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3 ku1 chang2 cheng2[/pinyin], is set in the Qin Dynasty, and is super sad in the way that only East Asian stories can be sad (are we noticing a trend, here?). If you\'re the \"watches a lot of anime\" type, you\'ll easily find the beauty here (which lies in the power of tears - where else?), but if you like your fairy-tale endings, prepare for a big downer. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/20120723-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters - Intermediate Chinese Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I happen to enjoy sad stories as long as there\'s some sweetness in them, and this one is paced very nicely, so I\'m translating it for you here, though it\'s much longer than my usual fare (I seem to be trending towards longer stuff these days). \r\n\r\nThis story happens between 259 B.C. and 210 B.C., and describes two characters, our heroine 孟姜女[pinyin]meng4 jiang1 nv3[/pinyin], and her love, 范喜良 [pinyin]fan4 xi3 liang2[/pinyin], who live under the rule of emperor 秦始皇 [pinyin]qin2 shi3 huang2[/pinyin] during the building of the Great Wall. The story describes how they meet and how they finally part, and dwells on the strength of 孟姜女\'s love for her man. There are a few specialized words here pertaining to weddings. One is 喜酒 [pinyin]xi3 jiu3[/pinyin], meaning \"happiness wine\", which is alcohol drunk at weddings to wish the bride and groom well. Another is 洞房 [pinyin]dong4 fang2[/pinyin], or \"marriage chamber\" (literally \"cave room\"). And yet another is 成亲, meaning \"to get married\".\r\n\r\nAn interesting word here is 眼看 [pinyin]yan3 kan4[/pinyin], which means \"in a moment\", or \"when ____ is just about to happen\", not \"the eye sees\" or \"to look\", as may be supposed. \r\n\r\nOne difficult few words to puzzle out here is in the second paragraph, when it\'s stated that some soldiers \"不容分说\" [pinyin]bu4 rong2 fen1 shuo1[/pinyin] charge into the room. 不容 here means \"without tolerating\" or \"would not tolerate\", and 分说 means \"to explain\". So we can imagine that this means the soldiers barged in and though people tried to explain the situation to them, they weren\'t interested in listening. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n连连  - [pinyin]lian2 lian2[/pinyin] - Again and again\r\n逃难 - [pinyin]tao2 nan4[/pinyin] - Run away from trouble\r\n抓 - [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin] - Grab, catch, seize\r\n知书达理 - [pinyin]zhi1 shu1 da2 li3[/pinyin] - Educated and well-balanced\r\n眉清目秀 - [pinyin]mei2 qing1 mu4 xiu4[/pinyin] - Good-looking with delicate features\r\n心心相印 - [pinyin]xin1 xin1 xiang1 yin4[/pinyin] - Two hearts beat as one\r\n成亲 - [pinyin]cheng2 qin1[/pinyin] - To get married\r\n张灯结彩 - [pinyin]zheng1 deng1 jie2 cai3[/pinyin] - Decorated with lanterns and colored banners\r\n满堂 - [pinyin]man3 tang2[/pinyin] -  jam-packed, a full house\r\n喜气洋洋 - [pinyin]xi3 qi4 yang2 yang2[/pinyin] - Full of joy\r\n干着急 - [pinyin]gan1 zhan2 ji2[/pinyin] - Worry needlessly\r\n跋涉 - [pinyin]ba2 she4[/pinyin] - To trek, trudge\r\n顽强 - [pinyin]wan2 qiang2[/pinyin] - Tenacious\r\n工地 - [pinyin]gong1 di4[/pinyin] - Construction site\r\n踪影 - [pinyin]zong1 ying3[/pinyin] - A trace (no <em>trace</em> of sthg)\r\n尸首 - [pinyin]shi1 shou5[/pinyin] - Corpse\r\n噩耗 - [pinyin]e4 hao4[/pinyin] - News of someone\'s death\r\n猛烈 - [pinyin]meng3 lie4[/pinyin] - fierce / violent\r\n血肉模糊 - [pinyin]xue4 rou4 mo2 hu5[/pinyin] - Badly mutilated\r\n残暴 - [pinyin]can2 bao4[/pinyin] - Cruelty\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n 秦朝时候，有个善良美丽的女子，名叫孟姜女。一天，她正在自家的院子里做家务，突然发现葡萄架下藏了一个人，吓了她一大跳，正要叫喊，只见那个人<strong>连连</strong>摆手，恳求道：“别喊别喊，救救我吧！我叫范喜良，是来<strong>逃难</strong>的。”原来这时秦始皇为了造长城，正到处<strong>抓</strong>人做劳工，已经饿死、累死了不知多少人！孟姜女把范喜良救了下来，见他<strong>知书达理</strong>，<strong>眉清目秀</strong>，对他产生了爱慕之情，而范喜良也喜欢上了孟姜女。他俩儿<strong>心心相印</strong>，征得了父母的同意后，就准备结为夫妻。\r\n\r\n <strong>成亲</strong>那天，孟家<strong>张灯结彩</strong>，宾客<strong>满堂</strong>，一派<strong>喜气洋洋</strong>的情景。<strong>眼看</strong>天快黑了，喝<strong>喜酒</strong>的人也都渐渐散了，新郎新娘正要入<strong>洞房</strong>，忽然只听见鸡飞狗叫，随后闯进来一队恶狠狠的官兵，不容分说，用铁链一锁，硬把范喜良抓到长城去做工了。好端端的喜事变成了一场空，孟姜女悲愤交加，日夜思念着丈夫。她想：我与其坐在家里<strong>干着急</strong>，还不如自己到长城去找他。对！就这么办！孟姜女立刻收拾收拾行装，上路了。\r\n\r\n一路上，也不知经历了多少风霜雨雪，<strong>跋涉</strong>过多少险山恶水，孟姜女没有喊过一声苦，没有掉过一滴泪，终于，凭着<strong>顽强</strong>的毅力，凭着对丈夫深深的爱，她到达了长城。这时的长城已经是由一个个<strong>工地</strong>组成的一道很长很长的城墙了，孟姜女一个工地一个工地地找过来，却始终不见丈夫的<strong>踪影</strong>。最后，她鼓起勇气，向一队正要上工的民工询问：“你们这儿有个范喜良吗？”民工说：“有这么个人，新来的。”孟姜女一听，甭提多开心了！她连忙再问：“他在哪儿呢？”民工说：“已经死了，<strong>尸首</strong>都已经填了城脚了！”\r\n\r\n猛地听到这个<strong>噩耗</strong>，真好似晴天霹雳一般，孟姜女只觉眼前一黑，一阵心酸，大哭起来。整整哭了三天三夜，哭得天昏地暗，连天地都感动了。天越来越阴沉，风越来越<strong>猛烈</strong>，只听“哗啦”一声，一段长城被哭倒了，露出来的正是范喜良的尸首，孟姜女的眼泪滴在了他<strong>血肉模糊</strong>的脸上。她终于见到了自己心爱的丈夫，但他却再也看不到她了，因为他已经被<strong>残暴</strong>的秦始皇害死了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Qin dynasty, there was a kind and beautify woman, called Meng JiangNv. One day, she was in her garden doing housework, when she suddenly realized that someone was hiding in the grape arbor. She was hugely startled, and was about to call out, when she saw the person repeatedly wave his hands, and begged her, \"Don\'t call out, don\'t call out, save me! I am Fan XiLiang, and I\'m running away from trouble.\" Well, during this time, [Emperor] Qin Shi Huang, in order to build the great wall, was seizing people from everywhere to [force them to] do labor, and he\'d already worked and starved countless people to death! Meng JiangNv rescued Fan XiLiang, and when she saw that he was well educated and sensible, and good looking with delicate features as well, she began to love him, and Fan XiLiang also liked Meng JiangNv. Their two hearts beat as one, and after seeking the approval of their parents, prepared to become husband and wife. \r\n\r\nOn the wedding day, the Meng house was lit with lanterns and colored banners, and was jam-packed with guests - it was a joyous scene. When it was almost dark out, and those that had come to drink the marriage wine slowly scattered, the bride and groom prepared to enter the marriage chamber, suddenly came the sounds of birds crying and dogs barking, and soon after a company of fierce officers and soldiers charged in, and without listening to any explanation, locked up Fan XiLiang in iron chains and hauled him off to the Great Wall to work. The lovely wedding had come to nothing, and Meng JiangNv felt both grief and indignation, and she longed for her husband day and night. She thought: <em>Instead of sitting here worrying hopelessly, it\'s better if I go to the Great Wall and search for him. Yes! That\'s what I\'ll do!</em> So Meng JiangNv immediately prepared her traveling clothes and set out on the road. \r\n\r\nOn the road, though she couldn\'t count how many times she endured wind, frost, rain and snow, trudged across dangerous mountains and treacherous rapids, Meng JiangNv never spoke one word of complaint, never spilled one tear, and finally, drawing strength from her tenacious willpower, and drawing strength from her deep love for her husband, she reached the Great Wall. The Great Wall at this time was made up of many small construction sites that had been strung together to form a long city wall, and Meng JiangNv went from each construction site to the next, but she never saw a trace of her husband. Finally, she drummed up her courage, and asked a group of workers who were just about to begin work: \"Do any of you know a Fan XiLiang?\" The workers said, \"Yes, there was a man like that, he\'d just arrived.\" When Meng JiangNv heard that, she was indescribably happy! She immediately asked, \"Where is he?\" The worker said, \"He\'s dead, his corpse has already been tossed into the wall.\"  \r\n\r\nWhen Meng JiangNv heard this grievous news, it was like a clap of thunder from a clear sky, Meng\'s eyes went dark, and [she felt] a burst of sadness, and began to sob. She cried for a full three days and three nights, she cried until the sky was twilight and the earth was dark, [until] even Heaven and Earth were moved. The sky became more and more gloomy, the wind more and more fierce, and then there was a great \"crash\", and a section of the Wall had been cried down, and Fan XiLiang\'s corpse was revealed; Meng JiangNv\'s tears dripped on his badly mutilated face. She finally was able to see the husband she loved, but he wasn\'t able to see her, because he had already been killed by the cruel Qin ShiHuang. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Meng JiangNv Cries the Great Wall Down', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1176-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-13 01:36:08', '2012-08-13 05:36:08', '', 1176, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/13/1176-revision-13/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1235, 1, '2012-08-29 07:00:15', '2012-08-29 11:00:15', 'This essay about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results) is almost as beginner as a five-paragraph read can get. You\'ll find very few intermediate-level words, and extremely basic sentence structure. Only thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\r\n\r\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\r\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\r\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\r\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\r\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\r\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\r\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\r\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\r\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\r\n\r\nPretty straightforward when you look at it that way. A quick note on that: though the word 糖果 (which appears a lot in this text) means \"candy\", it does not mean \"candy fruit\" or \"sweet fruit\", as you might guess from the character 果. This is just a general word for candy, though the Chinese don\'t consider chocolate a \"candy\" - it\'s in its own category. \r\n\r\nThe original is from a Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2011113020504.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese Text</h3>\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 我四岁时，一个烈日炎炎的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸抱上我去商店、给我买了很多糖果。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院种苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么种子就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我心想如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> <strong>如今</strong>我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<strong>1)</strong> Childhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> I was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> [The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother and my elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> I did just that, I dug a hole, took my left over candy and put it all in the hole, using dirt to bury it. In silence I fervently hoped: \"Candy, grow quickly! Candy, grow quickly! Grow into a big tree, and sprout lots and lots of candy.\" I told this wish to my father, and he listened. Laughing heartily he said: \"Candy can\'t grow into a big tree, and it definitely can\'t sprout more candy.\" I heard my father\'s words and I sat down on the grass and started sobbing, my candy, my candy. Father quickly ran up to me, embraced me and said: \"Oh, don\'t cry little darling, daddy will buy you lots and lots of candy.\" I listened to him and stopped crying.\r\n\r\nNowadays I\'ve already grown up, and I won\'t try foolishly planting candy again.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 童年傻事 - A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'a-foolish-affair-from-my-childhood', '', '', '2016-11-04 08:44:33', '2016-11-04 12:44:33', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1235', 0, 'post', '', 14),
(2086, 1, '2016-11-04 08:43:19', '2016-11-04 12:43:19', 'This essay about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results) is almost as beginner as a five-paragraph read can get. You\'ll find very few intermediate-level words, and extremely basic sentence structure. Only thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\r\n\r\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\r\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\r\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\r\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\r\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\r\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\r\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\r\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\r\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\r\n\r\nPretty straightforward when you look at it that way. A quick note on that: though the word 糖果 (which appears a lot in this text) means \"candy\", it does not mean \"candy fruit\" or \"sweet fruit\", as you might guess from the character 果. This is just a general word for candy, though the Chinese don\'t consider chocolate a \"candy\" - it\'s in its own category. \r\n\r\nThe original is from a Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2011113020504.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese Text</h3>\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 我四岁时，一个烈日炎炎的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸抱上我去商店、给我买了很多糖果。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院种苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么种子就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我心想如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> <strong>如今</strong>我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<strong>1)</strong> Childhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> I was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> [The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother and my elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> I did just that, I dug a hole, took my left over candy and put it all in the hole, using dirt to bury it. In silence I fervently hoped: \"Candy, grow quickly! Candy, grow quickly! Grow into a big tree, and sprout lots and lots of candy.\" I told this wish to my father, and he listened. Laughing heartily he said: \"Candy can\'t grow into a big tree, and it definitely can\'t sprout more candy.\" I heard my father\'s words and I sat down on the grass and started sobbing, my candy, my candy. Father quickly ran up to me, embraced me and said: \"Oh, don\'t cry little darling, daddy will buy you lots and lots of candy.\" I listened to him and stopped crying.\r\n\r\nNowadays I\'ve already grown up, and I won\'t try foolishly planting candy again.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 童年傻事 - A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1235-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 08:43:19', '2016-11-04 12:43:19', '', 1235, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1235-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1727, 1, '2016-10-31 03:15:08', '2016-10-31 07:15:08', 'This essay about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results) is almost as beginner as a five-paragraph read can get. You\'ll find very few intermediate-level words, and extremely basic sentence structure. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120829-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Beginner Simplified Chinese Essays: Learn to Read Mandarin\" title=\"Chinese Essays for Beginners: Learn to Read Chinese Essays \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Only thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\r\n\r\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\r\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\r\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\r\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\r\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\r\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\r\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\r\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\r\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\r\n\r\nPretty straightforward when you look at it that way. A quick note on that: though the word 糖果 (which appears a lot in this text) means \"candy\", it does not mean \"candy fruit\" or \"sweet fruit\", as you might guess from the character 果. This is just a general word for candy, though the Chinese don\'t consider chocolate a \"candy\" - it\'s in its own category. \r\n\r\nThe original is from a Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2011113020504.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 我四岁时，一个<strong>烈日</strong><strong>炎炎</strong>的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸<strong>抱上</strong>我去商店、给我买了很多<strong>糖果</strong>。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院<strong>种</strong>苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么<strong>种子</strong>就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我<strong>心想</strong>如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 我说做就做，我<strong>刨</strong>了个<strong>坑</strong>，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土<strong>埋</strong>了。我<strong>默默</strong>的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小<strong>宝贝</strong>，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> <strong>如今</strong>我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<strong>1)</strong> Childhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> I was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> [The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother and my elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> I did just that, I dug a hole, took my left over candy and put it all in the hole, using dirt to bury it. In silence I fervently hoped: \"Candy, grow quickly! Candy, grow quickly! Grow into a big tree, and sprout lots and lots of candy.\" I told this wish to my father, and he listened. Laughing heartily he said: \"Candy can\'t grow into a big tree, and it definitely can\'t sprout more candy.\" I heard my father\'s words and I sat down on the grass and started sobbing, my candy, my candy. Father quickly ran up to me, embraced me and said: \"Oh, don\'t cry little darling, daddy will buy you lots and lots of candy.\" I listened to him and stopped crying.\r\n\r\nNowadays I\'ve already grown up, and I won\'t try foolishly planting candy again.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essay] 童年傻事 - A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1235-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:15:08', '2016-10-31 07:15:08', '', 1235, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1235-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1236, 1, '2012-08-14 10:30:22', '2012-08-14 14:30:22', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 童年傻事</strong>\n\nThis essay about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results) is almost as beginner as a multi-paragraph read can get. You\'ll find very few intermediate-level words, and extremely basic sentence structure. \n\nOnly thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\n\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\n\nThe original is from a Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2011113020504.html\">essay composition site</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys\n一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear\n丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one\'s life\n嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves\n器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ\n清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one\'s rounds on patrol\n香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils\n甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice\n中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned\n来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...\n解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify\n拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue\n牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself\n菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\n\n我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\n\n我四岁时，一个烈日炎炎的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸抱上我去商店、给我买了很多糖果。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院种苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么种子就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我心想如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\n\n我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\n\n如今我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nChildhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \n\nI was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \n\n[The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother an dmy elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \n\n我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\n\n如今我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1235-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 10:30:22', '2012-08-14 14:30:22', '', 1235, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1235-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1237, 1, '2012-08-14 11:49:25', '2012-08-14 15:49:25', '', 'Chinese Essays for Beginners: Learn to Read Chinese Essays ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120829', '', '', '2012-08-14 11:49:25', '2012-08-14 15:49:25', '', 1235, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120829.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1238, 1, '2012-08-14 11:49:31', '2012-08-14 15:49:31', '', 'Chinese Essays for Beginners: Learn to Read Chinese Essays ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120829-inline', '', '', '2012-08-14 11:49:31', '2012-08-14 15:49:31', '', 1235, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120829-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1239, 1, '2012-08-14 10:30:24', '2012-08-14 14:30:24', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 童年傻事</strong>\r\n\r\nThis essay about a kid who takes his father\'s advice a little too literally (with amusing results) is almost as beginner as a multi-paragraph read can get. You\'ll find very few intermediate-level words, and extremely basic sentence structure. \r\n\r\nOnly thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we\'ll talk about here. After this it\'s pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let\'s break this one down word by word:\r\n\r\n童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood\r\n仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like\r\n是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is\r\n一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word \"one\" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)\r\n小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,\r\n里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet\r\n糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,\r\n也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also\r\n装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)\r\n许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much\r\n忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.\r\n\r\nThe original is from a Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2011113020504.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys\r\n一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear\r\n丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one\'s life\r\n嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves\r\n器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ\r\n清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool\r\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one\'s rounds on patrol\r\n香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils\r\n甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice\r\n中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned\r\n来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...\r\n解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify\r\n拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue\r\n牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself\r\n菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。\r\n\r\n我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。\r\n\r\n我四岁时，一个烈日炎炎的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸抱上我去商店、给我买了很多糖果。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院种苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么种子就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我心想如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！\r\n\r\n我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\r\n\r\n如今我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nChildhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. \r\n\r\nI was born into a happy six-person family. There\'s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. \r\n\r\n[The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother an dmy elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house\'s back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him \'what are you doing\'? Father said: \"I\'m planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you\'ll have apples to eat.\" Father continued: \"Whatever seeds you plant will grow.\" Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! \r\n\r\n我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。\r\n\r\n如今我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A Foolish Affair from my Childhood', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1235-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 10:30:24', '2012-08-14 14:30:24', '', 1235, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1235-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1724, 1, '2013-08-05 07:33:40', '2013-08-05 11:33:40', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\r\nFor those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120910-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"How to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learning to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Kids\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\r\n\r\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \r\n\r\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \r\n\r\nAnd finally: Beware the definition I give for the word 由 here. It\'s one of those grammar words that means a ton of different things in different contexts - kind of like how the English word \"to\" is hard to define and used often. In my definition list, I only ever show the definition relevant to this text, so you\'re going to see the word 由 in many contexts in many essays and it doesn\'t always mean what it means here. \r\n\r\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\r\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\r\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\r\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 wang3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\r\n\r\n我觉得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \r\n\r\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-08-05 07:33:40', '2013-08-05 11:33:40', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/08/1241-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1241, 1, '2012-09-10 05:41:17', '2012-09-10 09:41:17', 'For those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money, referred to here as 压岁钱 [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.\r\n\r\n<h3>\"Play\"</h3>\r\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\r\n\r\n<h3>Comparatives</h3>\r\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \r\n\r\n<h3>余</h3>\r\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \r\n\r\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n我非常喜欢过新年，因为过年不但能穿新衣服，玩得快活，而且还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元压岁钱，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，以往的压岁钱都要上缴的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱由我来保管，没想到妈妈很爽快的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的肯德基？我苦思冥想了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者订报纸、献爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\r\n\r\n我觉得这样做，不但可以从小学会勤俭节约、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我逐渐成长起来。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nI really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \r\n\r\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essay] 拿到压岁钱以后 - After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'after-i-got-my-new-years-money', '', '', '2016-11-04 23:54:59', '2016-11-05 03:54:59', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1241', 0, 'post', '', 19),
(2143, 1, '2016-11-04 23:54:59', '2016-11-05 03:54:59', 'For those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money, referred to here as 压岁钱 [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.\r\n\r\n<h3>\"Play\"</h3>\r\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\r\n\r\n<h3>Comparatives</h3>\r\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \r\n\r\n<h3>余</h3>\r\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \r\n\r\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n我非常喜欢过新年，因为过年不但能穿新衣服，玩得快活，而且还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元压岁钱，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，以往的压岁钱都要上缴的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱由我来保管，没想到妈妈很爽快的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的肯德基？我苦思冥想了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者订报纸、献爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\r\n\r\n我觉得这样做，不但可以从小学会勤俭节约、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我逐渐成长起来。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nI really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \r\n\r\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essay] 拿到压岁钱以后 - After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 23:54:59', '2016-11-05 03:54:59', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1241-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1725, 1, '2016-10-31 03:12:49', '2016-10-31 07:12:49', 'For those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120910-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"How to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learning to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Kids\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\r\n\r\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \r\n\r\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \r\n\r\nAnd finally: Beware the definition I give for the word 由 here. It\'s one of those grammar words that means a ton of different things in different contexts - kind of like how the English word \"to\" is hard to define and used often. In my definition list, I only ever show the definition relevant to this text, so you\'re going to see the word 由 in many contexts in many essays and it doesn\'t always mean what it means here. \r\n\r\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\r\n\r\n我觉得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \r\n\r\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essay] 拿到压岁钱以后 - After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:12:49', '2016-10-31 07:12:49', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1241-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1242, 1, '2012-08-16 10:47:17', '2012-08-16 14:47:17', '', 'Auto Draft', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-16 10:47:17', '2012-08-16 14:47:17', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/16/1241-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1246, 1, '2012-08-20 13:06:44', '2012-08-20 17:06:44', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\nFor those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. <!--more-->\n\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\n\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. \n\nChinese is bad for run-on sentences - there are many cases when they use a comma when we\'d use a period, but the first paragraph of this contains one of the longest run-ons I\'ve ever seen. \n\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n烈日 - [pinyin]lie4 ri4[/pinyin] - Scorching sun\n炎炎 - [pinyin]yan2 yan2[/pinyin] - Scorching\n抱上 - [pinyin]bao4 shang4[/pinyin] - Pick up (the way one picks up a child, encircling them with both arms)\n糖果 - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - Candy \n种 - [pinyin]zhong4[/pinyin] - To plant (eg. vegetable seeds)\n种子 - [pinyin]zhong3 zi5[/pinyin] - A seed\n心想 - [pinyin]xin1 xiang3[/pinyin] - Think to oneself\n刨 - [pinyin]pao2[/pinyin] - To dig\n坑 - [pinyin]keng1[/pinyin] - Hole\n埋 - [pinyin]mai2[/pinyin] - To bury\n默默 - [pinyin]mo4 mo4[/pinyin] - Without speaking\n宝贝 - [pinyin]bao3 bei4[/pinyin] - \"Baby\", \"Darling\" - term of endearment\n如今 - [pinyin]ru2 jin1[/pinyin] - Nowadays\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n我非常喜欢过新年，因为过年不但能穿新衣服，玩得快活，而且还能收到很多的压岁钱。今年我一下子就收到了700余元压岁钱，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，以往的压岁钱都要上缴的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱由我来保管，没想到妈妈很爽快的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的肯德基？我苦思冥想了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者订报纸、献爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\n\n    我决得这样做，不但可以从小学会勤俭节约、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我逐渐成长起来。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \n\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills?], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-20 13:06:44', '2012-08-20 17:06:44', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/20/1241-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
