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(1243, 1, '2012-08-14 01:07:15', '2012-08-14 05:07:15', '[two_third]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://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]', 'Excerpt from Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 01:07:15', '2012-08-14 05:07:15', '', 1209, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1209-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1244, 1, '2012-08-16 21:55:05', '2012-08-17 01:55:05', '[two_third]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://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]', 'Excerpt from Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-16 21:55:05', '2012-08-17 01:55:05', '', 1209, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/16/1209-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1245, 1, '2012-08-16 21:55:18', '2012-08-17 01:55:18', '[two_third]\r\nThis excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author <a href=\"http://www.thomasbrezina.co.uk/buecher-serien/?sid=ca3599a37c59e0c87d1b27da100ae194\">Thomas C. Brezina</a>, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter\'s cousin Vicky and Vicky\'s little brother Nick. This is listed as \"advanced\" not necessarily because of the vocabulary - which isn\'t terribly difficult - but also because some of the sentence structures aren\'t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://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]', 'Excerpt from Tiger Team: Ghost Hotel', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1209-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-16 21:55:18', '2012-08-17 01:55:18', '', 1209, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/16/1209-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1247, 1, '2012-08-14 03:32:12', '2012-08-14 07:32:12', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 神农尝百草</strong>\r\n\r\nA cool introduction to one of the lesser-known deities, Shen Nong 神农 [pinyin]shen2 nong2[/pinyin], the God of Agriculture (and later called the Bodhisattva of Medicine). This is upper-intermediate reading: expect a lot of new words (mostly relating to plants and Chinese medicine) but intermediate sentence structure, and sentences mostly communicate a complete point. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://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 alignleft\" /> Shen Nong, we are to understand, had a transparent abdomen so all his innards could be seen from the outside (yes, the first sentence <em>does</em> say \'Shen Nong had a crystal belly\'), and he always carried two bags with him - read the story to find out what the bags were for.\r\n\r\nWe touch on the origins of some well-known plants (one of which is poorly described, I think), but the last paragraph talks about the herb \"heartbreak grass\" - 断肠草 [pinyin]duan4 chang2 cao3[/pinyin] - which I\'d never heard of and which is not a common plant. The English botanical name is <em>Gelsemium elegans</em> (yeah, no idea), which according to the abstract of <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874103002678\">one study</a> is \"a toxic plant indigenous to southeastern Asia, well known among hill tribes as an effective means for committing suicide\". So a very potent poison, then.\r\n\r\nOriginal post was found on <a href=\"http://www.shenhuagushi.net/minjian/chuanshuo200.html\">a cool mythology and fable website</a> - you may find some other interesting stuff there. I made a tiny edit from the original to correct a mistake.\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys\r\n一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear\r\n丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one\'s life\r\n嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves\r\n器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ\r\n清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool\r\n巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one\'s rounds on patrol\r\n香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils\r\n甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice\r\n中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned\r\n来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...\r\n解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify\r\n拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue\r\n牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself\r\n菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n神农一生下来就是个水晶肚子，<strong>五脏六腑</strong>全都能看得<strong>一清二楚</strong>。那时侯，人们经常因为乱吃东西而生病，甚至<strong>丧命</strong>。神农决心尝遍所有的东西，好吃的放在身边左边的袋子里，给人吃；不好吃的就放在身子右边的袋子里，作药用。\r\n\r\n第一次，神农尝了一片小<strong>嫩叶</strong>。这叶片一落进肚里，就上上下下地把里面各<strong>器官</strong>擦洗得<strong>清清爽爽</strong>，象<strong>巡查</strong>似的，神农把它叫做“查”，就是后人所称的“茶”。神农将它放进右边袋子里。第二次，神农尝了朵蝴蝶样的淡红小花，甜津津的，<strong>香味扑鼻</strong>，这是“<strong>甘草</strong>”。他把它放进了左边袋子里。就这样，神农辛苦地尝遍百草，每次<strong>中毒</strong>，都靠茶来解救。后来，他左边的袋子里花草根叶有四万七千种，右边有三十九万八千种。\r\n\r\n但有一天，神农尝到了“断肠草”，这种毒草太厉害了，他还<strong>来不及</strong>吃茶<strong>解毒</strong>就死了。他是为了<strong>拯救</strong>人们而<strong>牺牲</strong>的，人们称他为“药王<strong>菩萨</strong>”，人间以这个神话故事永远地纪念他。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAll his life, Shen Nong had a crystal abdomen, and one could clearly see all of his internal organs. At that time, humans were often getting sick and even dying because they ate things indiscriminately [not knowing if they were good or bad]. Shen Nong determinedly tasted everything everywhere; the good-tasting things he put in a bag on his left side, those were for people to eat; the bad-tasting things he put in a bag on his right side, and those were used for medicine.\r\n\r\nThe first time, Shen Nong tasted a small fresh leaf. As this leaf fell into his stomach, it cleaned every inch of his insides so that every organ top and bottom was fresh and cool, as if [the leaf] was somehow on patrol [making the rounds], so Shen Nong called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [to investigate / check], and later generations of men called it \"[pinyin]cha2[/pinyin]\" [tea]. Shen Nong put it in the bag on the right. The second time, Shen Nong tasted a little light red flower that looked like a butterfly, which was sweet and delicious, with an exotic smell that filled his nostrils, so he called it \"licorice\". He put it in the bag on the left. In this way, Shen Nong diligently tasted all manner of flora, and every time he was poisoned, he used tea to rescue himself. Before long, the bag on his left contained 47,000 kinds of flowers, grasses, roots and leaves, and the right side had 398,000 kinds. \r\n\r\nBut one day, Shen Nong tasted \"heartbreak grass\", and this poison was too terrible, so there wasn\'t enough time to eat the tea leaves to detoxify and he died. He sacrificed himself to save humanity, so people call him the \"Bodhisattva of Medicine\", and people forever commemorate him through this story. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Farmer God Shen Nong Tastes All the Plants', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1225-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-14 03:32:12', '2012-08-14 07:32:12', '', 1225, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/14/1225-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1248, 1, '2011-05-07 18:24:11', '2011-05-07 22:24:11', 'After spending six years in China studying Mandarin and working, I took a several-year haitus and returned to my native country. It was alarming how quickly my language skills began distinegrating. I searched online for Chinese reading materials, and though I found plenty of dictionaries and flash card sources, I had a very difficult time finding something that was at an appropriate reading level, was different than the typical textbook-y stuff available online, was presented in a way that was easy to read, and that I was sure I could get through. I ended up spending more time looking for something that was suitable than actually doing any reading.\r\n\r\nAs someone who organizes her thoughts into a series of domain names, it was inevitable I\'d eventually start a website about it, and here you are. I post whenever I get a chance.\r\n\r\nThis site doesn\'t exist to teach you Chinese from scratch - there are plenty of sites and programs that do that. But this collection might help you keep your skills fresh, or pick up the occasional new vocabulary word.\r\n<h4>About the Translations</h4>\r\nMany of the translations on this site are done by me, and I don\'t post anything unless I\'ve checked it several times, but that doesn\'t mean I haven\'t missed something. Do feel free to comment if you see anything that ought to have a better translation - it won\'t be taken amiss. Quite a few of the translations, however, are done by others, are taken from old Chinese textbooks or hardcopy magazines I picked up overseas, or were sent in by a third party.\r\n\r\nIt\'s often quite difficult to do a word-for-word translation, as Chinese words that fit well into a particular Chinese sentence read very awkwardly after they\'ve been translated - sometimes a direct translation just sounds \"off\". This is more and more true the higher your reading level. I stick to a word-for-word translation when it\'s appropriate, but I\'ll often change a sentence a little so that it makes sense or reads well in English.\r\n\r\nYou\'ll also notice that I often remove commas, split long Chinese sentences into two or more English sentences, or rearrange the order of clauses, which is necessary to accommodate Chinese grammar.  The translation is meant as a guidepost to help point you in the right direction and keep you grounded in the text when needed - it\'s up to you to dissect sentence structure.\r\n<h4>How I Classify Reading Levels</h4>\r\nUltimately, my classifications are pretty arbitrary, but I\'ll try to lay out some of my basic reasoning here.\r\n\r\n<strong>Beginner</strong> - None of the texts here are truly beginner texts; at least I haven\'t been able to find any real beginner stuff yet (I\'m still looking for good sources of real beginner texts that aren\'t boring dialogs - if you know of any, please write!). This is because for any story, article or essay to really take shape, it usually must involve some intermediate grammar or intermediate vocabulary. This is why most truly beginner textbooks stick to dialogs as opposed to actual articles. In order to do any real reading, you\'ve got to at least know the basics of sentence structure. I will classify something as beginner if at least a couple of the following criteria are met:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>The sentence structure is easy</li>\r\n	<li>It contains only words that you can find in the dictionary (or I can explain them)</li>\r\n	<li>There is no modern slang</li>\r\n	<li>The subject matter is basic / or for children</li>\r\n	<li>It\'s not too long</li>\r\n	<li>It contains few or no idioms</li>\r\n<li>It contains intermediate vocabulary but the story structure is very repetitive, so you can pick up the thread more easily as you go along.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Intermediate</strong> - I classify something as intermediate if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It\'s a longer piece that you have to hold a narrative thread through.</li>\r\n<li>The language is intermediate or upper-intermediate.</li>\r\n<li>There are some light idioms.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Advanced</strong> - Most of what\'s out there online is advanced reading. That\'s why as of now, there are more advanced texts on here than anything else. I classify something as advanced if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It contains specialized or technical words (technology, health, beauty, geography, etc.)</li>\r\n<li>It contains high-level structures, like newspaper-y or literary writing styles.</li>\r\n<li>It contains any archaic words.</li>\r\n<li>The sentence structure is very complicated.</li>\r\n<li>It contains a lot of modern slang.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\nEnjoy, and good luck with your studies.', 'About', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '2-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-05-07 18:24:11', '2011-05-07 22:24:11', '', 2, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/05/07/2-revision-22/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1249, 1, '2012-09-10 05:38:02', '2012-09-10 09:38:02', '', 'Learning to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Kids', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120910-inline', '', '', '2012-09-10 05:38:02', '2012-09-10 09:38:02', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120910-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1250, 1, '2012-09-10 05:38:06', '2012-09-10 09:38:06', '', 'Learning to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Kids', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120910', '', '', '2012-09-10 05:38:06', '2012-09-10 09:38:06', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120910.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1251, 1, '2012-09-10 05:36:17', '2012-09-10 09:36:17', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\nFor those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\n\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\n\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \n\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \n\nAnd finally: Beware the definition I give for the word 由 here. It\'s one of those grammar words that means a ton of different things in different contexts - kind of like how the English word \"to\" is hard to define and used often. In my definition list, I only ever show the definition relevant to this text, so you\'re going to see the word 由 in many contexts in many essays and it doesn\'t always mean what it means here. \n\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\n\n我决得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \n\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 05:36:17', '2012-09-10 09:36:17', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1241-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1252, 1, '2012-09-10 05:40:16', '2012-09-10 09:40:16', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\n<img src=\"http://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\" />For those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\n\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\n\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \n\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \n\nAnd finally: Beware the definition I give for the word 由 here. It\'s one of those grammar words that means a ton of different things in different contexts - kind of like how the English word \"to\" is hard to define and used often. In my definition list, I only ever show the definition relevant to this text, so you\'re going to see the word 由 in many contexts in many essays and it doesn\'t always mean what it means here. \n\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\n\n我决得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \n\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 05:40:16', '2012-09-10 09:40:16', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1241-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1253, 1, '2012-09-10 05:41:17', '2012-09-10 09:41:17', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\r\n<img src=\"http://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\" />For those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\r\n\r\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \r\n\r\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \r\n\r\nAnd finally: Beware the definition I give for the word 由 here. It\'s one of those grammar words that means a ton of different things in different contexts - kind of like how the English word \"to\" is hard to define and used often. In my definition list, I only ever show the definition relevant to this text, so you\'re going to see the word 由 in many contexts in many essays and it doesn\'t always mean what it means here. \r\n\r\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\r\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\r\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\r\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\r\n\r\n我决得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \r\n\r\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 05:41:17', '2012-09-10 09:41:17', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1241-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1255, 1, '2012-09-10 13:33:12', '2012-09-10 17:33:12', '', '2b', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '2b', '', '', '2012-09-10 13:33:12', '2012-09-10 17:33:12', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2b.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0);
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(1269, 1, '2012-09-10 13:51:46', '2012-09-10 17:51:46', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Real Estate Classifieds and Apartment Hunting in Beijing', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120917', '', '', '2012-09-10 13:51:46', '2012-09-10 17:51:46', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120917.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1270, 1, '2012-09-10 13:51:48', '2012-09-10 17:51:48', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Real Estate Classifieds and Apartment Hunting in Beijing', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20120917-inline', '', '', '2012-09-10 13:51:48', '2012-09-10 17:51:48', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120917-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1277, 1, '2012-10-02 00:43:24', '2012-10-02 04:43:24', 'A single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n今天早上我和爸爸比赛跳绳，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有失误，一分钟跳了145个，我的心砰砰乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈弃权了，我成了全家中的第一名，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis morning father and I competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. Mother abstained from participating, so I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 我们家的跳绳比赛 - Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', 'our-familys-jump-rope-contest', '', '', '2016-11-12 03:40:04', '2016-11-12 08:40:04', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1277', 0, 'post', '', 14),
(2080, 1, '2016-11-04 07:37:48', '2016-11-04 11:37:48', 'A single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n今天早上我和爸爸比赛跳绳，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有失误，一分钟跳了145个，我的心砰砰乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈弃权了，我成了全家中的第一名，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis morning father and I competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. Mother abstained from participating, so I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 我们家的跳绳比赛 - Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:37:48', '2016-11-04 11:37:48', '', 1277, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1277-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2015, 1, '2016-11-04 05:06:18', '2016-11-04 09:06:18', 'A single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis morning father and I competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. Mother abstained from participating, so I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 我们家的跳绳比赛 - Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:06:18', '2016-11-04 09:06:18', '', 1277, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1277-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1723, 1, '2016-10-31 03:11:53', '2016-10-31 07:11:53', 'A single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. \r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121002-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Haven\'t had a ton of extra time in the last few weeks - just went on a trip to Dalian, and still catching up from that. \r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis morning father and I competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. Mother abstained from participating, so I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essay] 我们家的跳绳比赛 - Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:11:53', '2016-10-31 07:11:53', '', 1277, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1277-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1275, 1, '2012-03-18 01:05:27', '2012-03-18 05:05:27', '[two_third]\r\nSweet! I found a bunch of Chinese riddles. Read the Chinese and try to guess the word!  This is VERY short, lower-intermediate reading. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120327-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Online: Intermediate Chinese Character Simplified Riddles and Jokes\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Online: Intermediate Chinese Character Simplified Riddles and Jokes\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"alignleft imgborder\" />Some of the riddles I found are impossible, because not only is the riddle hard, the answer is a kind of fruit or plant or thing I\'ve never heard of, so I\'m skipping past all those and over the next few days I\'ll post a few riddles that are answerable for those of us who didn\'t group up in the southern Yao jungles or whatever.\r\n\r\nI think the most interesting word in this text is 青. I see this word everywhere, and I\'ve never been able to come up with an English equivalent. It\'s not green, and it\'s not blue... well, it\'s not actually a color. It means \"the color that nature is\". It can be used to describe a clear green pond. It can be used to talk about trees or grass. So it\'s not actually a specific hue, but the word is used as if it is. Someone feel free to dive in if you can think of a good translation for this. \r\n\r\nThis particular riddle kinda rhymes in Chinese, so when you\'ve sorted out the words, read it out loud.\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 - [pinyin]qing1[/pinyin] - Nature\'s color - green or blue\r\n烤 - [pinyin]kao3[/pinyin] - Roast\r\n晒 - [pinyin]shai4[/pinyin] - Dry in the sun\r\n腾 - [pinyin]teng[/pinyin] - To soar\r\n驾 - [pinyin]jia4[/pinyin] - To pilot a vehicle (to drive a car, sail a boat, ride a wave, etc.)\r\n雾 - [pinyin]wu4[/pinyin] - Fog, mist\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</strong>枝绿叶不是菜， 有的<strong>烤</strong>来有的<strong>晒</strong>，<strong>腾</strong>云<strong>驾</strong><strong>雾</strong>烧着吃，不能锅里煮熟卖。\r\n\r\nHint: this is a type of plant.\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH AND ANSWER\"]\r\nTranslation: Green branches green leaves but it\'s not a vegetable, some roast it and some dry it, soaring on clouds and sailing the mist it\'s consumed, it\'s not sold boiled in a pot.\r\n\r\n<strong>Answer: 烟叶 (Tobacco) </strong>\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Riddle: Guess the Word 1', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1043-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-03-18 01:05:27', '2012-03-18 05:05:27', '', 1043, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/03/18/1043-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1284, 1, '2012-10-02 00:43:24', '2012-10-02 04:43:24', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 我们家的跳绳比赛</strong>\r\n\r\nA single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121002-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Haven\'t had a ton of extra time in the last few weeks - just went on a trip to Dalian, and still catching up from that. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n跳 - [pinyin]lie4 ri4[/pinyin] - Scorching sun\r\n绳 - [pinyin]yan2 yan2[/pinyin] - Scorching\r\n失误 - [pinyin]bao4 shang4[/pinyin] - Pick up (the way one picks up a child, encircling them with both arms)\r\n砰砰 - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - Candy \r\n弃权 - [pinyin]zhong4[/pinyin] - To plant (eg. vegetable seeds)\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis morning father and competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. So I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-02 00:43:24', '2012-10-02 04:43:24', '', 1277, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/02/1277-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1285, 1, '2012-09-10 05:41:46', '2012-09-10 09:41:46', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\r\nFor those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://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 want3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\r\n\r\n我决得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \r\n\r\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-09-10 05:41:46', '2012-09-10 09:41:46', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/09/10/1241-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1287, 1, '2012-10-21 02:34:14', '2012-10-21 06:34:14', 'Gonna lay it on a bit thick today with something nice and serious. This is an abstract of an academic paper from the <a href=\"http://www.genderstudy.cn/\">Gender Studies Network</a> authored by Zhou Ying. \r\n\r\nBecause this is an advanced academic abstract, you can really see how, in the upper levels of written Chinese, a ton of words that we find essential in English can be dropped from a sentence while still preserving the essence of the meaning. We tend to extend sentences with explanation, but here, I feel, is a reasonable example of how efficient Chinese can be. Because so many words have been dropped, I\'ve added a whole lot of bracketed explanation and English fill-in words in the translation to better illuminate the implied meaning.\r\n\r\nI\'m not quite sure I know what a \"proper role in domestic life is\", I\'m fairly certain that not all policewomen feel intensely conflicted, but I do like the idea of implementing some social policies to better support working women. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n女警察工作与生活平衡问题探讨\r\n\r\n警察职业曾是女性的“禁区”。随着社会的发展, 目前女警数量不断扩大, 警务工作范围不断扩展, 他们已成为维护社会治安、打击犯罪的特殊力量。女警发展面临着工作与生活平衡的困境。一方面, 存在着女警人数所占比例小、岗位受限、晋升和参与决策的机会有限、职业安全遭受到威胁等限制职业发展的问题。另一方面, 繁忙的警务工作使其无法扮演好家庭角色, 内心冲突激烈。促进女警工作与生活平衡需要社会方面与个体方面的双重努力, 特别是社会政策的支持。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nA Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen\r\n\r\nPolice work was once an occupational area forbidden to women. In the wake of [current] social development, the continuous increase in the number of policewomen and the continuous expansion in the scope of police work, policewomen have become an extraordinary force in upholding law and order and cracking down on crime.  [At the same time,] this development has left policewomen faced with difficulties in [maintaining] work-life balance. On the one hand, [there are work-related issues such as] their small number in proportion [to male policemen], a limited number of posts they may accept, few opportunities for promotion or participation in decision-making, threats to their occupational safety, and so on. On the other hand, [there are personal issues such as the fact that] the frenetic pace of police work makes it almost impossible to play a proper role in domestic life, creating an intense inner conflict in [policewomen\'s] heart. In order to improve policewomen\'s work-life balance, we must strive [to address] both the social and individual aspects [of this problem], particularly in the form of support through social policies. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Academic Study] A Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'a-probe-into-the-work-life-balance-of-chinese-policewomen', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:33:32', '2016-11-04 11:33:32', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1287', 0, 'post', '', 3),
(2078, 1, '2016-11-04 07:33:32', '2016-11-04 11:33:32', 'Gonna lay it on a bit thick today with something nice and serious. This is an abstract of an academic paper from the <a href=\"http://www.genderstudy.cn/\">Gender Studies Network</a> authored by Zhou Ying. \r\n\r\nBecause this is an advanced academic abstract, you can really see how, in the upper levels of written Chinese, a ton of words that we find essential in English can be dropped from a sentence while still preserving the essence of the meaning. We tend to extend sentences with explanation, but here, I feel, is a reasonable example of how efficient Chinese can be. Because so many words have been dropped, I\'ve added a whole lot of bracketed explanation and English fill-in words in the translation to better illuminate the implied meaning.\r\n\r\nI\'m not quite sure I know what a \"proper role in domestic life is\", I\'m fairly certain that not all policewomen feel intensely conflicted, but I do like the idea of implementing some social policies to better support working women. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n女警察工作与生活平衡问题探讨\r\n\r\n警察职业曾是女性的“禁区”。随着社会的发展, 目前女警数量不断扩大, 警务工作范围不断扩展, 他们已成为维护社会治安、打击犯罪的特殊力量。女警发展面临着工作与生活平衡的困境。一方面, 存在着女警人数所占比例小、岗位受限、晋升和参与决策的机会有限、职业安全遭受到威胁等限制职业发展的问题。另一方面, 繁忙的警务工作使其无法扮演好家庭角色, 内心冲突激烈。促进女警工作与生活平衡需要社会方面与个体方面的双重努力, 特别是社会政策的支持。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nA Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen\r\n\r\nPolice work was once an occupational area forbidden to women. In the wake of [current] social development, the continuous increase in the number of policewomen and the continuous expansion in the scope of police work, policewomen have become an extraordinary force in upholding law and order and cracking down on crime.  [At the same time,] this development has left policewomen faced with difficulties in [maintaining] work-life balance. On the one hand, [there are work-related issues such as] their small number in proportion [to male policemen], a limited number of posts they may accept, few opportunities for promotion or participation in decision-making, threats to their occupational safety, and so on. On the other hand, [there are personal issues such as the fact that] the frenetic pace of police work makes it almost impossible to play a proper role in domestic life, creating an intense inner conflict in [policewomen\'s] heart. In order to improve policewomen\'s work-life balance, we must strive [to address] both the social and individual aspects [of this problem], particularly in the form of support through social policies. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Academic Study] A Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1287-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:33:32', '2016-11-04 11:33:32', '', 1287, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1287-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1288, 1, '2012-10-21 02:32:17', '2012-10-21 06:32:17', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese - Gender Research and Advanced Academic Papers in Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20121021', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:32:17', '2012-10-21 06:32:17', '', 1287, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121021.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1289, 1, '2012-10-21 02:32:18', '2012-10-21 06:32:18', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese - Gender Research and Advanced Academic Papers in Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20121021-inline', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:32:18', '2012-10-21 06:32:18', '', 1287, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121021-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1290, 1, '2012-10-21 02:34:00', '2012-10-21 06:34:00', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 女警察工作与生活平衡问题探讨</strong>\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121021-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Characters - Academic Research Papers in Mandarin Simplified Chinese\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese - Gender Research and Advanced Academic Papers in Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder\" />Gonna lay it on a bit thick today with something nice and serious. This is an abstract of an academic paper from the Gender Studies Network authored by Zhou Ying. <!--more-->\n\nBecause this is an advanced academic abstract, you can really see how, in the upper levels of written Chinese, a ton of words that we find essential in English can be dropped from a sentence while still preserving the essence of the meaning. We tend to extend sentences with explanation, but here, I feel, is a fabulous example of how efficient Chinese can be. Because so many words have been dropped, I\'ve added a whole lot of bracketed explanation and English fill-in words in the translation to better illuminate the implied meaning.\n\nI\'m not quite sure I know what a \"proper role in domestic life is\", I\'m fairly certain that not all policewomen feel intensely conflicted, and I\'m not sure I really like the implications there, but hey. It\'s not my paper. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n禁区 - [pinyin]jin4 qu1[/pinyin] - Forbidden region\n范围 - [pinyin]fan4 wei2[/pinyin] - Range, scope\n治安 - [pinyin]zhi4 an1[/pinyin] - Law and order\n打击 - [pinyin]da3 ji1[/pinyin] - Crack down on\n面临 - [pinyin]mian4 lin2[/pinyin] - Be faced with\n工作与生活平衡 - [pinyin]gong1 zuo4 yu2 sheng1 huo2 ping2 heng2[/pinyin] - Work-life balance\n比例 - [pinyin]bi3 li4[/pinyin] - Proportion\n岗位 - [pinyin]gang3 wei4[/pinyin] - A job\n限 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - Limit\n遭受 - [pinyin]zao1 shou4[/pinyin] - To suffer\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - To threaten\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play a role\n冲突 - [pinyin]chong1 tu1[/pinyin] - Conflict\n政策 - [pinyin]zheng4 ce4[/pinyin] - Policy\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n警察职业曾是女性的“<strong>禁区</strong>”。随着社会的发展, 目前女警数量不断扩大, 警务工作<strong>范围</strong>不断扩展, 他们已成为维护社会<strong>治安</strong>、<strong>打击</strong>犯罪的特殊力量。女警发展<strong>面临</strong>着<strong>工作与生活平衡</strong>的困境。一方面, 存在着女警人数所占<strong>比例</strong>小、<strong>岗位</strong>受<strong>限</strong>、晋升和参与决策的机会有限、职业安全<strong>遭受</strong>到<strong>威胁</strong>等限制职业发展的问题。另一方面, 繁忙的警务工作使其无法<strong>扮演</strong>好家庭角色, 内心<strong>冲突</strong>激烈。促进女警工作与生活平衡需要社会方面与个体方面的双重努力, 特别是社会<strong>政策</strong>的支持。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nPolice work was once an occupational area forbidden to women. In the wake of [current] social development, the continuous increase in the number of policewomen and the continuous expansion in the scope of police work, policewomen have become an extraordinary force in upholding law and order and cracking down on crime.  [At the same time,] this development has left policewomen faced with difficulties in [maintaining] work-life balance. On the one hand, [there are work-related issues such as] their small number in proportion [to male policemen], a limited number of posts they may accept, few opportunities for promotion or participation in decision-making, threats to their occupational safety, and so on. On the other hand, [there are personal issues such as the fact that] the frenetic pace of police work makes it almost impossible to play a proper role in domestic life, creating an intense inner conflict in [policewomen\'s] heart. In order to improve policewomen\'s work-life balance, we must strive [to address] both the social and individual aspects [of this problem], particularly in the form of support through social policies. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1287-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:34:00', '2012-10-21 06:34:00', '', 1287, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/21/1287-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1291, 1, '2012-10-21 02:34:14', '2012-10-21 06:34:14', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 女警察工作与生活平衡问题探讨</strong>\r\n\r\nGonna lay it on a bit thick today with something nice and serious. This is an abstract of an academic paper from the Gender Studies Network authored by Zhou Ying. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121021-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Characters - Academic Research Papers in Mandarin Simplified Chinese\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese - Gender Research and Advanced Academic Papers in Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Because this is an advanced academic abstract, you can really see how, in the upper levels of written Chinese, a ton of words that we find essential in English can be dropped from a sentence while still preserving the essence of the meaning. We tend to extend sentences with explanation, but here, I feel, is a fabulous example of how efficient Chinese can be. Because so many words have been dropped, I\'ve added a whole lot of bracketed explanation and English fill-in words in the translation to better illuminate the implied meaning.\r\n\r\nI\'m not quite sure I know what a \"proper role in domestic life is\", I\'m fairly certain that not all policewomen feel intensely conflicted, and I\'m not sure I really like the implications there, but hey. It\'s not my paper. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n禁区 - [pinyin]jin4 qu1[/pinyin] - Forbidden region\r\n范围 - [pinyin]fan4 wei2[/pinyin] - Range, scope\r\n治安 - [pinyin]zhi4 an1[/pinyin] - Law and order\r\n打击 - [pinyin]da3 ji1[/pinyin] - Crack down on\r\n面临 - [pinyin]mian4 lin2[/pinyin] - Be faced with\r\n工作与生活平衡 - [pinyin]gong1 zuo4 yu2 sheng1 huo2 ping2 heng2[/pinyin] - Work-life balance\r\n比例 - [pinyin]bi3 li4[/pinyin] - Proportion\r\n岗位 - [pinyin]gang3 wei4[/pinyin] - A job\r\n限 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - Limit\r\n遭受 - [pinyin]zao1 shou4[/pinyin] - To suffer\r\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - To threaten\r\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play a role\r\n冲突 - [pinyin]chong1 tu1[/pinyin] - Conflict\r\n政策 - [pinyin]zheng4 ce4[/pinyin] - Policy\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n警察职业曾是女性的“<strong>禁区</strong>”。随着社会的发展, 目前女警数量不断扩大, 警务工作<strong>范围</strong>不断扩展, 他们已成为维护社会<strong>治安</strong>、<strong>打击</strong>犯罪的特殊力量。女警发展<strong>面临</strong>着<strong>工作与生活平衡</strong>的困境。一方面, 存在着女警人数所占<strong>比例</strong>小、<strong>岗位</strong>受<strong>限</strong>、晋升和参与决策的机会有限、职业安全<strong>遭受</strong>到<strong>威胁</strong>等限制职业发展的问题。另一方面, 繁忙的警务工作使其无法<strong>扮演</strong>好家庭角色, 内心<strong>冲突</strong>激烈。促进女警工作与生活平衡需要社会方面与个体方面的双重努力, 特别是社会<strong>政策</strong>的支持。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nPolice work was once an occupational area forbidden to women. In the wake of [current] social development, the continuous increase in the number of policewomen and the continuous expansion in the scope of police work, policewomen have become an extraordinary force in upholding law and order and cracking down on crime.  [At the same time,] this development has left policewomen faced with difficulties in [maintaining] work-life balance. On the one hand, [there are work-related issues such as] their small number in proportion [to male policemen], a limited number of posts they may accept, few opportunities for promotion or participation in decision-making, threats to their occupational safety, and so on. On the other hand, [there are personal issues such as the fact that] the frenetic pace of police work makes it almost impossible to play a proper role in domestic life, creating an intense inner conflict in [policewomen\'s] heart. In order to improve policewomen\'s work-life balance, we must strive [to address] both the social and individual aspects [of this problem], particularly in the form of support through social policies. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1287-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:34:14', '2012-10-21 06:34:14', '', 1287, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/21/1287-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1292, 1, '2012-10-02 00:45:36', '2012-10-02 04:45:36', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 我们家的跳绳比赛</strong>\r\n\r\nA single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121002-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Haven\'t had a ton of extra time in the last few weeks - just went on a trip to Dalian, and still catching up from that. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n跳 - [pinyin]tiao4[/pinyin] - Jump\r\n绳 - [pinyin]sheng2[/pinyin] - Rope\r\n失误 - [pinyin]shi1 wu4[/pinyin] - Mistake\r\n砰砰 - [pinyin]peng1 peng1[/pinyin] - Onomat. Sound of heart beating\r\n弃权 - [pinyin]qi4 quan2[/pinyin] - To voluntarily not participate\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis morning father and competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. So I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-02 00:45:36', '2012-10-02 04:45:36', '', 1277, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/02/1277-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1295, 1, '2013-01-15 22:40:26', '2013-01-16 03:40:26', 'You know you need a KTV song! Beijing, Beijing is a slow ballad sung by Chinese artist 汪峰 [pinyin]wang1 feng1[/pinyin] and was in the <a href=\"http://music.baidu.com/top/new\">Baidu Top 100</a> top 10 for a bit this year. Now it looks like it\'s fallen between the 30th and 40th place on various music charts, but it\'s still pretty popular, particularly in, you know, Beijing. If you can find it in yourself to embrace the painful 80\'s growly I-mean-it man voice and the \"Streets of Philadelphia\" emo-dad thing, you may find that the song is a good karaoke song if you\'re just starting out because it\'s repetitive, it\'s not abstract, it\'s sung slowly enough to sing along and it\'s so emotionally over-fraught that it\'s fun. \r\n\r\n<iframe height=498 width=510 frameborder=0 src=\"http://player.youku.com/embed/XMjA5NzgwNTky\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\r\n\r\nI recommend you read and translate the lyrics before you listen to the song, so you\'ve got an idea of what you\'re hearing. \r\n\r\nA few translation notes: it\'s not always clear exactly how to translate song lyrics. Example: 寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 is not an easy lyric to translate. Or rather, it\'s super easy to get the gist of the meaning (searching, chasing, dying, broken dreams... you get the idea), but put an \"of\" in the wrong place and the meaning changes to something slightly different. I\'ve done my best, feel free to re-write or re-interpret those in a different way. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n1) 当我走在这里的每一条街道 \r\n我的心似乎从来都不能平静　\r\n除了发动机的轰鸣和电器之音 　　\r\n我似乎听到了他烛骨般的心跳 　　\r\n我在这里欢笑 　　\r\n我在这里哭泣\r\n我在这里活着 　　\r\n也在这死去 　　\r\n我在这里祈祷　\r\n我在这里迷惘　\r\n我在这里寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京 　　\r\n\r\n2) 咖啡馆与广场有三个街区 　　\r\n就像霓虹灯到月亮的距离 　　\r\n人们在挣扎中相互告慰和拥抱 　　\r\n寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 　　\r\n我们在这欢笑 　　\r\n我们在这哭泣 　　\r\n我们在这活着 　　\r\n也在这死去 　　\r\n我们在这祈祷 　　\r\n我们在这迷惘 　　\r\n我们在这寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京 　\r\n　\r\n3) 如果有一天我不得不离去 　　\r\n我希望人们把我埋在这里 　　\r\n在这儿我能感觉到我的存在 　　\r\n在这儿有太多让我眷恋的东西 　　\r\n我在这里欢笑 　　\r\n我在这里哭泣 　　\r\n我在这里活着 　　\r\n也在这儿死去 　　\r\n我在这里祈祷 　　\r\n我在这里迷惘 　　\r\n我在这里寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) When I walk the streets here\r\nIt seems like my heart can never be serene\r\nBeyond the rumble of engines and sounds of electronics\r\nI seem to hear its candlewick heartbeat\r\nThis is where I laugh happily\r\nThis is where I weep\r\nThis is where I live\r\nAnd this is where I\'ll die\r\nThis is where I pray\r\nThis is where I\'m confused\r\nThis is where I search\r\nAnd also where I lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\r\n\r\n2) The three blocks between the coffee shop and the plaza\r\nSeem like the distance between the neon lights and the moon 　　\r\nPeople comfort and embrace each other as they struggle together\r\nSearching for, chasing after, the last gasp of broken dreams\r\nThis is where we laugh happily\r\nThis is where we cry bitterly \r\nThis is where we live\r\nAnd this is where we\'ll die\r\nThis is where we pray\r\nThis is where we\'re confused\r\nThis is where we search\r\nAnd also where we lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　　\r\n\r\n　\r\n3) If someday I have no choice but to leave\r\nI hope people bury me here\r\nHere I can sense my existence \r\nHere there are too many things I yearn for\r\nThis is where I laugh happily\r\nThis is where I cry bitterly \r\nThis is where I live\r\nAnd this is where I die\r\nThis is where I pray\r\nThis is where I\'m confused\r\nThis is where I search\r\nAnd also where I lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Songs] 《北京北京》Beijing Beijing by Wang Feng', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'song-lyrics-beijing-beijing-by-wang-feng', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:09:00', '2016-11-04 11:09:00', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1295', 0, 'post', '', 3),
(2067, 1, '2016-11-04 07:09:00', '2016-11-04 11:09:00', 'You know you need a KTV song! Beijing, Beijing is a slow ballad sung by Chinese artist 汪峰 [pinyin]wang1 feng1[/pinyin] and was in the <a href=\"http://music.baidu.com/top/new\">Baidu Top 100</a> top 10 for a bit this year. Now it looks like it\'s fallen between the 30th and 40th place on various music charts, but it\'s still pretty popular, particularly in, you know, Beijing. If you can find it in yourself to embrace the painful 80\'s growly I-mean-it man voice and the \"Streets of Philadelphia\" emo-dad thing, you may find that the song is a good karaoke song if you\'re just starting out because it\'s repetitive, it\'s not abstract, it\'s sung slowly enough to sing along and it\'s so emotionally over-fraught that it\'s fun. \r\n\r\n<iframe height=498 width=510 frameborder=0 src=\"http://player.youku.com/embed/XMjA5NzgwNTky\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\r\n\r\nI recommend you read and translate the lyrics before you listen to the song, so you\'ve got an idea of what you\'re hearing. \r\n\r\nA few translation notes: it\'s not always clear exactly how to translate song lyrics. Example: 寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 is not an easy lyric to translate. Or rather, it\'s super easy to get the gist of the meaning (searching, chasing, dying, broken dreams... you get the idea), but put an \"of\" in the wrong place and the meaning changes to something slightly different. I\'ve done my best, feel free to re-write or re-interpret those in a different way. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n1) 当我走在这里的每一条街道 \r\n我的心似乎从来都不能平静　\r\n除了发动机的轰鸣和电器之音 　　\r\n我似乎听到了他烛骨般的心跳 　　\r\n我在这里欢笑 　　\r\n我在这里哭泣\r\n我在这里活着 　　\r\n也在这死去 　　\r\n我在这里祈祷　\r\n我在这里迷惘　\r\n我在这里寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京 　　\r\n\r\n2) 咖啡馆与广场有三个街区 　　\r\n就像霓虹灯到月亮的距离 　　\r\n人们在挣扎中相互告慰和拥抱 　　\r\n寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 　　\r\n我们在这欢笑 　　\r\n我们在这哭泣 　　\r\n我们在这活着 　　\r\n也在这死去 　　\r\n我们在这祈祷 　　\r\n我们在这迷惘 　　\r\n我们在这寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京 　\r\n　\r\n3) 如果有一天我不得不离去 　　\r\n我希望人们把我埋在这里 　　\r\n在这儿我能感觉到我的存在 　　\r\n在这儿有太多让我眷恋的东西 　　\r\n我在这里欢笑 　　\r\n我在这里哭泣 　　\r\n我在这里活着 　　\r\n也在这儿死去 　　\r\n我在这里祈祷 　　\r\n我在这里迷惘 　　\r\n我在这里寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) When I walk the streets here\r\nIt seems like my heart can never be serene\r\nBeyond the rumble of engines and sounds of electronics\r\nI seem to hear its candlewick heartbeat\r\nThis is where I laugh happily\r\nThis is where I weep\r\nThis is where I live\r\nAnd this is where I\'ll die\r\nThis is where I pray\r\nThis is where I\'m confused\r\nThis is where I search\r\nAnd also where I lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\r\n\r\n2) The three blocks between the coffee shop and the plaza\r\nSeem like the distance between the neon lights and the moon 　　\r\nPeople comfort and embrace each other as they struggle together\r\nSearching for, chasing after, the last gasp of broken dreams\r\nThis is where we laugh happily\r\nThis is where we cry bitterly \r\nThis is where we live\r\nAnd this is where we\'ll die\r\nThis is where we pray\r\nThis is where we\'re confused\r\nThis is where we search\r\nAnd also where we lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　　\r\n\r\n　\r\n3) If someday I have no choice but to leave\r\nI hope people bury me here\r\nHere I can sense my existence \r\nHere there are too many things I yearn for\r\nThis is where I laugh happily\r\nThis is where I cry bitterly \r\nThis is where I live\r\nAnd this is where I die\r\nThis is where I pray\r\nThis is where I\'m confused\r\nThis is where I search\r\nAnd also where I lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Songs] 《北京北京》Beijing Beijing by Wang Feng', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1295-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:09:00', '2016-11-04 11:09:00', '', 1295, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1295-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1294, 1, '2012-10-21 02:34:46', '2012-10-21 06:34:46', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 女警察工作与生活平衡问题探讨</strong>\r\n\r\nGonna lay it on a bit thick today with something nice and serious. This is an abstract of an academic paper from the <a href=\"http://www.genderstudy.cn/\">Gender Studies Network</a> authored by Zhou Ying. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121021-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Characters - Academic Research Papers in Mandarin Simplified Chinese\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese - Gender Research and Advanced Academic Papers in Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Because this is an advanced academic abstract, you can really see how, in the upper levels of written Chinese, a ton of words that we find essential in English can be dropped from a sentence while still preserving the essence of the meaning. We tend to extend sentences with explanation, but here, I feel, is a fabulous example of how efficient Chinese can be. Because so many words have been dropped, I\'ve added a whole lot of bracketed explanation and English fill-in words in the translation to better illuminate the implied meaning.\r\n\r\nI\'m not quite sure I know what a \"proper role in domestic life is\", I\'m fairly certain that not all policewomen feel intensely conflicted, and I\'m not sure I really like the implications there, but hey. It\'s not my paper. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n禁区 - [pinyin]jin4 qu1[/pinyin] - Forbidden region\r\n范围 - [pinyin]fan4 wei2[/pinyin] - Range, scope\r\n治安 - [pinyin]zhi4 an1[/pinyin] - Law and order\r\n打击 - [pinyin]da3 ji1[/pinyin] - Crack down on\r\n面临 - [pinyin]mian4 lin2[/pinyin] - Be faced with\r\n工作与生活平衡 - [pinyin]gong1 zuo4 yu2 sheng1 huo2 ping2 heng2[/pinyin] - Work-life balance\r\n比例 - [pinyin]bi3 li4[/pinyin] - Proportion\r\n岗位 - [pinyin]gang3 wei4[/pinyin] - A job\r\n限 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - Limit\r\n遭受 - [pinyin]zao1 shou4[/pinyin] - To suffer\r\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - To threaten\r\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play a role\r\n冲突 - [pinyin]chong1 tu1[/pinyin] - Conflict\r\n政策 - [pinyin]zheng4 ce4[/pinyin] - Policy\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n警察职业曾是女性的“<strong>禁区</strong>”。随着社会的发展, 目前女警数量不断扩大, 警务工作<strong>范围</strong>不断扩展, 他们已成为维护社会<strong>治安</strong>、<strong>打击</strong>犯罪的特殊力量。女警发展<strong>面临</strong>着<strong>工作与生活平衡</strong>的困境。一方面, 存在着女警人数所占<strong>比例</strong>小、<strong>岗位</strong>受<strong>限</strong>、晋升和参与决策的机会有限、职业安全<strong>遭受</strong>到<strong>威胁</strong>等限制职业发展的问题。另一方面, 繁忙的警务工作使其无法<strong>扮演</strong>好家庭角色, 内心<strong>冲突</strong>激烈。促进女警工作与生活平衡需要社会方面与个体方面的双重努力, 特别是社会<strong>政策</strong>的支持。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nPolice work was once an occupational area forbidden to women. In the wake of [current] social development, the continuous increase in the number of policewomen and the continuous expansion in the scope of police work, policewomen have become an extraordinary force in upholding law and order and cracking down on crime.  [At the same time,] this development has left policewomen faced with difficulties in [maintaining] work-life balance. On the one hand, [there are work-related issues such as] their small number in proportion [to male policemen], a limited number of posts they may accept, few opportunities for promotion or participation in decision-making, threats to their occupational safety, and so on. On the other hand, [there are personal issues such as the fact that] the frenetic pace of police work makes it almost impossible to play a proper role in domestic life, creating an intense inner conflict in [policewomen\'s] heart. In order to improve policewomen\'s work-life balance, we must strive [to address] both the social and individual aspects [of this problem], particularly in the form of support through social policies. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'A Probe into the Work-Life Balance of Chinese Policewomen', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1287-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:34:46', '2012-10-21 06:34:46', '', 1287, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/21/1287-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1296, 1, '2012-10-28 11:55:31', '2012-10-28 15:55:31', '[two_third]\n<strong>You know you need a KTV song! Beijing, Beijing is a slow ballad sung by Chinese artist 汪峰 and was in the Baidu Top 100 top 10 for a bit this year. Now it looks like it\'s fallen between the 30th and 40th place on various music charts, but it\'s still pretty popular, particularly in, you know, Beijing. \n\nIf you can find it in yourself to embrace the painful 80\'s growly I-mean-it man voice and the \"Streets of Philadelphia\" emo-dad philosophy, you may find that the song is a good karaoke song if you\'re just starting out because it\'s repetitive, sung slowly enough to sing along and the language really isn\'t too hard. \n\nI recommend you read and translate the lyrics before you listen to the song, so you\'ve got an idea of what you\'re hearing. \n\nA few translation notes:\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n禁区 - [pinyin]jin4 qu1[/pinyin] - Forbidden region\n范围 - [pinyin]fan4 wei2[/pinyin] - Range, scope\n治安 - [pinyin]zhi4 an1[/pinyin] - Law and order\n打击 - [pinyin]da3 ji1[/pinyin] - Crack down on\n面临 - [pinyin]mian4 lin2[/pinyin] - Be faced with\n工作与生活平衡 - [pinyin]gong1 zuo4 yu2 sheng1 huo2 ping2 heng2[/pinyin] - Work-life balance\n比例 - [pinyin]bi3 li4[/pinyin] - Proportion\n岗位 - [pinyin]gang3 wei4[/pinyin] - A job\n限 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - Limit\n遭受 - [pinyin]zao1 shou4[/pinyin] - To suffer\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - To threaten\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play a role\n冲突 - [pinyin]chong1 tu1[/pinyin] - Conflict\n政策 - [pinyin]zheng4 ce4[/pinyin] - Policy\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n当我走在这里的每一条街道 \n我的心似乎从来都不能平静 　　\n除了发动机的轰鸣和电器之音 　　\n我似乎听到了他烛骨般的心跳 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里哭泣 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我在这里祈祷 　　\n我在这里迷惘 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　　\n\n咖啡馆与广场有三个街区 　　\n就像霓虹灯到月亮的距离 　　\n人们在挣扎中相互告慰和拥抱 　　\n寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 　　\n我们在这欢笑 　　\n我们在这哭泣 　　\n我们在这活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我们在这祈祷 　　\n我们在这迷惘 　　\n我们在这寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　\n　\n如果有一天我不得不离去 　　\n我希望人们把我埋在这里 　　\n在这儿我能感觉到我的存在 　　\n在这儿有太多让我眷恋的东西 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里哭泣 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这儿死去 　　\n我在这里祈祷 　　\n我在这里迷惘 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nWhen I walk the streets here\nIt seems like my heart can never be serene\nBeyond [except] the rumble of engines and sounds of electronics\nIt seems like I can hear HIS? SOMETHING heartbeat\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I cry bitterly [weep]\nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n\nThe three blocks with the coffee shop and the plaza\nSeem like the distance between the neon lights and the moon 　　\nPeople SPEAK and embrace as they struggle together \nSearching for, chasing after, the last gasp of broken dreams\nThis is where we laugh happily\nThis is where we cry bitterly \nThis is where we live\nAnd this is where we die\nThis is where we pray\nThis is where we\'re confused\nThis is where we search\nAnd also where we lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　　\n\n　\nIf someday I have no choice but to leave\nI hope people bury me here\nHere I can sense my existence \nHere there are many things I yearn for\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I cry bitterly \nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Song Lyrics: Beijing Beijing', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1295-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-28 11:55:31', '2012-10-28 15:55:31', '', 1295, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/28/1295-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1297, 1, '2012-10-28 12:00:41', '2012-10-28 16:00:41', '[two_third]\n<strong>You know you need a KTV song! Beijing, Beijing is a slow ballad sung by Chinese artist 汪峰 and was in the Baidu Top 100 top 10 for a bit this year. Now it looks like it\'s fallen between the 30th and 40th place on various music charts, but it\'s still pretty popular, particularly in, you know, Beijing. \n\nIf you can find it in yourself to embrace the painful 80\'s growly I-mean-it man voice and the \"Streets of Philadelphia\" emo-dad philosophy, you may find that the song is a good karaoke song if you\'re just starting out because it\'s repetitive, sung slowly enough to sing along and the language really isn\'t too hard. \n\nI recommend you read and translate the lyrics before you listen to the song, so you\'ve got an idea of what you\'re hearing. \n\nA few translation notes: it\'s not always clear exactly how to translate song lyrics. Example: 寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 is not an easy lyric to translate. Or rather, it\'s super easy to get the gist of the meaning (searching, chasing, dying, broken dreams... you get the idea), but put an \"of\" in the wrong place and the meaning changes to something slightly different. I\'ve done my best, feel free to re-write or re-interpret those in a different way. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n禁区 - [pinyin]jin4 qu1[/pinyin] - Forbidden region\n范围 - [pinyin]fan4 wei2[/pinyin] - Range, scope\n治安 - [pinyin]zhi4 an1[/pinyin] - Law and order\n打击 - [pinyin]da3 ji1[/pinyin] - Crack down on\n面临 - [pinyin]mian4 lin2[/pinyin] - Be faced with\n工作与生活平衡 - [pinyin]gong1 zuo4 yu2 sheng1 huo2 ping2 heng2[/pinyin] - Work-life balance\n比例 - [pinyin]bi3 li4[/pinyin] - Proportion\n岗位 - [pinyin]gang3 wei4[/pinyin] - A job\n限 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - Limit\n遭受 - [pinyin]zao1 shou4[/pinyin] - To suffer\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - To threaten\n扮演 - [pinyin]ban4 yan3[/pinyin] - To play a role\n冲突 - [pinyin]chong1 tu1[/pinyin] - Conflict\n政策 - [pinyin]zheng4 ce4[/pinyin] - Policy\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n当我走在这里的每一条街道 \n我的心似乎从来都不能平静 　　\n除了发动机的轰鸣和电器之音 　　\n我似乎听到了他烛骨般的心跳 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里哭泣 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我在这里祈祷 　　\n我在这里迷惘 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　　\n\n咖啡馆与广场有三个街区 　　\n就像霓虹灯到月亮的距离 　　\n人们在挣扎中相互告慰和拥抱 　　\n寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 　　\n我们在这欢笑 　　\n我们在这哭泣 　　\n我们在这活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我们在这祈祷 　　\n我们在这迷惘 　　\n我们在这寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　\n　\n如果有一天我不得不离去 　　\n我希望人们把我埋在这里 　　\n在这儿我能感觉到我的存在 　　\n在这儿有太多让我眷恋的东西 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里哭泣 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这儿死去 　　\n我在这里祈祷 　　\n我在这里迷惘 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nWhen I walk the streets here\nIt seems like my heart can never be serene\nBeyond [except] the rumble of engines and sounds of electronics\nIt seems like I can hear HIS? SOMETHING heartbeat\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I cry bitterly [weep]\nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n\nThe three blocks with the coffee shop and the plaza\nSeem like the distance between the neon lights and the moon 　　\nPeople comfort and embrace each other as they struggle together\nSearching for, chasing after, the last gasp of broken dreams\nThis is where we laugh happily\nThis is where we cry bitterly \nThis is where we live\nAnd this is where we die\nThis is where we pray\nThis is where we\'re confused\nThis is where we search\nAnd also where we lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　　\n\n　\nIf someday I have no choice but to leave\nI hope people bury me here\nHere I can sense my existence \nHere there are many things I yearn for\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I cry bitterly \nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Song Lyrics: Beijing Beijing', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1295-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-28 12:00:41', '2012-10-28 16:00:41', '', 1295, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/28/1295-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1304, 1, '2013-01-02 19:55:40', '2013-01-03 00:55:40', 'In the spirit of the holiday season, which is winding to a blissfully overweight close, I give you an article about something you may or may not have just struggled through if you flew home for the holidays. This is a wildly factual article about the congestion caused by the snow storms a week or so ago. Not a lot of excitement here, mostly a tallying up of what a big fat mess the American aviation system becomes during the annual Christmas hysteria. \r\n\r\nLots and lots of proper nouns in here, including lots of U.S. states, some cities and even a couple of basketball team names. Probably the most fun you\'ll have reading this is trying to decipher the list of Chinese names for U.S. states (read the characters out loud quickly and see if you can guess - example: 弗吉尼亚州 fo ji ni ya = Virginia). You can always tell you\'re reading a U.S. state name because the character 州 appears at the tail end of each state. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese Text</h3>\r\n暴风雪已致15人死 2000航班延误取消\r\n\r\n圣诞节期间美国遭遇暴风雪袭击，已至少造成15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。\r\n\r\n据报道，因暴雪严寒造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。\r\n\r\n很多地区发出警告提醒人们不要外出，因为凛冽狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人构成威胁。气象部门说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。\r\n\r\n目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，成千上万出游的人们滞留在各处。NBA推迟了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis Christmas season, America is suffering through a blizzard, which has already caused at least 15 deaths and the delay or cancellation of 2000 flights. \r\n\r\nAccording to reports, the snowstorm and bitter cold has caused deaths in states including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. \r\n\r\nMany regions issued warnings reminding people not to go outside, because the biting cold, howling winds, low temperatures and dangerous traffic conditions compose a threat to pedestrians. The weather department said that severe snow will soon appear in America\'s northeastern New England area, with snowfall in Maine reaching 18 inches (about 45 centimeters). As a result, many people\'s Christmas travel plans will be effected.\r\n\r\nCurrently, 200,000 homes have already experienced electrical outages, and tens of thousands of travelers have been detained. [Also due to snow] in Indianapolis, the NBA postponed Wednesday night\'s Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls basketball game.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[News in Chinese] Snowstorm has caused 15 deaths and 2000 flight delays or cancellations', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'news-snowstorm-has-caused-15-deaths-and-2000-flight-delays-or-cancellations', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:21:24', '2016-11-04 11:21:24', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1304', 0, 'post', '', 7),
(2072, 1, '2016-11-04 07:21:24', '2016-11-04 11:21:24', 'In the spirit of the holiday season, which is winding to a blissfully overweight close, I give you an article about something you may or may not have just struggled through if you flew home for the holidays. This is a wildly factual article about the congestion caused by the snow storms a week or so ago. Not a lot of excitement here, mostly a tallying up of what a big fat mess the American aviation system becomes during the annual Christmas hysteria. \r\n\r\nLots and lots of proper nouns in here, including lots of U.S. states, some cities and even a couple of basketball team names. Probably the most fun you\'ll have reading this is trying to decipher the list of Chinese names for U.S. states (read the characters out loud quickly and see if you can guess - example: 弗吉尼亚州 fo ji ni ya = Virginia). You can always tell you\'re reading a U.S. state name because the character 州 appears at the tail end of each state. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese Text</h3>\r\n暴风雪已致15人死 2000航班延误取消\r\n\r\n圣诞节期间美国遭遇暴风雪袭击，已至少造成15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。\r\n\r\n据报道，因暴雪严寒造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。\r\n\r\n很多地区发出警告提醒人们不要外出，因为凛冽狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人构成威胁。气象部门说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。\r\n\r\n目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，成千上万出游的人们滞留在各处。NBA推迟了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis Christmas season, America is suffering through a blizzard, which has already caused at least 15 deaths and the delay or cancellation of 2000 flights. \r\n\r\nAccording to reports, the snowstorm and bitter cold has caused deaths in states including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. \r\n\r\nMany regions issued warnings reminding people not to go outside, because the biting cold, howling winds, low temperatures and dangerous traffic conditions compose a threat to pedestrians. The weather department said that severe snow will soon appear in America\'s northeastern New England area, with snowfall in Maine reaching 18 inches (about 45 centimeters). As a result, many people\'s Christmas travel plans will be effected.\r\n\r\nCurrently, 200,000 homes have already experienced electrical outages, and tens of thousands of travelers have been detained. [Also due to snow] in Indianapolis, the NBA postponed Wednesday night\'s Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls basketball game.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[News in Chinese] Snowstorm has caused 15 deaths and 2000 flight delays or cancellations', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1304-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:21:24', '2016-11-04 11:21:24', '', 1304, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1304-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1300, 1, '2012-11-01 02:15:23', '2012-11-01 06:15:23', 'Know someone who has a high, but misguided, opinion of their own worth? Thought so. Stick this one in the language bank for when you need to take someone down a peg (preferably while stroking your fu manchu and calmly catching flies with your chopsticks). \r\n\r\n<h3>All the tong zhi\'s</h3>\r\nI learned a new word on this one: 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin]. Which brings the total number of \"tongzhi\" words (tonal differences aside) I know up to three. \r\n\r\nWe\'ve got:\r\n同志 - [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] or \"Comrade\" (and in Chinese slang this also means \"a homosexual\", though if you keep an eye on the Chinese news you\'ll see that that one of the more reputable local dictionaries refused to include that definition though it\'s in common use) \r\n\r\n通知 [pinyin]tong1 zhi1[/pinyin] - To notify, give notice\r\n\r\nAnd now, 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin] - To rule over (a kingdom / country)\r\n\r\nLet us hope there aren\'t any more configurations of that sound. \r\n\r\nAnyway, this post might be Advanced level, I can\'t 100% tell, so do post in the comments if you feel it\'s inaccurately placed in \"Intermediate\". I\'ll move it if enough people agree. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n1) 汉朝的时候，在西南方有个名叫夜郎的小国家，它虽然是一个独立的国家，可是国土很小，百姓也少，物产更是少得可怜。但是由于邻近地区以夜郎这个国家最大，从没离开过国家的夜郎国国王就以为自己<strong>统治</strong>的国家是全天下最大的国家。\r\n\r\n2) 有一天，夜郎国国王与部下巡视国境的时候，他指着前方问说：“这里哪个国家最大呀？”部下们为了迎合国王的心意，于是就说：“当然是夜郎国最大啰！”走着走着，国王又抬起头来、望着前方的高山问说：“天底下还有比这座山更高的山吗？”部下们回答说：“天底下没有比这座山更高的山了。”后来，他们来到河边，国王又问：“我认为这可是世界上最长的河川了。”部下们仍然异口同声回答说：“大王说得一点都没错。”从此以后，无知的国王就更相信夜郎是天底下最大的国家。\r\n\r\n有一次，汉朝派使者来到夜郎，途中先经过夜郎的邻国滇国，滇王问使者：“汉朝和我的国家比起来哪个大？”使者一听吓了一跳，他没想到这个小国家，竟然无知的自以为能与汉朝相比。却没想到后来使者到了夜郎国，骄傲又无知的国王因为不知道自己统治的国家只和汉朝的一个县差不多大，竟然不知天高地厚也问使者：“汉朝和我的国家哪个大？”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n3) During the Han Dynasty, in the southwest there was a small country called Yelang, and although it was an independent nation, its territory was small, there weren\'t many citizens, and its products were pitifully few. Because it was the largest kingdom in the near area, the Yelang king who\'d never left his own country thought the country he ruled was the biggest on earth. \r\n\r\nOne day, the king of Yelang was on a national border inspection tour with his troops, when he pointed in front of him [to neighboring country] and said, \"Which country is bigger?\" In order to serve their own interests and make the king happy, the troops said, \"Of course Yelang is bigger!\" They walked along, and the king once again lifted up his head, gazed at the big mountain in the distance and asked: \"Is there a taller mountain than this anywhere on earth?\" And his men answered: \"No, there\'s no mountain taller than this one on earth.\" After a while, they reached the river side, and the king asked again: \"I think this is the world\'s longest river.\" And all his men said in unison \"The king speaks truly.\" After this, the ignorant king believed even more firmly that Yelang was the world\'s biggest country.\r\n\r\nThen one day, the Han Dynasty dispatched an envoy to Yelang, and en route they encountered the neighboring kingdom DianGuo, and the King of Dian asked the emissary: \"If you compared the Han Dynasty and my Kingdom, which one would be bigger?\" The emissary listened in astonishment, as he\'d never have thought this small a country thought it could compare itself to the Han Dynasty. But he really never could have suspected that when he got to Yelang, the prideful and ignorant king who didn\'t know that the kingdom he ruled was about the size of one Han county, would ask with an exaggerated opinion of his own worth, \"Which is bigger: the Han Dynasty or my country?\"  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 夜郎自大 - Foolish Conceit', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'story-behind-the-idiom-yelang-zi-da', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:28:12', '2016-11-04 11:28:12', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1300', 0, 'post', '', 12),
(2074, 1, '2016-11-04 07:25:52', '2016-11-04 11:25:52', 'Know someone who has a high, but misguided, opinion of their own worth? Thought so. Stick this one in the language bank for when you need to take someone down a peg (preferably while stroking your fu manchu and calmly catching flies with your chopsticks). \r\n\r\n<h3>All the tong zhi\'s</h3>\r\nI learned a new word on this one: 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin]. Which brings the total number of \"tongzhi\" words (tonal differences aside) I know up to three. \r\n\r\nWe\'ve got:\r\n同志 - [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] or \"Comrade\" (and in Chinese slang this also means \"a homosexual\", though if you keep an eye on the Chinese news you\'ll see that that one of the more reputable local dictionaries refused to include that definition though it\'s in common use) \r\n\r\n通知 [pinyin]tong1 zhi1[/pinyin] - To notify, give notice\r\n\r\nAnd now, 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin] - To rule over (a kingdom / country)\r\n\r\nLet us hope there aren\'t any more configurations of that sound. \r\n\r\nAnyway, this post might be Advanced level, I can\'t 100% tell, so do post in the comments if you feel it\'s inaccurately placed in \"Intermediate\". I\'ll move it if enough people agree. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n1) 汉朝的时候，在西南方有个名叫夜郎的小国家，它虽然是一个独立的国家，可是国土很小，百姓也少，物产更是少得可怜。但是由于邻近地区以夜郎这个国家最大，从没离开过国家的夜郎国国王就以为自己<strong>统治</strong>的国家是全天下最大的国家。\r\n\r\n2) 有一天，夜郎国国王与部下巡视国境的时候，他指着前方问说：“这里哪个国家最大呀？”部下们为了迎合国王的心意，于是就说：“当然是夜郎国最大啰！”走着走着，国王又抬起头来、望着前方的高山问说：“天底下还有比这座山更高的山吗？”部下们回答说：“天底下没有比这座山更高的山了。”后来，他们来到河边，国王又问：“我认为这可是世界上最长的河川了。”部下们仍然异口同声回答说：“大王说得一点都没错。”从此以后，无知的国王就更相信夜郎是天底下最大的国家。\r\n\r\n有一次，汉朝派使者来到夜郎，途中先经过夜郎的邻国滇国，滇王问使者：“汉朝和我的国家比起来哪个大？”使者一听吓了一跳，他没想到这个小国家，竟然无知的自以为能与汉朝相比。却没想到后来使者到了夜郎国，骄傲又无知的国王因为不知道自己统治的国家只和汉朝的一个县差不多大，竟然不知天高地厚也问使者：“汉朝和我的国家哪个大？”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n3) During the Han Dynasty, in the southwest there was a small country called Yelang, and although it was an independent nation, its territory was small, there weren\'t many citizens, and its products were pitifully few. Because it was the largest kingdom in the near area, the Yelang king who\'d never left his own country thought the country he ruled was the biggest on earth. \r\n\r\nOne day, the king of Yelang was on a national border inspection tour with his troops, when he pointed in front of him [to neighboring country] and said, \"Which country is bigger?\" In order to serve their own interests and make the king happy, the troops said, \"Of course Yelang is bigger!\" They walked along, and the king once again lifted up his head, gazed at the big mountain in the distance and asked: \"Is there a taller mountain than this anywhere on earth?\" And his men answered: \"No, there\'s no mountain taller than this one on earth.\" After a while, they reached the river side, and the king asked again: \"I think this is the world\'s longest river.\" And all his men said in unison \"The king speaks truly.\" After this, the ignorant king believed even more firmly that Yelang was the world\'s biggest country.\r\n\r\nThen one day, the Han Dynasty dispatched an envoy to Yelang, and en route they encountered the neighboring kingdom DianGuo, and the King of Dian asked the emissary: \"If you compared the Han Dynasty and my Kingdom, which one would be bigger?\" The emissary listened in astonishment, as he\'d never have thought this small a country thought it could compare itself to the Han Dynasty. But he really never could have suspected that when he got to Yelang, the prideful and ignorant king who didn\'t know that the kingdom he ruled was about the size of one Han county, would ask with an exaggerated opinion of his own worth, \"Which is bigger: the Han Dynasty or my country?\"  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 夜郎自大 - Foolish Conceit', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1300-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:25:52', '2016-11-04 11:25:52', '', 1300, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1300-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1301, 1, '2012-11-01 02:11:50', '2012-11-01 06:11:50', '', 'Learn to read Chinese: Intermediate Essays, Idioms and Grammar', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20121101-inline', '', '', '2012-11-01 02:11:50', '2012-11-01 06:11:50', '', 1300, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121101-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1302, 1, '2012-11-01 02:12:08', '2012-11-01 06:12:08', '', 'Learn to read Chinese: Intermediate Essays, Idioms and Grammar', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20121101', '', '', '2012-11-01 02:12:08', '2012-11-01 06:12:08', '', 1300, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121101.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1303, 1, '2012-11-01 02:14:42', '2012-11-01 06:14:42', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 夜郎自大</strong>\n\nHere we\'ll cover the back story behind the idiom \"夜郎自大\", or \"Yelang thinks highly of itself\". This idiom one refers to someone who has a high, but misguided, opinion of their own worth. Stick this one in the language bank for when you need to take someone down a peg (preferably while stroking your fu manchu and calmly catching flies with your chopsticks). <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121101-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning Simplified Chinese: Passages and Exercises for the Intermediate Reader\" title=\"Learn to read Chinese: Intermediate Essays, Idioms and Grammar\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft \" />I learned a new word on this one: 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin]. Which brings the total number of \"tongzhi\" words (tonal differences aside) I know up to three. \n\nWe\'ve got:\n同志 - [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] or \"Comrade\" (and in Chinese slang this also means \"a homosexual\", though if you keep an eye on the Chinese news you\'ll see that that one of the more reputable local dictionaries refused to include that definition though it\'s in common use) \n\n通知 [pinyin1]tong1 zhi1[/pinyin] - To notify, give notice\n\nAnd now, 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin] - To rule over (a kingdom / country)\n\nLet us hope there aren\'t any more configurations of that sound. \n\nAnyway, I\'m not sure how useful the words in this passage will be unless you, like me, enj\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n汉朝 - [pinyin]han4 chao2[/pinyin] - Han Dynasty\n部下 - [pinyin]bu4 xia4[/pinyin] - Troops or subordinates under one\'s command\n巡视 - [pinyin]xun2 shi4[/pinyin] - Go on an inspection tour\n国境 - [pinyin]guo2 jing4[/pinyin] - National Borders\n迎合 - [pinyin]ying2 he2[/pinyin] - Serve one\'s own interests / to fawn or cater\n异口同声 - [pinyin]yi4 kou3 tong2 sheng1[/pinyin] - To say in unison\n派 - [pinyin]pai4[/pinyin] - To dispatch, send someone\n使者 - [pinyin]shi3 zhe3[/pinyin] - Envoy\n途中 - [pinyin]tu2 zhong1[/pinyin] - En route\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<strong>汉朝</strong>的时候，在西南方有个名叫夜郎的小国家，它虽然是一个独立的国家，可是<strong>国土</strong>很小，百姓也少，物产更是少得可怜。但是由于邻近地区以夜郎这个国家最大，从没离开过国家的夜郎国国王就以为自己<strong>统治</strong>的国家是全天下最大的国家。\n\n有一天，夜郎国国王与<strong>部下</strong><strong>巡视</strong><strong>国境</strong>的时候，他指着前方问说：“这里哪个国家最大呀？”部下们为了<strong>迎合</strong>国王的心意，于是就说：“当然是夜郎国最大啰！”走着走着，国王又抬起头来、望着前方的高山问说：“天底下还有比这座山更高的山吗？”部下们回答说：“天底下没有比这座山更高的山了。”后来，他们来到河边，国王又问：“我认为这可是世界上最长的河川了。”部下们仍然<strong>异口同声</strong>回答说：“大王说得一点都没错。”从此以后，无知的国王就更相信夜郎是天底下最大的国家。\n\n有一次，汉朝<strong>派</strong><strong>使者</strong>来到夜郎，<strong>途中</strong>先经过夜郎的邻国滇国，滇王问使者：“汉朝和我的国家比起来哪个大？”使者一听吓了一跳，他没想到这个小国家，竟然无知的自以为能与汉朝相比。却没想到后来使者到了夜郎国，骄傲又无知的国王因为不知道自己统治的国家只和汉朝的一个县差不多大，竟然不知天高地厚也问使者：“汉朝和我的国家哪个大？”\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Han Dynasty, in the southwest there was a small country called Yelang, and although it was an independent nation, its territory was small, there weren\'t many citizens, and its products were pitifully few. Because it was the largest kingdom in the near area, the Yelang king who\'d never left his own country thought the country he ruled was the biggest on earth. \n\nOne day, the king of Yelang was on a national border inspection tour with his troops, when he pointed in front of him [to neighboring country] and said, \"Which country is bigger?\" In order to serve their own interests and make the king happy, the troops said, \"Of course Yelang is bigger!\" They walked along, and the king once again lifted up his head, gazed at the big mountain in the distance and asked: \"Is there a taller mountain than this anywhere on earth?\" And his men answered: \"No, there\'s no mountain taller than this one on earth.\" After a while, they reached the river side, and the king asked again: \"I think this is the world\'s longest river.\" And all his men said in unison \"The king speaks truly.\" After this, the ignorant king believed even more firmly that Yelang was the world\'s biggest country.\n\nThen one day, the Han Dynasty dispatched an envoy to Yelang, and en route they encountered the neighboring kingdom DianGuo, and the King of Dian asked the emissary: \"If you compared the Han Dynasty and my Kingdom, which one would be bigger?\" The emissary listened in astonishment, as he\'d never have thought this small a country thought it could compare itself to the Han Dynasty. But he really never could have suspected that when he got to Yelang, the prideful and ignorant king who didn\'t know that the kingdom he ruled was about the size of one Han county, would ask with an exaggerated opinion of his own worth, \"Which is bigger: the Han Dynasty or my country?\"  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: YeLang Zi Da', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1300-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-11-01 02:14:42', '2012-11-01 06:14:42', '', 1300, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/11/01/1300-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1307, 1, '2013-01-02 19:53:36', '2013-01-03 00:53:36', '', 'How to Read Simplified Chinese: Practice Reading Chinese Newspaper Articles', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130103-inline', '', '', '2013-01-02 19:53:36', '2013-01-03 00:53:36', '', 1304, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130103-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1308, 1, '2013-01-02 19:53:38', '2013-01-03 00:53:38', '', 'How to Read Simplified Chinese: Practice Reading Chinese Newspaper Articles', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130103', '', '', '2013-01-02 19:53:38', '2013-01-03 00:53:38', '', 1304, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130103.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1309, 1, '2013-01-02 19:51:11', '2013-01-03 00:51:11', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 暴风雪已致15人死 2000航班延误取消</strong>\n\nIn the spirit of the holiday season, which is winding to a blissfully overweight close, I give you an article about something you may or may not have just struggled through if you flew home for the holidays (which I did).<!--more-->\n\nThis is a wildly factual article about the congestion caused by the snow storms a week or so ago. Not a lot of excitement here, mostly a tallying up of what a big fat mess the American aviation system becomes during the annual Christmas hysteria. \n\nLots and lots of proper nouns in here, including lots of U.S. states, some cities and even a couple of basketball team names. Probably the most fun you\'ll have reading this is trying to decipher the list of Chinese names for U.S. states (read the characters out loud quickly and see if you can guess - example: 弗吉尼亚州 fo ji ni ya = Virginia). You can always tell you\'re reading a U.S. state name because the character 州 appears at the tail end of each state. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n暴风 - [pinyin]bao4 feng1[/pinyin] - Blizzard\n造成 - [pinyin]zao4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To cause, bring about\n严寒 - [pinyin]yan2 han2[/pinyin] - Severe winter\n警告 - [pinyin]jing3 gao4[/pinyin] - Warning (typically official one, issued by police or govt.)\n凛冽 - [pinyin]lin3 lie4[/pinyin] - Biting cold\n构成 - [pinyin]gou4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To constitute \n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - Threat\n气象部门 - [pinyin]qi4 xiang4 bu4 men2[/pinyin] - Weather service \n成千上万 - [pinyin]cheng2 qian1 shang4 wan4[/pinyin] - Tens of thousands\n推迟 - [pinyin]tui1 chi2[/pinyin] - To postpone\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n圣诞节期间美国遭遇<strong>暴风</strong>雪袭击，已至少<strong>造成</strong>15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。\n\n据报道，因暴雪<strong>严寒</strong>造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。\n\n很多地区发出<strong>警告</strong>提醒人们不要外出，因为<strong>凛冽</strong>狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人<strong>构成</strong><strong>威胁</strong>。<strong>气象部门</strong>说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。\n\n目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，<strong>成千上万</strong>出游的人们滞留在各处。nba<strong>推迟</strong>了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThis Christmas season, America is suffering through a blizzard, which has already caused at least 15 deaths and the delay or cancellation of 2000 flights. \n\nAccording to reports, the snowstorm and bitter cold has caused deaths in states including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. \n\nMany regions issued warnings reminding people not to go outside, because the biting cold, howling winds, low temperatures and dangerous traffic conditions compose a threat to pedestrians. The weather department said that severe snow will soon appear in America\'s northeastern New England area, with snowfall in Maine reaching 18 inches (about 45 centimeters). As a result, many people\'s Christmas travel plans will be effected.\n\nCurrently, 200,000 homes have already experienced electrical outages, and tens of thousands of travelers have been detained. [Also due to snow] in Indianapolis, the NBA postponed Wednesday night\'s Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls basketball game.  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Snowstorm has caused 15 deaths and 2000 flight delays or cancellations', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1304-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 19:51:11', '2013-01-03 00:51:11', '', 1304, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1304-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1305, 1, '2012-12-28 15:12:08', '2012-12-28 20:12:08', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 夜郎自大</strong>\n\nHere we\'ll cover the back story behind the idiom \"夜郎自大\", or \"Yelang thinks highly of itself\". This idiom one refers to someone who has a high, but misguided, opinion of their own worth. Stick this one in the language bank for when you need to take someone down a peg (preferably while stroking your fu manchu and calmly catching flies with your chopsticks). <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/20121101-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning Simplified Chinese: Passages and Exercises for the Intermediate Reader\" title=\"Learn to read Chinese: Intermediate Essays, Idioms and Grammar\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft \" />I learned a new word on this one: 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin]. Which brings the total number of \"tongzhi\" words (tonal differences aside) I know up to three. \n\nWe\'ve got:\n同志 - [pinyin]tong2 zhi4[/pinyin] or \"Comrade\" (and in Chinese slang this also means \"a homosexual\", though if you keep an eye on the Chinese news you\'ll see that that one of the more reputable local dictionaries refused to include that definition though it\'s in common use) \n\n通知 [pinyin1]tong1 zhi1[/pinyin] - To notify, give notice\n\nAnd now, 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin] - To rule over (a kingdom / country)\n\nLet us hope there aren\'t any more configurations of that sound. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n汉朝 - [pinyin]han4 chao2[/pinyin] - Han Dynasty\n部下 - [pinyin]bu4 xia4[/pinyin] - Troops or subordinates under one\'s command\n巡视 - [pinyin]xun2 shi4[/pinyin] - Go on an inspection tour\n国境 - [pinyin]guo2 jing4[/pinyin] - National Borders\n迎合 - [pinyin]ying2 he2[/pinyin] - Serve one\'s own interests / to fawn or cater\n异口同声 - [pinyin]yi4 kou3 tong2 sheng1[/pinyin] - To say in unison\n派 - [pinyin]pai4[/pinyin] - To dispatch, send someone\n使者 - [pinyin]shi3 zhe3[/pinyin] - Envoy\n途中 - [pinyin]tu2 zhong1[/pinyin] - En route\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n\n\n\n2012年12月28日 美国中文网\n圣诞节期间美国遭遇暴风雪袭击，已至少造成15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。\n\n\n据报道，因暴雪严寒造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。\n\n\n很多地区发出警告提醒人们不要外出，因为凛冽狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人构成威胁。气象部门说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。\n\n\n目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，成千上万出游的人们滞留在各处。nba推迟了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。\n\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDuring the Han Dynasty, in the southwest there was a small country called Yelang, and although it was an independent nation, its territory was small, there weren\'t many citizens, and its products were pitifully few. Because it was the largest kingdom in the near area, the Yelang king who\'d never left his own country thought the country he ruled was the biggest on earth. \n\nOne day, the king of Yelang was on a national border inspection tour with his troops, when he pointed in front of him [to neighboring country] and said, \"Which country is bigger?\" In order to serve their own interests and make the king happy, the troops said, \"Of course Yelang is bigger!\" They walked along, and the king once again lifted up his head, gazed at the big mountain in the distance and asked: \"Is there a taller mountain than this anywhere on earth?\" And his men answered: \"No, there\'s no mountain taller than this one on earth.\" After a while, they reached the river side, and the king asked again: \"I think this is the world\'s longest river.\" And all his men said in unison \"The king speaks truly.\" After this, the ignorant king believed even more firmly that Yelang was the world\'s biggest country.\n\nThen one day, the Han Dynasty dispatched an envoy to Yelang, and en route they encountered the neighboring kingdom DianGuo, and the King of Dian asked the emissary: \"If you compared the Han Dynasty and my Kingdom, which one would be bigger?\" The emissary listened in astonishment, as he\'d never have thought this small a country thought it could compare itself to the Han Dynasty. But he really never could have suspected that when he got to Yelang, the prideful and ignorant king who didn\'t know that the kingdom he ruled was about the size of one Han county, would ask with an exaggerated opinion of his own worth, \"Which is bigger: the Han Dynasty or my country?\"  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Snowstorm has caused 15 deaths and 2000 flight delays or cancellations', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1304-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-12-28 15:12:08', '2012-12-28 20:12:08', '', 1304, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/12/28/1304-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1329, 1, '2013-01-26 00:36:33', '2013-01-26 05:36:33', 'Hey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \r\n\r\nThough we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n1) 小姑娘指着晨练的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\r\n奶奶：因为他们是退休人员。\r\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\r\n小姑娘：退休人员。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n2) 父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\r\n儿子：“不知道。”\r\n父亲：“是两个，<笨蛋！知道了吗？”\r\n儿子：“知道了。”\r\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\r\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n3) 一个女孩和一个男孩吃汉堡。男孩说女孩：“我要告诉你一件事！”\r\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以谈。”\r\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\r\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只蟑螂在你的汉堡里！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) A little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\r\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\r\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\r\nLittle girl: A retiree!\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n2) Father is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \r\nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \r\nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\r\nSon: \"I get it.\" \r\nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\r\nSon: \"Two idiots!\" \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n3) A girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \r\nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\r\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\r\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Jokes] Three kid-friendly Chinese jokes', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'our-100th-post-plus-some-new-beginner-jokes', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:04:54', '2016-11-04 11:04:54', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1329', 0, 'post', '', 16),
(2064, 1, '2016-11-04 07:04:54', '2016-11-04 11:04:54', 'Hey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \r\n\r\nThough we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n1) 小姑娘指着晨练的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\r\n奶奶：因为他们是退休人员。\r\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\r\n小姑娘：退休人员。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n2) 父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\r\n儿子：“不知道。”\r\n父亲：“是两个，<笨蛋！知道了吗？”\r\n儿子：“知道了。”\r\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\r\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n3) 一个女孩和一个男孩吃汉堡。男孩说女孩：“我要告诉你一件事！”\r\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以谈。”\r\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\r\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只蟑螂在你的汉堡里！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) A little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\r\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\r\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\r\nLittle girl: A retiree!\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n2) Father is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \r\nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \r\nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\r\nSon: \"I get it.\" \r\nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\r\nSon: \"Two idiots!\" \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n3) A girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \r\nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\r\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\r\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Jokes] Three kid-friendly Chinese jokes', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:04:54', '2016-11-04 11:04:54', '', 1329, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1329-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1740, 1, '2016-10-31 03:26:56', '2016-10-31 07:26:56', 'Hey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \r\n\r\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Chinese for Beginners: Childrens Jokes in Mandarin Chinese\" title=\"How to Read Chinese Jokes: Mandarin Exercise Passages for Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Though we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\r\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\r\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\r\n小姑娘：退休人员。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\r\n儿子：“不知道。”\r\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\r\n儿子：“知道了。”\r\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\r\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\r\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\r\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\r\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nA little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\r\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\r\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\r\nLittle girl: A retiree!\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \r\nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \r\nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\r\nSon: \"I get it.\" \r\nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\r\nSon: \"Two idiots!\" \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \r\nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\r\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\r\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Jokes] Three kid-friendly Chinese jokes', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:26:56', '2016-10-31 07:26:56', '', 1329, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1329-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1310, 1, '2013-01-08 02:00:41', '2013-01-08 07:00:41', 'Hah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is a bit immature (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. \r\n\r\nAn example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \r\n\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n1) “嗯，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n2) “洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n3) “不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那贪吃的哥哥又开始油嘴滑舌了。\r\n\r\n4) “姥姥，我明天要吃红烧排骨和猪蹄！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n5) “姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n6) “臭乐乐，说我快成猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n7) 不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n8) 在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，就算三碗对他来说也是小菜一碟。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n9) 哥哥总抢我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱嗝，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，悲剧啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能改掉贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n10) 不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) \"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n2) “YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n3) \"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n4) \"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n5) \"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n6) \"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\n7) Not good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\n8) Before I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\n9) Older brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\n10) Not good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 贪吃的哥哥 - My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'my-gluttonous-elder-brother', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:14:36', '2016-11-04 11:14:36', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1310', 0, 'post', '', 8),
(2069, 1, '2016-11-04 07:14:36', '2016-11-04 11:14:36', 'Hah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is a bit immature (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. \r\n\r\nAn example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \r\n\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n1) “嗯，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n2) “洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n3) “不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那贪吃的哥哥又开始油嘴滑舌了。\r\n\r\n4) “姥姥，我明天要吃红烧排骨和猪蹄！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n5) “姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n6) “臭乐乐，说我快成猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n7) 不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n8) 在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，就算三碗对他来说也是小菜一碟。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n9) 哥哥总抢我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱嗝，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，悲剧啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能改掉贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n10) 不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) \"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n2) “YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n3) \"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n4) \"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n5) \"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n6) \"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\n7) Not good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\n8) Before I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\n9) Older brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\n10) Not good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 贪吃的哥哥 - My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:14:36', '2016-11-04 11:14:36', '', 1310, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1310-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1311, 1, '2013-01-02 21:12:31', '2013-01-03 02:12:31', '', 'Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130109', '', '', '2013-01-02 21:12:31', '2013-01-03 02:12:31', '', 1310, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1312, 1, '2013-01-02 21:12:34', '2013-01-03 02:12:34', '', 'Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130109-inline', '', '', '2013-01-02 21:12:34', '2013-01-03 02:12:34', '', 1310, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1313, 1, '2013-01-02 21:53:48', '2013-01-03 02:53:48', '[two_third]\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\n\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is for immature readers (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of his older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at his brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\n\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\n\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \n\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much his brother can eat. Then he says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\n\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \n\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\n\nAnd one last thing that maybe one of you guys can help me out with this: the older brother at one point calls the younger brother 臭乐乐. This is clearly a mean name that the older brother is calling the younger brother. But while I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", I can\'t figure out if this is because the younger brother\'s name is actually \"乐乐\", or if the whole phrase is a colloquialism meaning something like \"Stinky baby!\" or similar. I\'m in the process of asking my Chinese friends, but until I hear back, anyone care to weigh in?\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n“<strong>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\n\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\n\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\n\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\n\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\n\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\n\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\n\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\n\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\n\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \n\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \n\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \n\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig\'s Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \n\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \n\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \n\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\n\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\n\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. But when I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was THIS MAD, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \n\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 21:53:48', '2013-01-03 02:53:48', '', 1310, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1310-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1314, 1, '2016-11-04 07:12:37', '2016-11-04 11:12:37', 'Hah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is a bit immature (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. \n\nAn example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\n\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\n\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \n\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\n\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \n\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\n\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \n\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n1) “嗯，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\n\n2) “洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\n\n3) “不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那贪吃的哥哥又开始油嘴滑舌了。\n\n4) “姥姥，我明天要吃红烧排骨和猪蹄！”哥哥大声说。\n\n5) “姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\n\n6) “臭乐乐，说我快成猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\n\n7) 不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\n\n8) 在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，就算三碗对他来说也是小菜一碟。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\n\n9) 哥哥总抢我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱嗝，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，悲剧啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能改掉贪吃的毛病啊？\n\n10) 不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n1) \"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \n\n2) “YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \n\n3) \"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \n\n4) \"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \n\n5) \"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \n\n6) \"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \n\n7) Not good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\n\n8) Before I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\n\n9) Older brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \n\n10) Not good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essay] 贪吃的哥哥 - My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:12:37', '2016-11-04 11:12:37', '', 1310, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1310-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(1320, 1, '2013-01-03 09:19:39', '2013-01-03 14:19:39', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\r\n\r\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is for immature readers (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of his older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at his brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much his brother can eat. Then he says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the younger brother 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the younger brother\'s name.  \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\r\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\r\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\r\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\r\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\r\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\r\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\r\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\r\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\r\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n“<strong>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig\'s Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. But when I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was THIS MAD, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-03 09:19:39', '2013-01-03 14:19:39', '', 1310, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/03/1310-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1319, 1, '2013-01-02 21:58:23', '2013-01-03 02:58:23', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\r\n\r\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is for immature readers (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of his older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at his brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much his brother can eat. Then he says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing that maybe one of you guys can help me out with this: the older brother at one point calls the younger brother 臭乐乐. This is clearly a mean name that the older brother is calling the younger brother. But while I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", I can\'t figure out if this is because the younger brother\'s name is actually \"乐乐\", or if the whole phrase is a colloquialism meaning something like \"Stinky baby!\" or similar. I\'m in the process of asking my Chinese friends, but until I hear back, anyone care to weigh in?\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\r\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\r\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\r\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\r\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\r\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\r\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\r\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\r\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\r\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n“<strong>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig\'s Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. But when I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was THIS MAD, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 21:58:23', '2013-01-03 02:58:23', '', 1310, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1310-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(1318, 1, '2013-01-02 23:00:31', '2013-01-03 04:00:31', '[two_third]\n<strong>You know you need a KTV song! Beijing, Beijing is a slow ballad sung by Chinese artist 汪峰 [pinyin]wang1 feng1[/pinyin] and was in the <a href=\"http://music.baidu.com/top/new\">Baidu Top 100</a> top 10 for a bit this year. Now it looks like it\'s fallen between the 30th and 40th place on various music charts, but it\'s still pretty popular, particularly in, you know, Beijing. If you can find it in yourself to embrace the painful 80\'s growly I-mean-it man voice and the \"Streets of Philadelphia\" emo-dad thing, you may find that the song is a good karaoke song if you\'re just starting out because it\'s repetitive, it\'s not abstract, it\'s sung slowly enough to sing along and it\'s so emotionally over-fraught that it\'s fun. \n\n<iframe height=498 width=510 frameborder=0 src=\"http://player.youku.com/embed/XMjA5NzgwNTky\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\n<!--more-->\n\nI recommend you read and translate the lyrics before you listen to the song, so you\'ve got an idea of what you\'re hearing. \n\nA few translation notes: it\'s not always clear exactly how to translate song lyrics. Example: 寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 is not an easy lyric to translate. Or rather, it\'s super easy to get the gist of the meaning (searching, chasing, dying, broken dreams... you get the idea), but put an \"of\" in the wrong place and the meaning changes to something slightly different. I\'ve done my best, feel free to re-write or re-interpret those in a different way. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n平静 - [pinyin]ping2 jing4[/pinyin] - Tranquil\n轰鸣 - [pinyin]hong1 ming2[/pinyin] - Rumble\n烛骨 - [pinyin]zhu2 gu3[/pinyin] - wick (of a candle)\n哭泣 - [pinyin]ku1 qi4[/pinyin] - Weep\n祈祷 - [pinyin]qi2 dao3[/pinyin] - Pray\n迷惘 - [pinyin]mi2 wang3[/pinyin] - Pray\n霓虹灯 - [pinyin]ni2 hong2 deng1[/pinyin] - Neon lights\n挣扎 - [pinyin]zheng1 zha2[/pinyin] - Struggle\n奄奄一息 - [pinyin]yan3 yan3 yi1 xi1[/pinyin] - Last gasp\n眷恋 - [pinyin]juan4 lian4[/pinyin] - To long for\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n当我走在这里的每一条街道 \n我的心似乎从来都不能<strong>平静</strong> 　　\n除了发动机的<strong>轰鸣</strong>和电器之音 　　\n我似乎听到了他<strong>烛骨</strong>般的心跳 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里<strong>哭泣</strong> 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我在这里<strong>祈祷</strong> 　　\n我在这里<strong>迷惘</strong> 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　　\n\n咖啡馆与广场有三个街区 　　\n就像<strong>霓虹灯</strong>到月亮的距离 　　\n人们在<strong>挣扎</strong>中相互告慰和拥抱 　　\n寻找着追逐着<strong>奄奄一息</strong>的碎梦 　　\n我们在这欢笑 　　\n我们在这哭泣 　　\n我们在这活着 　　\n也在这死去 　　\n我们在这祈祷 　　\n我们在这迷惘 　　\n我们在这寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京 　\n　\n如果有一天我不得不离去 　　\n我希望人们把我埋在这里 　　\n在这儿我能感觉到我的存在 　　\n在这儿有太多让我<strong>眷恋</strong>的东西 　　\n我在这里欢笑 　　\n我在这里哭泣 　　\n我在这里活着 　　\n也在这儿死去 　　\n我在这里祈祷 　　\n我在这里迷惘 　　\n我在这里寻找 　　\n也在这儿失去 　　\n北京 北京\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nWhen I walk the streets here\nIt seems like my heart can never be serene\nBeyond the rumble of engines and sounds of electronics\nI seem to hear its candlewick heartbeat\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I weep\nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I\'ll die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n\nThe three blocks between the coffee shop and the plaza\nSeem like the distance between the neon lights and the moon 　　\nPeople comfort and embrace each other as they struggle together\nSearching for, chasing after, the last gasp of broken dreams\nThis is where we laugh happily\nThis is where we cry bitterly \nThis is where we live\nAnd this is where we\'ll die\nThis is where we pray\nThis is where we\'re confused\nThis is where we search\nAnd also where we lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　　\n\n　\nIf someday I have no choice but to leave\nI hope people bury me here\nHere I can sense my existence \nHere there are too many things I yearn for\nThis is where I laugh happily\nThis is where I cry bitterly \nThis is where I live\nAnd this is where I die\nThis is where I pray\nThis is where I\'m confused\nThis is where I search\nAnd also where I lose\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Song Lyrics: Beijing Beijing by Wang Feng', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1295-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 23:00:31', '2013-01-03 04:00:31', '', 1295, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1295-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1321, 1, '2013-01-03 09:23:30', '2013-01-03 14:23:30', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\r\n\r\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is for immature readers (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\r\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\r\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\r\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\r\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\r\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\r\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\r\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\r\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\r\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n“<strong>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-03 09:23:30', '2013-01-03 14:23:30', '', 1310, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/03/1310-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1322, 1, '2013-01-02 19:55:40', '2013-01-03 00:55:40', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 暴风雪已致15人死 2000航班延误取消</strong>\r\n\r\nIn the spirit of the holiday season, which is winding to a blissfully overweight close, I give you an article about something you may or may not have just struggled through if you flew home for the holidays (which I did).<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130103-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Reading Mandarin Chinese News: Reading Materials for Advanced Learners\" title=\"How to Read Simplified Chinese: Practice Reading Chinese Newspaper Articles\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder aligleft\" />This is a wildly factual article about the congestion caused by the snow storms a week or so ago. Not a lot of excitement here, mostly a tallying up of what a big fat mess the American aviation system becomes during the annual Christmas hysteria. \r\n\r\nLots and lots of proper nouns in here, including lots of U.S. states, some cities and even a couple of basketball team names. Probably the most fun you\'ll have reading this is trying to decipher the list of Chinese names for U.S. states (read the characters out loud quickly and see if you can guess - example: 弗吉尼亚州 fo ji ni ya = Virginia). You can always tell you\'re reading a U.S. state name because the character 州 appears at the tail end of each state. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n暴风 - [pinyin]bao4 feng1[/pinyin] - Blizzard\r\n造成 - [pinyin]zao4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To cause, bring about\r\n严寒 - [pinyin]yan2 han2[/pinyin] - Severe winter\r\n警告 - [pinyin]jing3 gao4[/pinyin] - Warning (typically official one, issued by police or govt.)\r\n凛冽 - [pinyin]lin3 lie4[/pinyin] - Biting cold\r\n构成 - [pinyin]gou4 cheng2[/pinyin] - To constitute \r\n威胁 - [pinyin]wei1 xie2[/pinyin] - Threat\r\n气象部门 - [pinyin]qi4 xiang4 bu4 men2[/pinyin] - Weather service \r\n成千上万 - [pinyin]cheng2 qian1 shang4 wan4[/pinyin] - Tens of thousands\r\n推迟 - [pinyin]tui1 chi2[/pinyin] - To postpone\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n圣诞节期间美国遭遇<strong>暴风</strong>雪袭击，已至少<strong>造成</strong>15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。\r\n\r\n据报道，因暴雪<strong>严寒</strong>造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。\r\n\r\n很多地区发出<strong>警告</strong>提醒人们不要外出，因为<strong>凛冽</strong>狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人<strong>构成</strong><strong>威胁</strong>。<strong>气象部门</strong>说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。\r\n\r\n目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，<strong>成千上万</strong>出游的人们滞留在各处。nba<strong>推迟</strong>了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis Christmas season, America is suffering through a blizzard, which has already caused at least 15 deaths and the delay or cancellation of 2000 flights. \r\n\r\nAccording to reports, the snowstorm and bitter cold has caused deaths in states including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. \r\n\r\nMany regions issued warnings reminding people not to go outside, because the biting cold, howling winds, low temperatures and dangerous traffic conditions compose a threat to pedestrians. The weather department said that severe snow will soon appear in America\'s northeastern New England area, with snowfall in Maine reaching 18 inches (about 45 centimeters). As a result, many people\'s Christmas travel plans will be effected.\r\n\r\nCurrently, 200,000 homes have already experienced electrical outages, and tens of thousands of travelers have been detained. [Also due to snow] in Indianapolis, the NBA postponed Wednesday night\'s Indiana Pacers vs. Chicago Bulls basketball game.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Snowstorm has caused 15 deaths and 2000 flight delays or cancellations', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1304-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 19:55:40', '2013-01-03 00:55:40', '', 1304, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1304-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1323, 1, '2013-01-02 23:28:20', '2013-01-03 04:28:20', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>You know you need a KTV song! Beijing, Beijing is a slow ballad sung by Chinese artist 汪峰 [pinyin]wang1 feng1[/pinyin] and was in the <a href=\"http://music.baidu.com/top/new\">Baidu Top 100</a> top 10 for a bit this year. Now it looks like it\'s fallen between the 30th and 40th place on various music charts, but it\'s still pretty popular, particularly in, you know, Beijing. If you can find it in yourself to embrace the painful 80\'s growly I-mean-it man voice and the \"Streets of Philadelphia\" emo-dad thing, you may find that the song is a good karaoke song if you\'re just starting out because it\'s repetitive, it\'s not abstract, it\'s sung slowly enough to sing along and it\'s so emotionally over-fraught that it\'s fun. \r\n\r\n<iframe height=498 width=510 frameborder=0 src=\"http://player.youku.com/embed/XMjA5NzgwNTky\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\r\n<!--more-->\r\n\r\nI recommend you read and translate the lyrics before you listen to the song, so you\'ve got an idea of what you\'re hearing. \r\n\r\nA few translation notes: it\'s not always clear exactly how to translate song lyrics. Example: 寻找着追逐着奄奄一息的碎梦 is not an easy lyric to translate. Or rather, it\'s super easy to get the gist of the meaning (searching, chasing, dying, broken dreams... you get the idea), but put an \"of\" in the wrong place and the meaning changes to something slightly different. I\'ve done my best, feel free to re-write or re-interpret those in a different way. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n平静 - [pinyin]ping2 jing4[/pinyin] - Tranquil\r\n轰鸣 - [pinyin]hong1 ming2[/pinyin] - Rumble\r\n烛骨 - [pinyin]zhu2 gu3[/pinyin] - wick (of a candle)\r\n哭泣 - [pinyin]ku1 qi4[/pinyin] - Weep\r\n祈祷 - [pinyin]qi2 dao3[/pinyin] - Pray\r\n迷惘 - [pinyin]mi2 wang3[/pinyin] - Pray\r\n霓虹灯 - [pinyin]ni2 hong2 deng1[/pinyin] - Neon lights\r\n挣扎 - [pinyin]zheng1 zha2[/pinyin] - Struggle\r\n奄奄一息 - [pinyin]yan3 yan3 yi1 xi1[/pinyin] - Last gasp\r\n眷恋 - [pinyin]juan4 lian4[/pinyin] - To long for\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n当我走在这里的每一条街道 \r\n我的心似乎从来都不能<strong>平静</strong> 　　\r\n除了发动机的<strong>轰鸣</strong>和电器之音 　　\r\n我似乎听到了他<strong>烛骨</strong>般的心跳 　　\r\n我在这里欢笑 　　\r\n我在这里<strong>哭泣</strong> 　　\r\n我在这里活着 　　\r\n也在这死去 　　\r\n我在这里<strong>祈祷</strong> 　　\r\n我在这里<strong>迷惘</strong> 　　\r\n我在这里寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京 　　\r\n\r\n咖啡馆与广场有三个街区 　　\r\n就像<strong>霓虹灯</strong>到月亮的距离 　　\r\n人们在<strong>挣扎</strong>中相互告慰和拥抱 　　\r\n寻找着追逐着<strong>奄奄一息</strong>的碎梦 　　\r\n我们在这欢笑 　　\r\n我们在这哭泣 　　\r\n我们在这活着 　　\r\n也在这死去 　　\r\n我们在这祈祷 　　\r\n我们在这迷惘 　　\r\n我们在这寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京 　\r\n　\r\n如果有一天我不得不离去 　　\r\n我希望人们把我埋在这里 　　\r\n在这儿我能感觉到我的存在 　　\r\n在这儿有太多让我<strong>眷恋</strong>的东西 　　\r\n我在这里欢笑 　　\r\n我在这里哭泣 　　\r\n我在这里活着 　　\r\n也在这儿死去 　　\r\n我在这里祈祷 　　\r\n我在这里迷惘 　　\r\n我在这里寻找 　　\r\n也在这儿失去 　　\r\n北京 北京\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nWhen I walk the streets here\r\nIt seems like my heart can never be serene\r\nBeyond the rumble of engines and sounds of electronics\r\nI seem to hear its candlewick heartbeat\r\nThis is where I laugh happily\r\nThis is where I weep\r\nThis is where I live\r\nAnd this is where I\'ll die\r\nThis is where I pray\r\nThis is where I\'m confused\r\nThis is where I search\r\nAnd also where I lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\r\n\r\nThe three blocks between the coffee shop and the plaza\r\nSeem like the distance between the neon lights and the moon 　　\r\nPeople comfort and embrace each other as they struggle together\r\nSearching for, chasing after, the last gasp of broken dreams\r\nThis is where we laugh happily\r\nThis is where we cry bitterly \r\nThis is where we live\r\nAnd this is where we\'ll die\r\nThis is where we pray\r\nThis is where we\'re confused\r\nThis is where we search\r\nAnd also where we lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　　\r\n\r\n　\r\nIf someday I have no choice but to leave\r\nI hope people bury me here\r\nHere I can sense my existence \r\nHere there are too many things I yearn for\r\nThis is where I laugh happily\r\nThis is where I cry bitterly \r\nThis is where I live\r\nAnd this is where I die\r\nThis is where I pray\r\nThis is where I\'m confused\r\nThis is where I search\r\nAnd also where I lose\r\nBeijing, Beijing 　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Song Lyrics: Beijing Beijing by Wang Feng', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1295-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-02 23:28:20', '2013-01-03 04:28:20', '', 1295, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/02/1295-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1327, 1, '2013-01-03 09:25:56', '2013-01-03 14:25:56', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\r\n\r\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is a bit immature (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\r\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\r\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\r\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\r\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\r\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\r\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\r\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\r\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\r\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n“<strong>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-03 09:25:56', '2013-01-03 14:25:56', '', 1310, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/03/1310-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1328, 1, '2013-01-09 03:35:02', '2013-01-09 08:35:02', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 贪吃的哥哥</strong>\r\n\r\nHah! I set out to do a beginner post since I haven\'t done one in a while, but no joy, I think I have to classify this as intermediate. Beginners are welcome to try this out, as most of the words are simple and the subject matter is a bit immature (so of course it totally cracked me up), but the issue is that this essay is written by a kid making fun of her older brother for eating too much, and the sentence structure reads like a playground taunt - it sounds like the author used this essay assignment as an opportunity to get back at her brother for something. So it\'s very casually written and the sentence structure isn\'t book-formal enough to be smooth reading for newbies. Still, if you can get most of the words, which aren\'t too hard, you\'ll get the drift. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130109-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Intermediate Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Reading Intermediate Level\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> An example of just such an easy-to-figure-out colloquialism is \"不嘛,\" which means something along the lines of \"Nuh-uh!\" or \"No!\" (as in the way a child starts off an argumentative sentence with \"No it\'s not!\" or \"No it isn\'t!\")\r\n\r\nA few things I should cover right out the gate: 红烧排骨和猪蹄 is the name of a dish. 红烧 is a way of cooking a dish where food is slowly simmered in an oily red sauce. On Chinese menus you\'ll often see 红烧 followed by many different things. One of my favorites is 红烧茄子 - Eggplant Simmered in Red Sauce. So this dish, 红烧排骨和猪蹄, is spare ribs (排骨) and pig feet (猪蹄) simmered in red sauce (红烧).\r\n\r\nOne of the more difficult sentences here is 要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了 - there are multiple points of difficulty here. \r\n\r\nLet\'s break this one down a bit. In the previous sentence, the author is talking about how much her brother can eat. Then she says, 要是换成我吃那么多的话 - the hard part of this is 换成, which means \"to switch\", or in this case \"to switch positions with someone\". In other words \"If (要是) I switched positions (换成) with my brother (\'with my brother\' is implied, not said), and it was me that ate so much (我吃那么多)\"...\r\n\r\nThe sentence continues: 现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了. I think the hard part of this is the way 的 is used. Beginning readers expect 的 to either follow a word to make it possessive (我的, 他的）, or to show that something\'s being described (\"红色的箱子\"). In this case, the author actually left out the word being described, which is 人. This part could also be written 现在写作文的<strong>人</strong>: or in other words \"the person writing this essay right now...\" This is a very informal way of talking. We continue: 早就是个饱死鬼了 \"Long ago (早) would have become (就是个...了) a full devil (饱死鬼 - someone who has eaten until they are overstuffed - google image result for 饱死鬼 gets us <a href=\"http://m1.img.libdd.com/farm4/2012/0918/10/1E03B280AB539A12D396CE03DC9D7B14A8F7E0F770B6_500_328.jpg\">this</a>). \r\n\r\nSo all together: \"If I was the one who\'d eaten that much, the person writing this essay [me] would have long ago become overstuffed.\"\r\n\r\nAnd one last thing: the older brother at one point calls the author 臭乐乐. I understand this translates to \"Stinky Lele!\", so we can assume here that \"Lele\" is the author\'s name. This is probably a girl\'s name, so we assume the author is female. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n贪吃 - [pinyin]tan1 chi1[/pinyin] - Gluttonous\r\n嗯 - [pinyin]en1[/pinyin] - A groaning sound, in this case because food is good, like \"mmm, mmm\"\r\n油嘴滑舌 - [pinyin]you2 zui3 hua2 she2[/pinyin] - Smooth-talking, oily-mouthed\r\n成 - [pinyin]cheng2[/pinyin] - To turn into\r\n就算 - [pinyin]jiu4 suan4[/pinyin] - Even if\r\n小菜一碟 - [pinyin]xiao3 cai4 yi1 die2[/pinyin] - Small appetizer\r\n抢 - [pinyin]qiang3[/pinyin] - Snatch\r\n嗝 - [pinyin]ge2[/pinyin] - To burp\r\n悲剧 - [pinyin]bei1 ju4[/pinyin] - Tragedy\r\n改掉- [pinyin]gai3 diao4[/pinyin] - Drop a bad habit\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n“<strong>嗯</strong>，好吃，真好吃！姥姥，再来一盘鸡腿。”\r\n\r\n“洋洋，你都那么胖了，少吃一点吧！”\r\n\r\n“不嘛，我吃得多证明你菜做得好吃，这是给你面子啊！” 瞧，我那<strong>贪吃</strong>的哥哥又开始<strong>油嘴滑舌</strong>了。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，我明天要吃<strong>红烧排骨和猪蹄</strong>！”哥哥大声说。\r\n\r\n“姥姥，别听哥哥的。他整天就知道吃，都快成猪了。”我说。\r\n\r\n“臭乐乐，说我快<strong>成</strong>猪了，你不怕我教训你？”哥哥生气地说。\r\n\r\n不好，把哥哥惹急了后果可不堪设想。我起身就跑，哥哥撒腿就追，好在他太胖，根本跑不动，我很快就把他甩掉了。\r\n\r\n在我睡觉前，妈妈常跟我讲哥哥是怎么贪吃的。有一次，奶奶跟我讲，哥哥一顿饭就能吃四个人的饭。他小时候一顿吃两碗鸡蛋糕是绝对没有问题的，<strong>就算</strong>三碗对他来说也是<strong>小菜一碟</strong>。要是换成我吃那么多的话，现在写作文的早就是个饱死鬼了。\r\n\r\n哥哥总<strong>抢</strong>我的饭吃。有一次，我正在洗澡，妈妈让奶奶他们先吃。可等我洗完澡后，发现碗里的饭早没了踪影，哥哥却在一旁直打饱<strong>嗝</strong>，原来，是哥哥把我的饭给偷吃了。我心里这个气啊，可还只能忍，<strong>悲剧</strong>啊！天哪，哥哥啥时才能<strong>改掉</strong>贪吃的毛病啊？\r\n\r\n不好，哥哥又要抢我的饭了，不写了，赶紧保护我的饭去啊！\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\"Mmm, delicious, really delicious! [Maternal] grandma, give me another plate of chicken drumsticks!\" \r\n\r\n“YangYang, you\'re already that fat, you should eat less!\" \r\n\r\n\"Nuh uh, [the fact that] I eat a lot only proves that you\'re a good cook, this gives you face!\" Oh look, there goes my gluttonous older brother smooth-talking again. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, tomorrow I want to eat Spare Ribs and Pig Trotters Simmered in Red Sauce!\" older brother says loudly. \r\n\r\n\"Grandma, don\'t listen to older brother. All he thinks about all day is eating, he\'ll soon turn into a pig,\" I say. \r\n\r\n\"Stinky LeLe, saying I\'ll turn into a pig. Aren\'t you afraid I\'ll teach you a lesson?\" older brother says angrily. \r\n\r\nNot good, I can\'t bear to imagine the consequences of provoking older brother. I get up and run, and older brother scrambles up to chase me, luckily he\'s too fat, he can\'t run at all, so I quickly lose him.\r\n\r\nBefore I go to sleep, mother often talks with me about how gluttonous my brother is. One time, [paternal] grandmother was talking with me, saying that older brother eats enough for four people in a single sitting. When he was small it was absolutely no problem for him to polish off two bowls of egg cake in a sitting, even three bowls is just a small appetizer to him. If it was me that ate that much, the person writing this essay would have long ago become a \"stuffed devil\".\r\n\r\nOlder brother is always snatching my food and eating it. One time, when I was in the shower, mother allowed grandmother and all them start eating first. When I was done showering, I found that there wasn\'t a trace [of food] left in my bowl, but my brother was off to one side burping with satisfaction, turns out my brother stole my food and ate it. I was so mad, but all I could do is endure it, what a tragedy! God, when is older brother finally going to fix this gluttonous defect? \r\n\r\nNot good, older brother just snatched my food again, I\'ve got to stop writing, and quickly go protect my meal! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'My Gluttonous Elder Brother', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1310-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-09 03:35:02', '2013-01-09 08:35:02', '', 1310, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/09/1310-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1330, 1, '2013-01-26 00:34:10', '2013-01-26 05:34:10', '', 'How to Read Chinese Jokes: Mandarin Exercise Passages for Reading', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130126-inline', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:34:10', '2013-01-26 05:34:10', '', 1329, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1331, 1, '2013-01-26 00:34:12', '2013-01-26 05:34:12', '', '20130126', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130126', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:34:12', '2013-01-26 05:34:12', '', 1329, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1332, 1, '2013-01-26 00:30:58', '2013-01-26 05:30:58', '[two_third]\nHey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \n\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\n\nThough we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n晨练 - [pinyin]chen2 lian4[/pinyin] - Morning exercise\n退休 - [pinyin]tui4 xiu1[/pinyin] - Retire\n笨蛋 - [pinyin]ben4 dan4[/pinyin] - Idiot\n汉堡 - [pinyin]han4 bao3[/pinyin] - Hamburger\n告诉 - [pinyin]gao4 su5[/pinyin] - To tell\n谈 - [pinyin]tan2[/pinyin] - Speak, discuss\n蟑螂 - [pinyin]zhang1 lang2[/pinyin] - Cockroach\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\n小姑娘：退休人员。\n\n\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\n儿子：“不知道。”\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\n儿子：“知道了。”\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \n\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nA little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\nLittle girl: A retiree!\n\n\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\nSon: \"I get it.\" \nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\nSon: \"It\'s two idiots!\" \n\n\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our 100th Post! Plus some new beginner jokes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:30:58', '2013-01-26 05:30:58', '', 1329, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/26/1329-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1333, 1, '2013-01-26 00:36:33', '2013-01-26 05:36:33', '[two_third]\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Chinese for Beginners: Childrens Jokes in Mandarin Chinese\" title=\"How to Read Chinese Jokes: Mandarin Exercise Passages for Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Hey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \r\n\r\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThough we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n晨练 - [pinyin]chen2 lian4[/pinyin] - Morning exercise\r\n退休 - [pinyin]tui4 xiu1[/pinyin] - Retire\r\n笨蛋 - [pinyin]ben4 dan4[/pinyin] - Idiot\r\n汉堡 - [pinyin]han4 bao3[/pinyin] - Hamburger\r\n告诉 - [pinyin]gao4 su5[/pinyin] - To tell\r\n谈 - [pinyin]tan2[/pinyin] - Speak, discuss\r\n蟑螂 - [pinyin]zhang1 lang2[/pinyin] - Cockroach\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\r\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\r\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\r\n小姑娘：退休人员。\r\n\r\n\r\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\r\n儿子：“不知道。”\r\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\r\n儿子：“知道了。”\r\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\r\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \r\n\r\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\r\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\r\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\r\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nA little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\r\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\r\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\r\nLittle girl: A retiree!\r\n\r\n\r\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \r\nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \r\nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\r\nSon: \"I get it.\" \r\nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\r\nSon: \"It\'s two idiots!\" \r\n\r\n\r\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \r\nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\r\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\r\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our 100th Post! Plus some new beginner jokes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:36:33', '2013-01-26 05:36:33', '', 1329, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/26/1329-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1334, 1, '2013-01-26 00:37:34', '2013-01-26 05:37:34', '[two_third]\r\nHey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \r\n\r\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Chinese for Beginners: Childrens Jokes in Mandarin Chinese\" title=\"How to Read Chinese Jokes: Mandarin Exercise Passages for Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Though we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n晨练 - [pinyin]chen2 lian4[/pinyin] - Morning exercise\r\n退休 - [pinyin]tui4 xiu1[/pinyin] - Retire\r\n笨蛋 - [pinyin]ben4 dan4[/pinyin] - Idiot\r\n汉堡 - [pinyin]han4 bao3[/pinyin] - Hamburger\r\n告诉 - [pinyin]gao4 su5[/pinyin] - To tell\r\n谈 - [pinyin]tan2[/pinyin] - Speak, discuss\r\n蟑螂 - [pinyin]zhang1 lang2[/pinyin] - Cockroach\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\r\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\r\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\r\n小姑娘：退休人员。\r\n\r\n\r\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\r\n儿子：“不知道。”\r\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\r\n儿子：“知道了。”\r\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\r\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \r\n\r\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\r\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\r\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\r\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nA little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\r\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\r\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\r\nLittle girl: A retiree!\r\n\r\n\r\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \r\nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \r\nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\r\nSon: \"I get it.\" \r\nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\r\nSon: \"It\'s two idiots!\" \r\n\r\n\r\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \r\nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\r\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\r\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our 100th Post! Plus some new beginner jokes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:37:34', '2013-01-26 05:37:34', '', 1329, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/26/1329-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1335, 1, '2013-01-26 00:39:00', '2013-01-26 05:39:00', '[two_third]\r\nHey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \r\n\r\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Chinese for Beginners: Childrens Jokes in Mandarin Chinese\" title=\"How to Read Chinese Jokes: Mandarin Exercise Passages for Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Though we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n晨练 - [pinyin]chen2 lian4[/pinyin] - Morning exercise\r\n退休 - [pinyin]tui4 xiu1[/pinyin] - Retire\r\n笨蛋 - [pinyin]ben4 dan4[/pinyin] - Idiot\r\n汉堡 - [pinyin]han4 bao3[/pinyin] - Hamburger\r\n告诉 - [pinyin]gao4 su5[/pinyin] - To tell\r\n谈 - [pinyin]tan2[/pinyin] - Speak, discuss\r\n蟑螂 - [pinyin]zhang1 lang2[/pinyin] - Cockroach\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\r\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\r\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\r\n小姑娘：退休人员。\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\r\n儿子：“不知道。”\r\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\r\n儿子：“知道了。”\r\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\r\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\r\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\r\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\r\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nA little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\r\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\r\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\r\nLittle girl: A retiree!\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \r\nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \r\nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\r\nSon: \"I get it.\" \r\nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\r\nSon: \"It\'s two idiots!\" \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \r\nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\r\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\r\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our 100th Post! Plus some new beginner jokes', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:39:00', '2013-01-26 05:39:00', '', 1329, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/26/1329-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1336, 1, '2012-10-21 02:39:12', '2012-10-21 06:39:12', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 我们家的跳绳比赛</strong>\r\n\r\nA single-paragraph essay about the results of a family jump rope competition. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121002-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner School Essays by Chinese Students\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Haven\'t had a ton of extra time in the last few weeks - just went on a trip to Dalian, and still catching up from that. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n跳 - [pinyin]tiao4[/pinyin] - Jump\r\n绳 - [pinyin]sheng2[/pinyin] - Rope\r\n失误 - [pinyin]shi1 wu4[/pinyin] - Mistake\r\n砰砰 - [pinyin]peng1 peng1[/pinyin] - Onomat. Sound of heart beating\r\n弃权 - [pinyin]qi4 quan2[/pinyin] - To voluntarily not participate\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n今天早上我和爸爸比赛<strong>跳绳</strong>，爸爸先跳，妈妈记时数数，爸爸一分钟跳了128个，该我上场了，爸爸数数，妈妈记时，我这次没有<strong>失误</strong>，一分钟跳了145个，我的心<strong>砰砰</strong>乱跳，都快蹦出来了，妈妈<strong>弃权</strong>了，我成了全家中的第一名，，我好开心。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThis morning father and competed in jump rope, father went first, mother kept time and count, father jumped 128 times in a minute, and when I entered the playing field, father counted and mother took notes. In this round [literally: \'this time\', but sounds weird in English because there are no previous times] I made no mistakes, and in one minute I jumped 145 times, my heart pounded in my chest, as if it would bounce right out. Mother abstained from participating, so I became Number 1 in our family, I was very happy. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Our Family\'s Jump Rope Contest', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1277-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-21 02:39:12', '2012-10-21 06:39:12', '', 1277, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/21/1277-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1337, 1, '2012-02-12 20:12:10', '2012-02-13 01:12:10', '[two_third]\r\nI apologize for not posting a month or so, I\'ve been in the process of - ta da - moving back to China, so life\'s been exciting but busy. On the upside, looks like I\'ll have some interesting new posts from here. But today, in place of something interesting, we\'ve got a slightly insipid story for young children about a bird who appears to have no head. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/20120212-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Childrens Beginner Chinese Reading Passage: The Little Bird with No Head\" title=\"Easy Beginner Chinese Reading Passage: The Little Bird with No Head\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Not sure what the life lesson is in this story or if it\'s supposed to have one at all. Maybe \"don\'t gossip\"? Or \"don\'t make wild assumptions?\" Not sure. I\'d say the most interesting word in here is 天哪, which means \"My goodness!\" This is used with relative frequency in China, and it\'s a good interjection to use when you\'re shocked or unpleasantly surprised about something but don\'t want to swear or be offensive. For example, if you walked into a room that smelled badly, or if you were jostled by a few dozen people coming off the subway, or if you found out that something you want to buy is outrageously expensive. It doesn\'t always have negative connotations, though - this can be used neutrally as well, but I rarely hear it used in a super positive context. Because the word 天 \"Tian\" ends with an \"n\" and the word 哪 \"na\" starts with one, this usually comes out sounding like \"Tian ah!\" rather than \"Tian na\".\r\n\r\nAnother notable word here is 假如 [pinyin]jia1 ru2[/pinyin], which means \"if\". Thing is, in Chinese, there are quite a few ways to say \"if\". There\'s the most common, which is 如果，there\'s 要是，there\'s 假使，若是，and so on. At a loss for a good explanation myself, I <a href=\"http://www.italki.com/answers/question/116228.htm\">found a site</a> that does a great job of summing this up. In short:\r\n\r\n<blockquote>1) expressing a fact: 要是你水烧到摄氏一百度就会沸腾, if you heat the water to 100 degrees celcius [then] it will boil.\r\n2) talking about a future result: 假如你认真学外语就会进步- if you study foreign language hard, it will improve.\r\n3)an imagined situation: 假使我很有钱，我就带她去很多地方- If I were rich,I would take her to so many places.\r\n4)if something didn\'t happen: 如果你没迟到，我就不会那么生气 (if you weren\'t late, I wouldn\'t of been so mad.\r\n\r\n\"ruguo\" is more common than all of them. In a learning Chinese book you might only see \"ruguo\" and you would hear \"ruguo\" in daily speech. They are all correct to say, and you can use them interchangeably. However, i\'d like to note that 要是 can also be used negatively if you place 不 in the middle, i.e. 要是 means \"if\" 要不是 means \"If not..\" such as 要不是你，我就不会来- If it wasn\'t for you, I wouldn\'t come. Whereas \"ruguo\" and the others cannot be used in that way.</blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n白鹭 - [pinyin]bai2 lu4[/pinyin] - Egret\r\n浅浅 - [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Sound of running water\r\n池 - [pinyin]chi2[/pinyin] - Pond\r\n刺猬 - [pinyin]ci4 wei4[/pinyin] - Hedgehog\r\n脑袋 - [pinyin]nao3 dai4[/pinyin] - Head, skull, brains\r\n鼹鼠 - [pinyin]yan3 shu3[/pinyin] - Mole (animal)\r\n假如 - [pinyin]jia3 ru2[/pinyin] - If\r\n翅膀 - [pinyin]chi4 bang3[/pinyin] - Wing\r\n伸出 - [pinyin]shen1 chu1[/pinyin] - To stretch out\r\n梳理 - [pinyin]shu1 li3[/pinyin] - To comb out, untangle\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n一只<strong>白鹭</strong>在<strong>浅浅</strong>的<strong>池</strong>水中站着。\r\n\r\n一只小<strong>刺猬</strong>走过，他说: “天哪，这只白鹭怎么没有<strong>脑袋</strong>！”\r\n\r\n“真的！”一只小<strong>鼹鼠</strong>也叫了起来，“没有脑袋的鸟，我第一次看到!”\r\n\r\n“<strong>假如</strong>我没有了脑袋就不能活了！”小刺猬说。\r\n\r\n“是啊，可这只鸟还能站着不动，真了不起!”小鼹鼠说。\r\n\r\n这时，白鹭从她那<strong>翅膀</strong>底下，<strong>伸出</strong>了长脖子，长脖子上长着一颗好端端的脑袋。\r\n\r\n白鹭笑着说: “我是把脑袋钻进翅膀底下，<strong>梳理</strong>梳理羽毛，我怎么是没有脑袋的鸟呢?”\r\n\r\n小刺猬和小鼹鼠都笑了，他们说:\r\n\r\n“是我们没有用脑袋好好想一想，对不起，白鹭姐姐！”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nAn egret stood in the middle of a flowing pond. \r\n\r\nA hedgehog walked up and said, \"Goodness gracious! Somehow, that egret has no head!\" \r\n\r\n\"Really!\" a little mole also cried out, \"This is the first time I\'ve seen a bird without a head!\"　　\r\n\r\n\"If I didn\'t have a head, I wouldn\'t be able to live!\" the little hedgehog said.　　\r\n\r\n\"Yes, but this bird can still stand there not moving, how very impressive!\"　　\r\n\r\nAt this time, from beneath her wing the egret stretched out a long neck, and on top of that long neck grew a very short head.　　\r\n\r\nSmiling, the egret said, \"I had my head tucked beneath my wing to comb out my feathers, how could I be a bird with no head?\"　　\r\n\r\nThe little hedgehog and the little mole smiled, and they said:　　\r\n\r\n\"It was us that weren\'t using our heads to think, sorry Sister Egret!\"　　\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Bird with No Head', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1007-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-02-12 20:12:10', '2012-02-13 01:12:10', '', 1007, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/02/12/1007-revision-9/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1339, 1, '2013-03-03 08:40:35', '2013-03-03 13:40:35', 'There was this chick in my fourth grade class that had some kind of selective brain damage: every time she lost a pencil or some other tifle, which she did daily, she accused everyone in the area of theft. \"Who took my eraser?\" she\'d bleat without looking for it, and no matter how many times the thing turned up untouched in her bag, or exactly wherever she left it, she never learned. Like, she couldn\'t imagine a universe in which no one coveted her Lisa Frank stickers. I wonder whatever happened to that girl. \r\n\r\nThis idiom, as you may have guessed, describes just such a series of behaviors. 丢了斧子,怀疑邻居, indeed. \r\n\r\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n1) 有人丢失了一把斧子，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是邻居的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的言行，神情怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他断定是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。”\r\n\r\n2) 第二天，他上山砍柴时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的怀疑邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，根本不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\r\n\r\n3) 后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、胡乱猜疑。\r\n</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 man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \r\n\r\n2) On the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\r\n\r\n3) After this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 丢了斧子,怀疑邻居 - Lose the Axe, Suspect the Neighbor', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'story-behind-the-idiom-lose-the-axe-suspect-the-neighbor', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:00:07', '2016-11-04 11:00:07', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1339', 0, 'post', '', 19),
(2062, 1, '2016-11-04 07:00:07', '2016-11-04 11:00:07', 'There was this chick in my fourth grade class that had some kind of selective brain damage: every time she lost a pencil or some other tifle, which she did daily, she accused everyone in the area of theft. \"Who took my eraser?\" she\'d bleat without looking for it, and no matter how many times the thing turned up untouched in her bag, or exactly wherever she left it, she never learned. Like, she couldn\'t imagine a universe in which no one coveted her Lisa Frank stickers. I wonder whatever happened to that girl. \r\n\r\nThis idiom, as you may have guessed, describes just such a series of behaviors. 丢了斧子,怀疑邻居, indeed. \r\n\r\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n1) 有人丢失了一把斧子，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是邻居的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的言行，神情怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他断定是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。”\r\n\r\n2) 第二天，他上山砍柴时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的怀疑邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，根本不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\r\n\r\n3) 后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、胡乱猜疑。\r\n</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 man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \r\n\r\n2) On the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\r\n\r\n3) After this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 丢了斧子,怀疑邻居 - Lose the Axe, Suspect the Neighbor', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1339-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:00:07', '2016-11-04 11:00:07', '', 1339, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1339-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1340, 1, '2013-02-18 12:02:18', '2013-02-18 17:02:18', '[two_third]\nHey hey! This site has made it through two years online and 100 posts! That makes an average of 50 posts a year, which averages out to a little less than one a week. Not terribly shabby, huh? In any case, on with the Chinese. \n\nI\'ve been having a bit of trouble rounding up truly beginner texts, and whenever I try I end up with an intermediate post. But this one, though not earth-shattering, should certainly do. We\'ve got three short jokes here of the silly variety, appropriate for young kids. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/20130126-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Chinese for Beginners: Childrens Jokes in Mandarin Chinese\" title=\"How to Read Chinese Jokes: Mandarin Exercise Passages for Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Though we could probably skip this info, you might want to know that 晨练 - meaning \"morning exercise\" - is a much more formalized concept in China than in west. Here, every morning in almost any weather, crowds of old people gather together in parks around 6-7a.m. to do group taiqi, stretch and take brisk walks. This is so prevalent that you can show up at any park or open community space in China early in the morning and see groups of mostly old people doing their exercises. So, while reading the first joke, you should imagine a scene of 40 or so retirees doing taiqi forms in the park. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n晨练 - [pinyin]chen2 lian4[/pinyin] - Morning exercise\n退休 - [pinyin]tui4 xiu1[/pinyin] - Retire\n笨蛋 - [pinyin]ben4 dan4[/pinyin] - Idiot\n汉堡 - [pinyin]han4 bao3[/pinyin] - Hamburger\n告诉 - [pinyin]gao4 su5[/pinyin] - To tell\n谈 - [pinyin]tan2[/pinyin] - Speak, discuss\n蟑螂 - [pinyin]zhang1 lang2[/pinyin] - Cockroach\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n小姑娘指着<strong>晨练</strong>的老人问： 为什么他们能天天到公园来玩？\n奶奶：因为他们是<strong>退休</strong>人员。\n一天，爸爸问女儿：你长大当什么？\n小姑娘：退休人员。\n\n<hr />\n\n父亲教儿子学算术：“一加一是多少？”\n儿子：“不知道。”\n父亲：“是两个，<strong>笨蛋</strong>！知道了吗？”\n儿子：“知道了。”\n父亲：“那么，我和你，加起来是几个人？”\n儿子：“是两个笨蛋！” \n\n<hr />\n\n一个女孩和一个男孩吃<strong>汉堡</strong>。男孩说女孩：“我要<strong>告诉</strong>你一件事！”\n女孩说：“不要跟我说话在我吃的时候，当我吃我的汉堡，那么你就可以<strong>谈</strong>。”\n所以，当他们吃完了女孩问男孩：“现在你想说什么呢？”\n男孩说：“嗯，我是说，有一只<strong>蟑螂</strong>在你的汉堡里！” \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nA little girl pointing at old people doing morning exercises, said: \"Why are they allowed to play in the park all day?\"\nGrandmother: \"Because they are retirees.\"\nOne day, the father asked the little girl: What do you want to be when you grow up?\nLittle girl: A retiree!\n\n<hr />\n\nFather is teaching his son arithmetic: \"One plus one is how much?\"  \nSon: \"I don\'t know.\" \nFather: \"It\'s two, idiot! You get it?\"\nSon: \"I get it.\" \nFather: \"Now, me and you, put us together and how many people is that?\"\nSon: \"Two idiots!\" \n\n<hr />\n\nA girl and a boy are eating hamburgers. The boy says to the girl: \"I want to tell you something!\" \nThe girl says: \"Don\'t talk to me while I\'m eating, when I\'m done with my hamburger, then you can speak.\"\nSo, when they finished eating the girl asked the boy: \"Now what do you want to say?\"\nBoy says: \"Huh, I was saying, there\'s a cockroach in your hamburger.\"\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1339-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-02-18 12:02:18', '2013-02-18 17:02:18', '', 1339, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/02/18/1339-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1348, 1, '2013-05-06 04:37:53', '2013-05-06 08:37:53', '[two_third]\r\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img class=\"imgborder alignleft\" title=\"20130506-inline\" src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130506-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Mandarin Chinese Characters: Practice Reading Simplified Chinese Character Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" />Rebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most. This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\r\n\r\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\r\n\r\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese highschools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them. We also see that Rebecca\'s book spells \"A+\" as \"A*\".\r\n\r\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\r\n\r\n从 - From\r\n天堂 - Heaven\r\n降落 - descend\r\n到 - to\r\n地狱 - Hell\r\n\r\nThis phrase means to \"have a sinking heart\" or to \"fall from joy to misery\".\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n发下来 - [pinyin]fa1 xia4 lai5[/pinyin] - To pass out (papers), hand back (homework)\r\n考卷 - [pinyin]kao3 juan4[/pinyin] - Exam paper\r\n沉重 - [pinyin]chen2 zhong4[/pinyin] - Hard, serious\r\n羡慕 - [pinyin]xian4 mu4[/pinyin] - To envy\r\n竟然 - [pinyin]jing4 ran2[/pinyin] - Unexpectedly\r\n松了一口气 - [pinyin]song1 le yi1 kou3 qi4[/pinyin] - Let out a sigh (usually of relief) \r\n顿 - [pinyin]dun4[/pinyin] - Classifier for a period of time when a beating, scolding or critique takes place\r\n到底 - [pinyin]dao4 di3[/pinyin] - When all is said and done\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我<strong>竟然</strong>忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要给我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻<strong>松了一口气</strong>。\r\n\r\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一<strong>顿</strong>。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？” 如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"<strong>到底</strong>怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\r\n\r\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\r\n\r\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\r\n\r\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said, \"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\r\n\r\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"dad of ten-thousand questions\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\r\n\r\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\r\n\r\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', 'guest-post-by-rebecca-chua-the-difference-between-lifes-exam-and-exam-papers', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:01:08', '2016-10-31 07:01:08', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1348', 0, 'post', '', 8),
(1342, 1, '2013-03-03 08:37:19', '2013-03-03 13:37:19', '', 'Read Chinese: Read Mandarin Chinese Lessons Exercises ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130303-inline', '', '', '2013-03-03 08:37:19', '2013-03-03 13:37:19', '', 1339, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/20130303-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1343, 1, '2013-03-03 08:37:36', '2013-03-03 13:37:36', '', 'Read Chinese: Read Mandarin Chinese Lessons Exercises ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130303', '', '', '2013-03-03 08:37:36', '2013-03-03 13:37:36', '', 1339, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/20130303.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1344, 1, '2013-03-03 08:40:27', '2013-03-03 13:40:27', 'http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueernianjizuowen/2013-02-03/1359852541245275.html\n[two_third]\nBeen a little while since I posted, I\'ve been a bit wrapped up in my new iPad app, <a href=\"http://www.hanzireader.com/hanzireader/Home.html\">Hanzi Reader</a>, which is, may I say, amazing for reading practice. It\'s very much like this site, except you can choose any Chinese text you like, copy-paste it into the reader, the reader analyses the text. After the analysis is complete, pushing any word in the text pops up an English and pinyin translation - truly a wonderful reading tool. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/20130303-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Read Simplified Chinese: Read Chinese Characters\" title=\"Read Chinese: Read Mandarin Chinese Lessons Exercises \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder\" />The \"Story Behind the Idiom\" posts are my favorite to put up, they\'re not only helpful in remember idioms, they\'re usually pretty interesting to read. This one is a lower intermediate text. \n\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guys was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n斧子 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\n邻居 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\n言行 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n有人丢失了一把<strong>斧子</strong>，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是<strong>邻居</strong>的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的<strong>言行</strong>，<strong>神情</strong>怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他<strong>断定</strong>是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个<strong>家伙</strong>不是个好东西。”\n\n第二天，他上山<strong>砍柴</strong>时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的<strong>怀疑</strong>邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，<strong>根本</strong>不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\n\n后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、<strong>胡乱</strong><strong>猜疑</strong>。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThere once was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \n\nOn the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\n\nAfter this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Lose the Axe, Suspect the Neighbor', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1339-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-03-03 08:40:27', '2013-03-03 13:40:27', '', 1339, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/03/03/1339-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1345, 1, '2016-11-04 06:59:22', '2016-11-04 10:59:22', 'There was this chick in my fourth grade class that had some kind of selective brain damage: every time she lost a pencil or some other tifle, which she did daily, she accused everyone in the area of theft. \"Who took my eraser?\" she\'d bleat without looking for it, and no matter how many times the thing turned up untouched in her bag, or exactly wherever she left it, she never learned. Like, she couldn\'t imagine a universe in which no one coveted her Lisa Frank stickers. I wonder whatever happened to that girl. \n\nThis idiom, as you may have guessed, describes just such a series of behaviors. 丢了斧子,怀疑邻居, indeed. \n\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n1) 有人丢失了一把斧子，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是邻居的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的言行，神情怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他断定是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。”\n\n2) 第二天，他上山砍柴时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的怀疑邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，根本不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\n\n3) 后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、胡乱猜疑。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n1) There once was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \n\n2) On the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\n\n3) After this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 丢了斧子,怀疑邻居 - Lose the Axe, Suspect the Neighbor', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1339-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:59:22', '2016-11-04 10:59:22', '', 1339, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/03/03/1339-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2061, 1, '2016-11-04 06:59:53', '2016-11-04 10:59:53', '', 'Read Simplified Chinese: Read Chinese Characters', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'chinese-reading-lose-the-axe-suspect-the-neighbor', '', '', '2016-11-04 07:00:00', '2016-11-04 11:00:00', '', 1339, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/chinese-reading-lose-the-axe-suspect-the-neighbor.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1347, 1, '2013-03-03 08:43:23', '2013-03-03 13:43:23', '[two_third]\r\nBeen a little while since I posted, I\'ve been a bit wrapped up in my new iPad app, <a href=\"http://www.hanzireader.com/hanzireader/Home.html\">Hanzi Reader</a>, which is, may I say, amazing for reading practice. It\'s very much like this site, except you can choose any Chinese text you like, copy-paste it into the reader, the reader analyses the text. After the analysis is complete, pushing any word in the text pops up an English and pinyin translation - truly a wonderful reading tool. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/20130303-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Read Simplified Chinese: Read Chinese Characters\" title=\"Read Chinese: Read Mandarin Chinese Lessons Exercises \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The \"Story Behind the Idiom\" posts are my favorite to put up, they\'re not only helpful in remember idioms, they\'re usually pretty interesting to read. This one is a lower intermediate text. \r\n\r\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guys was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n斧子 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\r\n邻居 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\r\n言行 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\r\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\r\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\r\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\r\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\r\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\r\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\r\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\r\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n有人丢失了一把<strong>斧子</strong>，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是<strong>邻居</strong>的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的<strong>言行</strong>，<strong>神情</strong>怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他<strong>断定</strong>是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个<strong>家伙</strong>不是个好东西。”\r\n\r\n第二天，他上山<strong>砍柴</strong>时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的<strong>怀疑</strong>邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，<strong>根本</strong>不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\r\n\r\n后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、<strong>胡乱</strong><strong>猜疑</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThere once was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \r\n\r\nOn the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\r\n\r\nAfter this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Lose the Axe, Suspect the Neighbor', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1339-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-03-03 08:43:23', '2013-03-03 13:43:23', '', 1339, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/03/03/1339-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1346, 1, '2013-03-03 08:40:35', '2013-03-03 13:40:35', 'http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueernianjizuowen/2013-02-03/1359852541245275.html\r\n[two_third]\r\nBeen a little while since I posted, I\'ve been a bit wrapped up in my new iPad app, <a href=\"http://www.hanzireader.com/hanzireader/Home.html\">Hanzi Reader</a>, which is, may I say, amazing for reading practice. It\'s very much like this site, except you can choose any Chinese text you like, copy-paste it into the reader, the reader analyses the text. After the analysis is complete, pushing any word in the text pops up an English and pinyin translation - truly a wonderful reading tool. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/20130303-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Read Simplified Chinese: Read Chinese Characters\" title=\"Read Chinese: Read Mandarin Chinese Lessons Exercises \" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The \"Story Behind the Idiom\" posts are my favorite to put up, they\'re not only helpful in remember idioms, they\'re usually pretty interesting to read. This one is a lower intermediate text. \r\n\r\nAt the end of the first paragraph, the protagonist says, \"“我早就看出那个家伙不是个好东西。” This translates  to \"I always thought that guys was no good.\" But why use the term \"东西\", or \"thing\", instead of \"person\"? In Chinese, when you refer to a person as 东西, or \"thing\", this is a form of insult. In English, an equivalent might be the phrase \"you worthless thing!\" So we can understand from the use of the word 东西 in this sentence that the protagonist really doesn\'t like the person he\'s speaking about. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n斧子 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\r\n邻居 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\r\n言行 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\r\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\r\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\r\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\r\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\r\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\r\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\r\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\r\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n有人丢失了一把<strong>斧子</strong>，怎么找也没有找到。后来他认为是<strong>邻居</strong>的儿子偷去了，他注意到邻居的孩子的<strong>言行</strong>，<strong>神情</strong>怎么看都象是一个小偷。于是他<strong>断定</strong>是那个孩子偷去了，心里还对说，“我早就看出那个<strong>家伙</strong>不是个好东西。”\r\n\r\n第二天，他上山<strong>砍柴</strong>时在一棵树边上发现了丢失的斧子。现在他才想起来，原来是前天忘记在这里了。他后悔随便的<strong>怀疑</strong>邻居的孩子。回家后，再看那个孩子的言行和神情，<strong>根本</strong>不象是偷东西的人。于是他又对说，“我早就想过，他不是那种偷东西的人。”　　 　　\r\n\r\n后来人们就用“失斧疑邻”形容主观臆造、<strong>胡乱</strong><strong>猜疑</strong>。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nThere once was a man who lost his axe, and though he searched all over for it he still couldn\'t find it. After a while he thought it must have been that the neighbor\'s son stole it, so he began to take note of the child\'s expressions, words and actions and thought they were all those of a thief. Thus, he concluded that it was the neighbor\'s kid that stole it, and in his heart he said, \"I always thought that guy was no good.\" \r\n\r\nOn the second day, when he went up the mountain to chop firewood and at the side of a tree he found his lost axe. Now he finally remembered that he\'d actually forgotten it there two days before. He regretted casually suspecting his neighbor\'s child. After he returned home, he took another look at the child\'s behavior, words and actions, and he didn\'t seem at all like a person who would steal anything. So he said, \"I\'ve always thought that [that kid] is not the kind of person who would steal\". 　 　　\r\n\r\nAfter this, people have used the phrase \"Lose the Axe and Suspect the Neighbor\" to describe inventing subjective feelings and careless suspicions. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Lose the Axe, Suspect the Neighbor', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1339-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-03-03 08:40:35', '2013-03-03 13:40:35', '', 1339, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/03/03/1339-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1349, 1, '2013-05-02 04:23:29', '2013-05-02 08:23:29', '[two_third]\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read.\n\nRebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most.  This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\n\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\n\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?)\n\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n斧子 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\n邻居 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\n言行 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚发下来的考卷，一边拖着沉重的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……\n\n前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很羡慕我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就从天堂降落到地狱。天啊！我竟然忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要給我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻松了一口气。\n\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一顿。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？”如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"到底怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\n\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\n\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\n\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said,\"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\n\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"super inquisitive dad\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\n\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\n\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-02 04:23:29', '2013-05-02 08:23:29', '', 1348, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/02/1348-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1350, 1, '2013-05-02 04:29:25', '2013-05-02 08:29:25', '[two_third]\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. \n\nRebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most.  This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\n\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\n\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese highschools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them. We also see that Rebecca\'s book spells \"A+\" as \"A*\". \n\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\n\n从 - From\n天堂 - Heaven\n降落到\n地狱 - Hell\n\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n发下来\n考卷 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\n沉重 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\n羡慕 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……\n\n前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我竟然忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要給我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻松了一口气。\n\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一顿。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？”如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"到底怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\n\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\n\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\n\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said,\"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\n\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"super inquisitive dad\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\n\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\n\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-02 04:29:25', '2013-05-02 08:29:25', '', 1348, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/02/1348-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1351, 1, '2013-05-02 04:32:26', '2013-05-02 08:32:26', '[two_third]\r\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. \r\n\r\nRebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most.  This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\r\n\r\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\r\n\r\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese highschools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them. We also see that Rebecca\'s book spells \"A+\" as \"A*\". \r\n\r\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\r\n\r\n从 - From\r\n天堂 - Heaven\r\n降落 - descend\r\n到 - to\r\n地狱 - Hell\r\n\r\nThis phrase means to \"have a sinking heart\" or to \"fall from joy to misery\". \r\n\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n发下来\r\n考卷 - [pinyin]fu3 zi5[/pinyin] - Axe\r\n沉重 - [pinyin]lin2 ju1[/pinyin] - Neighbor\r\n羡慕 - [pinyin]yan2 xing2[/pinyin] - Words and Actions\r\n神情 - [pinyin]shen2 qing2[/pinyin] - Look, expression\r\n断定 - [pinyin]duan4 ding4[/pinyin] - To conclude\r\n家伙 - [pinyin]jia1 huo5[/pinyin] - Guy, chap\r\n砍柴 - [pinyin]kan3 chai2[/pinyin] - Chop firewood\r\n怀疑 - [pinyin]huan2 yi2[/pinyin] - To doubt, to suspect\r\n根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - At all, in any way\r\n胡乱 - [pinyin]hu2 luan4[/pinyin] - Careless, reckless\r\n猜疑 - [pinyin]cai1 yi2[/pinyin] - Suspicious\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……\r\n\r\n前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我竟然忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要給我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻松了一口气。\r\n\r\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一顿。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？”如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"到底怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\r\n\r\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\r\n\r\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\r\n\r\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said,\"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\r\n\r\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"super inquisitive dad\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\r\n\r\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\r\n\r\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-02 04:32:26', '2013-05-02 08:32:26', '', 1348, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/02/1348-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1357, 1, '2013-05-13 05:31:30', '2013-05-13 09:31:30', '[two_third]\r\nI\'m not sure what stars aligned in the googley cosmos, but this is the second guest post I\'ve gotten this week. In this recipe post by blogger <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/waiguonv\">Rosie Zhao</a>, we learn how to make cake in a rice cooker (bless you, Rosie, bless you). This is particularly relevant if you live in China, the land of no ovens. You can find the original post, with delicious cake-filled pictures, <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_c0a10a4b0101mo4s.html\">here</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130513-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Simplified Mandarin Recipes\" title=\"Learning to Read Chinese Exercises: Chinese Rice Cooker Recipes with English Translations\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Rosie says: \"<strong><em>Since living in China I\'ve become more and more interested in learning to cook western food from scratch. I want to try to recreate some of my favorites from back home in the U.S. I am trying to post some recipes in both English and Chinese on my blog in hopes that other expats as well as Chinese locals will give them a try. This recipe is my own and translated into Chinese with the help of my husband.</em></strong>\"\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电饭煲 - [pinyin]dian4 fan4 bao1[/pinyin] - Rice cooker\r\n克 - [pinyin]ke4[/pinyin] - Gram\r\n毫升 - [pinyin]hao2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Milliliter\r\n室温的 - [pinyin]shi4 wen1 de5[/pinyin] - Room temperature\r\n捣碎 - [pinyin]dao3 sui4[/pinyin] - Mashed\r\n涂抹 - [pinyin]tu2 mo3[/pinyin] - Spread\r\n拌入 - [pinyin]ban4 ru4[/pinyin] - Stir in\r\n混合物 - [pinyin]hun4 he2 wu4[/pinyin] - Mixture\r\n跳闸 - [pinyin]tiao4 zha2[/pinyin] - Flips, switch\r\n牙签 - [pinyin]ya2 qian1[/pinyin] - Toothpick\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水果反转蛋糕 （使用电饭煲做的）\r\n份量：8\r\n\r\n准备材料\r\n水果（比如：草莓，芒果）250 克\r\n黄油（常温的）115克或者油180毫升*\r\n白糖180克\r\n鸡蛋2个\r\n牛奶180毫升\r\n香草精5毫升  （可选可不选）**\r\n自发粉125克\r\n苏打粉1茶匙\r\n盐1小撮\r\n\r\n制作方法\r\n准备：10分钟 | 制作：15分钟 | 额外时间：10 分钟, 放凉\r\n1. 把水果放在碗里。使用一把叉子捣碎水果做水果泥。我用的水果是草莓和芒果，其他的水果也可，比如：香蕉，菠萝等。\r\n2. 用刷子把电饭煲内壁底部轻上一层油。\r\n3. 把水果泥放在电饭煲底,均匀涂抹。\r\n4. 拿一中碗，拌入面粉、苏打粉和盐混合在一起。\r\n5. 另拿一大碗里把室温的黄油（或者油）和白糖混合一起。拌入鸡蛋搅拌。后拌入香草精和牛奶搅拌。\r\n6. 慢慢将面粉混合物加入以上混合物拌均。\r\n7. 把混合物倒入电饭煲。\r\n8. 按“煮饭”的开关。蛋糕要制作大约15分钟。如果在这个时候煮饭开关已经跳闸了请等几分钟然后再按“煮饭”的开关。继续制作直至蛋糕完成为止。\r\n9. 蛋糕制作好了以后需要用牙签测试一下是否已经熟了，插进去拔出来没有碎屑就代表熟了反之则不熟。\r\n10. 让蛋糕冷却10分钟。用塑料或木制的勺子把蛋糕轻轻的取出来。\r\n11. 最后用一个碟子盖着锅然后翻转，这样有水果的一面就在上面了。可以多加一些新鲜的水果在蛋糕上面。\r\n\r\n*不同的油有不同的味道。做蛋糕的话，我觉得植物油或葵花籽油是最好的。\r\n**很多西式甜点要求香草精。如果您经常想做西式布丁，蛋糕，饼干等您应该买一瓶，在淘宝能买到。\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\nUpside Down Cake (in a rice cooker)\r\n\r\nServings: 8\r\n\r\nIngredients:\r\n1 c fruit\r\n½ c softened butter OR 3/8 c oil\r\n¾ c white sugar\r\n2 eggs\r\n3/8 c milk\r\n1 tsp vanilla extract optional\r\n1 c flour\r\n1 tsp baking soda\r\npinch of salt\r\n\r\nDirections:\r\n\r\n1. Mash fruit in a bowl, using a fork. I used strawberries and mangoes, but feel free to experiment!\r\n2. Grease the bottom of your rice cooker with oil or butter.\r\n3. Spread fruit in bottom of greased rice cooker.\r\n4. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt.\r\n5. In a second bowl, cream butter (or oil) with sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla extract and milk and mix.\r\n6. Stir dry mixture into wet mixture. Stir until combined.\r\n7. Pour batter into rice cooker.\r\n8. Close cooker and press \'cook\' button. The cake will probably take about 15 minutes to cook but the \'cook\' button will change to \'keep\' before that. Just let it stay on \'keep\' for a few minutes and then hit \'cook\' again. Repeat if needed.\r\n9. Check cake with toothpick, it should come out clean.\r\n10. Let cool for 10 minutes. When done, loosen cake from sides of rice cooker with a plastic or wooden spoon (or spatula).\r\n11. Flip onto plate and serve. Top with fresh fruit if desired.\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rosie Zhao: Cake Without the Bake', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', '1357', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:01:12', '2016-10-31 07:01:12', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1357', 0, 'post', '', 3),
(1354, 1, '2013-05-06 04:34:20', '2013-05-06 08:34:20', '', '20130506-inline', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130506-inline', '', '', '2013-05-06 04:34:20', '2013-05-06 08:34:20', '', 1348, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130506-inline.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1353, 1, '2013-05-06 04:32:54', '2013-05-06 08:32:54', '', 'Learn Mandarin Chinese Characters: Practice Reading Simplified Chinese Character Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130506', '', '', '2013-05-06 04:32:54', '2013-05-06 08:32:54', '', 1348, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130506.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1355, 1, '2013-05-06 04:37:11', '2013-05-06 08:37:11', '[two_third]\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. <!--more-->\n\n<img class=\"imgborder alignleft\" title=\"20130506-inline\" src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130506-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Mandarin Chinese Characters: Practice Reading Simplified Chinese Character Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" />Rebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most. This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\n\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\n\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese highschools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them. We also see that Rebecca\'s book spells \"A+\" as \"A*\".\n\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\n\n从 - From\n天堂 - Heaven\n降落 - descend\n到 - to\n地狱 - Hell\n\nThis phrase means to \"have a sinking heart\" or to \"fall from joy to misery\".\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n发下来 - [pinyin]fa1 xia4 lai5[/pinyin] - To pass out (papers), hand back (homework)\n考卷 - [pinyin]kao3 juan4[/pinyin] - Exam paper\n沉重 - [pinyin]chen2 zhong4[/pinyin] - Hard, serious\n羡慕 - [pinyin]xian4 mu4[/pinyin] - To envy\n竟然 - [pinyin]jing4 ran2[/pinyin] - Unexpectedly\n松了一口气 - [pinyin]song1 le yi1 kou3 qi4[/pinyin] - Let out a sigh (usually of relief) \n顿 - [pinyin]dun4[/pinyin] - Classifier for a period of time when a beating, scolding or critique takes place\n到底 - [pinyin]dao4 di3[/pinyin] - When all is said and done\n\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我<strong>竟然</strong>忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要給我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻<strong>松了一口气</strong>。\n\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一<strong>顿</strong>。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？” 如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"<strong>到底</strong>怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\n\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\n\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\n\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said, \"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\n\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"dad of ten-thousand questions\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\n\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\n\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-06 04:37:11', '2013-05-06 08:37:11', '', 1348, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/06/1348-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1356, 1, '2013-05-06 04:37:53', '2013-05-06 08:37:53', '[two_third]\r\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img class=\"imgborder alignleft\" title=\"20130506-inline\" src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130506-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Mandarin Chinese Characters: Practice Reading Simplified Chinese Character Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" />Rebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most. This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\r\n\r\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\r\n\r\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese highschools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them. We also see that Rebecca\'s book spells \"A+\" as \"A*\".\r\n\r\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\r\n\r\n从 - From\r\n天堂 - Heaven\r\n降落 - descend\r\n到 - to\r\n地狱 - Hell\r\n\r\nThis phrase means to \"have a sinking heart\" or to \"fall from joy to misery\".\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n发下来 - [pinyin]fa1 xia4 lai5[/pinyin] - To pass out (papers), hand back (homework)\r\n考卷 - [pinyin]kao3 juan4[/pinyin] - Exam paper\r\n沉重 - [pinyin]chen2 zhong4[/pinyin] - Hard, serious\r\n羡慕 - [pinyin]xian4 mu4[/pinyin] - To envy\r\n竟然 - [pinyin]jing4 ran2[/pinyin] - Unexpectedly\r\n松了一口气 - [pinyin]song1 le yi1 kou3 qi4[/pinyin] - Let out a sigh (usually of relief) \r\n顿 - [pinyin]dun4[/pinyin] - Classifier for a period of time when a beating, scolding or critique takes place\r\n到底 - [pinyin]dao4 di3[/pinyin] - When all is said and done\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我<strong>竟然</strong>忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要給我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻<strong>松了一口气</strong>。\r\n\r\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一<strong>顿</strong>。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？” 如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"<strong>到底</strong>怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\r\n\r\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\r\n\r\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\r\n\r\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said, \"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\r\n\r\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"dad of ten-thousand questions\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\r\n\r\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\r\n\r\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-06 04:37:53', '2013-05-06 08:37:53', '', 1348, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/06/1348-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1358, 1, '2013-05-13 05:28:46', '2013-05-13 09:28:46', '', 'Learning to Read Chinese Exercises: Chinese Rice Cooker Recipes with English Translations', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130513', '', '', '2013-05-13 05:28:46', '2013-05-13 09:28:46', '', 1357, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130513.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1359, 1, '2013-05-13 05:30:57', '2013-05-13 09:30:57', '', '20130513-INLINE', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130513-inline', '', '', '2013-05-13 05:30:57', '2013-05-13 09:30:57', '', 1357, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130513-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1360, 1, '2013-05-13 05:26:48', '2013-05-13 09:26:48', '[two_third]\nI\'m not sure what stars aligned in the googley cosmos, but this is the second guest post I\'ve gotten this week. In this recipe post by blogger <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/waiguonv\">Rosie Zhao</a>, we learn how to make cake in a rice cooker (bless you, Rosie, bless you). This is particularly relevant if you live in China, the land of no ovens. You can find the original post, with delicious cake-filled pictures, <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_c0a10a4b0101mo4s.html\">here</a>. \n\nRosie says: \"<strong><em>Since living in China I\'ve become more and more interested in learning to cook western food from scratch. I want to try to recreate some of my favorites from back home in the U.S. I am trying to post some recipes in both English and Chinese on my blog in hopes that other expats as well as Chinese locals will give them a try. This recipe is my own and translated into Chinese with the help of my husband.</em></strong>\"\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n电饭煲 - [pinyin]dian4 fan4 bao1[/pinyin] - Rice cooker\n克 - [pinyin]ke4[/pinyin] - Gram\n毫升 - [pinyin]hao2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Milliliter\n室温的 - [pinyin]shi4 wen1 de5[/pinyin] - Room temperature\n捣碎 - [pinyin]dao3 sui4[/pinyin] - Mashed\n涂抹 - [pinyin]tu2 mo3[/pinyin] - Spread\n拌入 - [pinyin]ban4 ru4[/pinyin] - Stir in\n混合物 - [pinyin]hun4 he2 wu4[/pinyin] - Mixture\n跳闸 - [pinyin]tiao4 zha2[/pinyin] - Flips, switch\n牙签 - [pinyin]ya2 qian1[/pinyin] - Toothpick\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n水果反转蛋糕 （使用电饭煲做的）\n份量：8\n\n准备材料\n水果（比如：草莓，芒果）250 克\n黄油（常温的）115克或者油180毫升*\n白糖180克\n鸡蛋2个\n牛奶180毫升\n香草精5毫升  （可选可不选）**\n自发粉125克\n苏打粉1茶匙\n盐1小撮\n\n制作方法\n准备：10分钟 | 制作：15分钟 | 额外时间：10 分钟, 放凉\n1. 把水果放在碗里。使用一把叉子捣碎水果做水果泥。我用的水果是草莓和芒果，其他的水果也可，比如：香蕉，菠萝等。\n2. 用刷子把电饭煲内壁底部轻上一层油。\n3. 把水果泥放在电饭煲底,均匀涂抹。\n4. 拿一中碗，拌入面粉、苏打粉和盐混合在一起。\n5. 另拿一大碗里把室温的黄油（或者油）和白糖混合一起。拌入鸡蛋搅拌。后拌入香草精和牛奶搅拌。\n6. 慢慢将面粉混合物加入以上混合物拌均。\n7. 把混合物倒入电饭煲。\n8. 按“煮饭”的开关。蛋糕要制作大约15分钟。如果在这个时候煮饭开关已经跳闸了请等几分钟然后再按“煮饭”的开关。继续制作直至蛋糕完成为止。\n9. 蛋糕制作好了以后需要用牙签测试一下是否已经熟了，插进去拔出来没有碎屑就代表熟了反之则不熟。\n10. 让蛋糕冷却10分钟。用塑料或木制的勺子把蛋糕轻轻的取出来。\n11. 最后用一个碟子盖着锅然后翻转，这样有水果的一面就在上面了。可以多加一些新鲜的水果在蛋糕上面。\n\n*不同的油有不同的味道。做蛋糕的话，我觉得植物油或葵花籽油是最好的。\n**很多西式甜点要求香草精。如果您经常想做西式布丁，蛋糕，饼干等您应该买一瓶，在淘宝能买到。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nUpside Down Cake (in a rice cooker)\n\nServings: 8\n\nIngredients:\n1 c fruit\n½ c softened butter OR 3/8 c oil\n¾ c white sugar\n2 eggs\n3/8 c milk\n1 tsp vanilla extract optional\n1 c flour\n1 tsp baking soda\npinch of salt\n\nDirections:\n\n1. Mash fruit in a bowl, using a fork. I used strawberries and mangoes, but feel free to experiment!\n2. Grease the bottom of your rice cooker with oil or butter.\n3. Spread fruit in bottom of greased rice cooker.\n4. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt.\n5. In a second bowl, cream butter (or oil) with sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla extract and milk and mix.\n6. Stir dry mixture into wet mixture. Stir until combined.\n7. Pour batter into rice cooker.\n8. Close cooker and press \'cook\' button. The cake will probably take about 15 minutes to cook but the \'cook\' button will change to \'keep\' before that. Just let it stay on \'keep\' for a few minutes and then hit \'cook\' again. Repeat if needed.\n9. Check cake with toothpick, it should come out clean.\n10. Let cool for 10 minutes. When done, loosen cake from sides of rice cooker with a plastic or wooden spoon (or spatula).\n11. Flip onto plate and serve. Top with fresh fruit if desired.\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Recipe Guest Post by Rosie Zhao: Cake without the Bake (Upside Down Cake in a Rice Cooker)', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1357-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-13 05:26:48', '2013-05-13 09:26:48', '', 1357, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/13/1357-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1361, 1, '2013-05-13 05:31:30', '2013-05-13 09:31:30', '[two_third]\r\nI\'m not sure what stars aligned in the googley cosmos, but this is the second guest post I\'ve gotten this week. In this recipe post by blogger <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/waiguonv\">Rosie Zhao</a>, we learn how to make cake in a rice cooker (bless you, Rosie, bless you). This is particularly relevant if you live in China, the land of no ovens. You can find the original post, with delicious cake-filled pictures, <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_c0a10a4b0101mo4s.html\">here</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130513-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Simplified Mandarin Recipes\" title=\"Learning to Read Chinese Exercises: Chinese Rice Cooker Recipes with English Translations\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Rosie says: \"<strong><em>Since living in China I\'ve become more and more interested in learning to cook western food from scratch. I want to try to recreate some of my favorites from back home in the U.S. I am trying to post some recipes in both English and Chinese on my blog in hopes that other expats as well as Chinese locals will give them a try. This recipe is my own and translated into Chinese with the help of my husband.</em></strong>\"\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电饭煲 - [pinyin]dian4 fan4 bao1[/pinyin] - Rice cooker\r\n克 - [pinyin]ke4[/pinyin] - Gram\r\n毫升 - [pinyin]hao2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Milliliter\r\n室温的 - [pinyin]shi4 wen1 de5[/pinyin] - Room temperature\r\n捣碎 - [pinyin]dao3 sui4[/pinyin] - Mashed\r\n涂抹 - [pinyin]tu2 mo3[/pinyin] - Spread\r\n拌入 - [pinyin]ban4 ru4[/pinyin] - Stir in\r\n混合物 - [pinyin]hun4 he2 wu4[/pinyin] - Mixture\r\n跳闸 - [pinyin]tiao4 zha2[/pinyin] - Flips, switch\r\n牙签 - [pinyin]ya2 qian1[/pinyin] - Toothpick\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水果反转蛋糕 （使用电饭煲做的）\r\n份量：8\r\n\r\n准备材料\r\n水果（比如：草莓，芒果）250 克\r\n黄油（常温的）115克或者油180毫升*\r\n白糖180克\r\n鸡蛋2个\r\n牛奶180毫升\r\n香草精5毫升  （可选可不选）**\r\n自发粉125克\r\n苏打粉1茶匙\r\n盐1小撮\r\n\r\n制作方法\r\n准备：10分钟 | 制作：15分钟 | 额外时间：10 分钟, 放凉\r\n1. 把水果放在碗里。使用一把叉子捣碎水果做水果泥。我用的水果是草莓和芒果，其他的水果也可，比如：香蕉，菠萝等。\r\n2. 用刷子把电饭煲内壁底部轻上一层油。\r\n3. 把水果泥放在电饭煲底,均匀涂抹。\r\n4. 拿一中碗，拌入面粉、苏打粉和盐混合在一起。\r\n5. 另拿一大碗里把室温的黄油（或者油）和白糖混合一起。拌入鸡蛋搅拌。后拌入香草精和牛奶搅拌。\r\n6. 慢慢将面粉混合物加入以上混合物拌均。\r\n7. 把混合物倒入电饭煲。\r\n8. 按“煮饭”的开关。蛋糕要制作大约15分钟。如果在这个时候煮饭开关已经跳闸了请等几分钟然后再按“煮饭”的开关。继续制作直至蛋糕完成为止。\r\n9. 蛋糕制作好了以后需要用牙签测试一下是否已经熟了，插进去拔出来没有碎屑就代表熟了反之则不熟。\r\n10. 让蛋糕冷却10分钟。用塑料或木制的勺子把蛋糕轻轻的取出来。\r\n11. 最后用一个碟子盖着锅然后翻转，这样有水果的一面就在上面了。可以多加一些新鲜的水果在蛋糕上面。\r\n\r\n*不同的油有不同的味道。做蛋糕的话，我觉得植物油或葵花籽油是最好的。\r\n**很多西式甜点要求香草精。如果您经常想做西式布丁，蛋糕，饼干等您应该买一瓶，在淘宝能买到。\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\nUpside Down Cake (in a rice cooker)\r\n\r\nServings: 8\r\n\r\nIngredients:\r\n1 c fruit\r\n½ c softened butter OR 3/8 c oil\r\n¾ c white sugar\r\n2 eggs\r\n3/8 c milk\r\n1 tsp vanilla extract optional\r\n1 c flour\r\n1 tsp baking soda\r\npinch of salt\r\n\r\nDirections:\r\n\r\n1. Mash fruit in a bowl, using a fork. I used strawberries and mangoes, but feel free to experiment!\r\n2. Grease the bottom of your rice cooker with oil or butter.\r\n3. Spread fruit in bottom of greased rice cooker.\r\n4. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt.\r\n5. In a second bowl, cream butter (or oil) with sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla extract and milk and mix.\r\n6. Stir dry mixture into wet mixture. Stir until combined.\r\n7. Pour batter into rice cooker.\r\n8. Close cooker and press \'cook\' button. The cake will probably take about 15 minutes to cook but the \'cook\' button will change to \'keep\' before that. Just let it stay on \'keep\' for a few minutes and then hit \'cook\' again. Repeat if needed.\r\n9. Check cake with toothpick, it should come out clean.\r\n10. Let cool for 10 minutes. When done, loosen cake from sides of rice cooker with a plastic or wooden spoon (or spatula).\r\n11. Flip onto plate and serve. Top with fresh fruit if desired.\r\n[/hide-this-part]', '', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1357-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-13 05:31:30', '2013-05-13 09:31:30', '', 1357, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/13/1357-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1401, 1, '2013-06-16 08:00:14', '2013-06-16 12:00:14', 'Eeps - bad medicine! In this story, the mischievous Monkey - always a trickster figure in Chinese stories - pulls the wool over Little Bear\'s eyes. If Little Bear was American, he\'d sue the hospital for negligence and rake in millions of baskets of peaches. Though the majority of this text is very basic reading, there are three phrases which jump out at me as being difficult, or words I couldn\'t find in basic dictionaries. \r\n\r\n理所应当 - [pinyin]li3 suo3 ying1 dang1[/pinyin] This phrase means to feel something is well-deserved, that something has been earned through hard work, usually when it actually hasn\'t. So I guess that roughly translates to \'taking a reward for granted\'? In this story, Monkey feels that his payment is well-earned or well-deserved. But as readers, we know Monkey doesn\'t deserve anything at all - he\'s taking that payment for granted when he didn\'t really earn it. Consider this phrase in another context:\r\n\r\n别人帮助你那是义气，你不能当作是理所应当的。 - \"When other people help you it\'s in the spirit of self-sacrifice, you shouldn\'t consider this something you deserve as a matter of course.\"  \r\n\r\n甜头 - Though this looks like two words, the first meaning \"sweet\" and the second meaning \"head\" or \"brain\", it\'s actually a colloquialism that just means \"sweet flavor\" or \"pleasant taste\".  \r\n\r\n贪念 - These two characters also seem separate, they don\'t appear together in my dictionary, but they\'re actually one word. According to <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/view/3187101.htm\">Baidu Bai Ke</a>, the Baidu dictionary (a Chinese-language resource for word meanings and derivations), 贪念 [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] just means \"greedy\" (I presume the \"念\" probably adds the meaning \"idea\" or \"thoughts\" here, so 贪念 could be read as \"greedy thoughts\"). \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/yuyangushi/2012-10-06/26930.html\">You can read the original here.</a> \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 猴子去医院<strong>玩耍</strong>,进了大夫的房间。正好大夫不在,衣服也落在了房间内。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 猴子觉得好玩,就穿上了大夫的衣服,也就是我们常见的那种<strong>白大褂子</strong>。这时候有一只小熊来医院<strong>看病</strong>。小熊是第一次上医院,并不了解医院的情况。它所知道的,就是大夫们都穿着白大褂子。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 小熊提着一篮桃子(这是它准备送给大夫的<strong>酬金</strong>)来到医院,正好走进猴子所在的房间。小熊不认识猴子,但是它认识那件白大褂子,于是就请猴子给它看病。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 猴子本来只是玩耍,并不会看病,但是它看到小熊的篮子后,就起了<strong>贪念</strong>。于是猴子便<strong>装模作样</strong>地给小熊看了病,并且<strong>理所应当地</strong>收下了那篮桃子。至于小熊的病是否给猴子看好了,这一点<strong>不得而知</strong>。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 但是猴子却尝到了甜头,以后常常<strong>潜入</strong>医院,趁大夫不在的时候,穿上大夫的衣服,给病人看病。到后来,猴子<strong>干脆</strong>给自己也做了一身那样的白大褂子。\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 唉!我们不知道有多少人是在猴子那里看的病啊!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<strong>1)</strong> Monkey went to the hospital on a lark, and entered the doctor\'s room. At that moment, the doctor wasn\'t in, and he\'d left his [doctor\'s] clothes in the room.\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> Monkey thought this would be fun, so he put on the doctor\'s clothes, that white lab coat we see so often. Just then a little bear came to the hospital to see the doctor. This was the little bear\'s first time at the hospital, and he didn\'t know what hospitals were like [lit: didn\'t know the hospital situation]. All he knew was that doctors wear white lab coats. \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> The little bear had shown up at the hospital carrying a basket of peaches (this was the payment he had prepared to give to the doctor), and he happened to walk into the room where Monkey was. Little Bear didn\'t know Monkey, but he recognized the white lab coat, so he asked Monkey to examine him.\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> Monkey originally just [intended to] have a bit of fun, but when he saw Little Bear\'s basket, he coveted it fiercely. So Monkey put on a big show of examining Little Bear, and accepted his well-earned basket of peaches. As to whether or not Monkey actually cured Little Bear, we will never know. \r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> However, after Monkey tasted that sweetness, he often stole into the hospital, taking advantage of the doctor\'s absence, and examined patients. Later, Monkey simply made himself one of those white lab coats. \r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> Ai! We don\'t know how many people were examined by Monkey!\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Short Stories] 大夫和猴子 - The Doctor and the Monkey', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'the-doctor-and-the-monkey', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:26:40', '2016-11-04 10:26:40', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1401', 0, 'post', '', 36),
(2052, 1, '2016-11-04 06:26:40', '2016-11-04 10:26:40', 'Eeps - bad medicine! In this story, the mischievous Monkey - always a trickster figure in Chinese stories - pulls the wool over Little Bear\'s eyes. If Little Bear was American, he\'d sue the hospital for negligence and rake in millions of baskets of peaches. Though the majority of this text is very basic reading, there are three phrases which jump out at me as being difficult, or words I couldn\'t find in basic dictionaries. \r\n\r\n理所应当 - [pinyin]li3 suo3 ying1 dang1[/pinyin] This phrase means to feel something is well-deserved, that something has been earned through hard work, usually when it actually hasn\'t. So I guess that roughly translates to \'taking a reward for granted\'? In this story, Monkey feels that his payment is well-earned or well-deserved. But as readers, we know Monkey doesn\'t deserve anything at all - he\'s taking that payment for granted when he didn\'t really earn it. Consider this phrase in another context:\r\n\r\n别人帮助你那是义气，你不能当作是理所应当的。 - \"When other people help you it\'s in the spirit of self-sacrifice, you shouldn\'t consider this something you deserve as a matter of course.\"  \r\n\r\n甜头 - Though this looks like two words, the first meaning \"sweet\" and the second meaning \"head\" or \"brain\", it\'s actually a colloquialism that just means \"sweet flavor\" or \"pleasant taste\".  \r\n\r\n贪念 - These two characters also seem separate, they don\'t appear together in my dictionary, but they\'re actually one word. According to <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/view/3187101.htm\">Baidu Bai Ke</a>, the Baidu dictionary (a Chinese-language resource for word meanings and derivations), 贪念 [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] just means \"greedy\" (I presume the \"念\" probably adds the meaning \"idea\" or \"thoughts\" here, so 贪念 could be read as \"greedy thoughts\"). \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/yuyangushi/2012-10-06/26930.html\">You can read the original here.</a> \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 猴子去医院<strong>玩耍</strong>,进了大夫的房间。正好大夫不在,衣服也落在了房间内。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 猴子觉得好玩,就穿上了大夫的衣服,也就是我们常见的那种<strong>白大褂子</strong>。这时候有一只小熊来医院<strong>看病</strong>。小熊是第一次上医院,并不了解医院的情况。它所知道的,就是大夫们都穿着白大褂子。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 小熊提着一篮桃子(这是它准备送给大夫的<strong>酬金</strong>)来到医院,正好走进猴子所在的房间。小熊不认识猴子,但是它认识那件白大褂子,于是就请猴子给它看病。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 猴子本来只是玩耍,并不会看病,但是它看到小熊的篮子后,就起了<strong>贪念</strong>。于是猴子便<strong>装模作样</strong>地给小熊看了病,并且<strong>理所应当地</strong>收下了那篮桃子。至于小熊的病是否给猴子看好了,这一点<strong>不得而知</strong>。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 但是猴子却尝到了甜头,以后常常<strong>潜入</strong>医院,趁大夫不在的时候,穿上大夫的衣服,给病人看病。到后来,猴子<strong>干脆</strong>给自己也做了一身那样的白大褂子。\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 唉!我们不知道有多少人是在猴子那里看的病啊!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<strong>1)</strong> Monkey went to the hospital on a lark, and entered the doctor\'s room. At that moment, the doctor wasn\'t in, and he\'d left his [doctor\'s] clothes in the room.\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> Monkey thought this would be fun, so he put on the doctor\'s clothes, that white lab coat we see so often. Just then a little bear came to the hospital to see the doctor. This was the little bear\'s first time at the hospital, and he didn\'t know what hospitals were like [lit: didn\'t know the hospital situation]. All he knew was that doctors wear white lab coats. \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> The little bear had shown up at the hospital carrying a basket of peaches (this was the payment he had prepared to give to the doctor), and he happened to walk into the room where Monkey was. Little Bear didn\'t know Monkey, but he recognized the white lab coat, so he asked Monkey to examine him.\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> Monkey originally just [intended to] have a bit of fun, but when he saw Little Bear\'s basket, he coveted it fiercely. So Monkey put on a big show of examining Little Bear, and accepted his well-earned basket of peaches. As to whether or not Monkey actually cured Little Bear, we will never know. \r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> However, after Monkey tasted that sweetness, he often stole into the hospital, taking advantage of the doctor\'s absence, and examined patients. Later, Monkey simply made himself one of those white lab coats. \r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> Ai! We don\'t know how many people were examined by Monkey!\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Short Stories] 大夫和猴子 - The Doctor and the Monkey', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1401-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:26:40', '2016-11-04 10:26:40', '', 1401, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1401-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1742, 1, '2016-10-31 03:29:34', '2016-10-31 07:29:34', 'Eeps - bad medicine! In this story, the mischievous Monkey - always a trickster figure in Chinese stories - pulls the wool over Little Bear\'s eyes. If Little Bear was American, he\'d sue the hospital for negligence and rake in millions of baskets of peaches. \r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130617-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Read Chinese: Bedtime Stories in Mandarin Chinese Characters\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Though the majority of this text is very basic reading, there are three phrases which jump out at me as being difficult, or words I couldn\'t find in basic dictionaries. \r\n\r\n理所应当 - [pinyin]li3 suo3 ying1 dang1[/pinyin] This phrase means to feel something is well-deserved, that something has been earned through hard work, usually when it actually hasn\'t. So I guess that roughly translates to \'taking a reward for granted\'? In this story, Monkey feels that his payment is well-earned or well-deserved. But as readers, we know Monkey doesn\'t deserve anything at all - he\'s taking that payment for granted when he didn\'t really earn it. Consider this phrase in another context:\r\n\r\n别人帮助你那是义气，你不能当作是理所应当的。 - \"When other people help you it\'s in the spirit of self-sacrifice, you shouldn\'t consider this something you deserve as a matter of course.\"  \r\n\r\n甜头 - Though this looks like two words, the first meaning \"sweet\" and the second meaning \"head\" or \"brain\", it\'s actually a colloquialism that just means \"sweet flavor\" or \"pleasant taste\".  \r\n\r\n贪念 - These two characters also seem separate, they don\'t appear together in my dictionary, but they\'re actually one word. According to <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/view/3187101.htm\">Baidu Bai Ke</a>, the Baidu dictionary (a Chinese-language resource for word meanings and derivations), 贪念 [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] just means \"greedy\" (I presume the \"念\" probably adds the meaning \"idea\" or \"thoughts\" here, so 贪念 could be read as \"greedy thoughts\"). \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/yuyangushi/2012-10-06/26930.html\">You can read the original here.</a> \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 猴子去医院<strong>玩耍</strong>,进了大夫的房间。正好大夫不在,衣服也落在了房间内。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 猴子觉得好玩,就穿上了大夫的衣服,也就是我们常见的那种<strong>白大褂子</strong>。这时候有一只小熊来医院<strong>看病</strong>。小熊是第一次上医院,并不了解医院的情况。它所知道的,就是大夫们都穿着白大褂子。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 小熊提着一篮桃子(这是它准备送给大夫的<strong>酬金</strong>)来到医院,正好走进猴子所在的房间。小熊不认识猴子,但是它认识那件白大褂子,于是就请猴子给它看病。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 猴子本来只是玩耍,并不会看病,但是它看到小熊的篮子后,就起了<strong>贪念</strong>。于是猴子便<strong>装模作样</strong>地给小熊看了病,并且<strong>理所应当地</strong>收下了那篮桃子。至于小熊的病是否给猴子看好了,这一点<strong>不得而知</strong>。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 但是猴子却尝到了甜头,以后常常<strong>潜入</strong>医院,趁大夫不在的时候,穿上大夫的衣服,给病人看病。到后来,猴子<strong>干脆</strong>给自己也做了一身那样的白大褂子。\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 唉!我们不知道有多少人是在猴子那里看的病啊!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<strong>1)</strong> Monkey went to the hospital on a lark, and entered the doctor\'s room. At that moment, the doctor wasn\'t in, and he\'d left his [doctor\'s] clothes in the room.\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> Monkey thought this would be fun, so he put on the doctor\'s clothes, that white lab coat we see so often. Just then a little bear came to the hospital to see the doctor. This was the little bear\'s first time at the hospital, and he didn\'t know what hospitals were like [lit: didn\'t know the hospital situation]. All he knew was that doctors wear white lab coats. \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> The little bear had shown up at the hospital carrying a basket of peaches (this was the payment he had prepared to give to the doctor), and he happened to walk into the room where Monkey was. Little Bear didn\'t know Monkey, but he recognized the white lab coat, so he asked Monkey to examine him.\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> Monkey originally just [intended to] have a bit of fun, but when he saw Little Bear\'s basket, he coveted it fiercely. So Monkey put on a big show of examining Little Bear, and accepted his well-earned basket of peaches. As to whether or not Monkey actually cured Little Bear, we will never know. \r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> However, after Monkey tasted that sweetness, he often stole into the hospital, taking advantage of the doctor\'s absence, and examined patients. Later, Monkey simply made himself one of those white lab coats. \r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> Ai! We don\'t know how many people were examined by Monkey!\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] 大夫和猴子 - The Doctor and the Monkey', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1401-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:29:34', '2016-10-31 07:29:34', '', 1401, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1401-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1363, 1, '2013-05-21 11:12:41', '2013-05-21 15:12:41', 'Father\'s Day\'s coming up in a few weeks, and we\'ll be looking at the lyrics of a beginner-level saccharine-cute song written for children to sing to their dads (or, for the children of the digital generation, to forward to their dads) on their special day. This post is accompanied by a Flash Father\'s Day video where you can listen to the song on an INFINITE LOOP. Lucky you. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nHere\'s the original video with the actual song. <a href=\"http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1\" target=\"_blank\">http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1</a>, have a listen if you dare. \r\n\r\nBecause this is a song, we have a couple of instances where a similar sentence structure is used with different words - these are probably the hardest sentences in the song. Example: 脏活累活他全包了. First, let me break down this sentence: \r\n\r\n脏 - Dirty\r\n活 - Activity, work\r\n累 - Tired\r\n活 - Activity, work\r\n他 - He\r\n全包 - All included\r\n了 - (grammar word)\r\n\r\nWhat? Dirty activity tired activity he all included?! What the heck does that mean? In proper English, we might translate that as \"Dirty work, Tired work, he does it all!\" We are, of course, talking about our amazing dads and all the thanklessly exhausting housework and job work they do. Thing is, there\'s nowhere in this sentence where the verb \"does\" as in \"to do work\" actually appears. We\'re just expected to infer the word from the context of 全包 - \"all included\". \r\n\r\nWe see the same sentence structure later in the song: 剩菜剩饭他全包了. The breakdown: \r\n\r\n剩 - Leftover\r\n菜 - Vegetables\r\n剩 - Leftover\r\n饭 - Rice\r\n他 - He \r\n全包 - All included\r\n了 (grammar word). \r\n\r\nOnce again, that strange \"all included\" - we are again expected to infer the verb here. Any guesses? The sentence means \"Leftover Vegetables, Leftover Rice, he eats it all!\" or \"He eats all the leftovers!\" So the missing word we kinda have to mentally fill in is \"eats\". \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\r\n爸爸的力气真不小\r\n做得多说得少\r\n脏活累活他全包了\r\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\r\n爸爸的肚量真不小\r\n挣得多花得少\r\n剩菜剩饭他全包了\r\n挣得多花得少\r\n剩菜剩饭他全包了\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last]\r\n[hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDad\'s the best, Dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best!\r\nDad\'s really got no shortage of strength \r\nHe does a lot but speaks little\r\nHe does all the dirty and tired work.\r\nDad\'s the best, dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best! \r\nDad\'s really got no shortage of generosity\r\nHe earns a lot but spends little\r\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \r\nHe earns a lot but spends little \r\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \r\n[/hide-this-part]\r\n[/one_half]', '[Chinese Children\'s Songs] 爸爸好 - Baba Hao, a Song for Father\'s Day', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'lyrics-baba-hao-a-song-for-fathers-day', '', '', '2016-11-18 19:25:09', '2016-11-19 00:25:09', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1363', 0, 'post', '', 7),
(1719, 1, '2016-10-31 03:05:11', '2016-10-31 07:05:11', 'Father\'s Day\'s coming up in a few weeks, and we\'ll be looking at the lyrics of a beginner-level saccharine-cute song written for children to sing to their dads (or, for the children of the digital generation, to forward to their dads) on their special day. This post is accompanied by a Flash Father\'s Day video where you can listen to the song on an INFINITE LOOP. Lucky you. <!--more-->\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130521-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Drills for Learning to Read Mandarin Characters\" title=\"Reading in Simplified Chinese: Easy Exercises for Language Study\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />\r\nHere\'s the original video with the actual song. <a href=\"http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1\" target=\"_blank\">http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1</a>, have a listen if you dare. \r\n\r\nBecause this is a song, we have a couple of instances where a similar sentence structure is used with different words - these are probably the hardest sentences in the song. Example: 脏活累活他全包了. First, let me break down this sentence: \r\n\r\n脏 - Dirty\r\n活 - Activity, work\r\n累 - Tired\r\n活 - Activity, work\r\n他 - He\r\n全包 - All included\r\n了 - (grammar word)\r\n\r\nWhat? Dirty activity tired activity he all included?! What the heck does that mean? In proper English, we might translate that as \"Dirty work, Tired work, he does it all!\" We are, of course, talking about our amazing dads and all the thanklessly exhausting housework and job work they do. Thing is, there\'s nowhere in this sentence where the verb \"does\" as in \"to do work\" actually appears. We\'re just expected to infer the word from the context of 全包 - \"all included\". \r\n\r\nWe see the same sentence structure later in the song: 剩菜剩饭他全包了. The breakdown: \r\n\r\n剩 - Leftover\r\n菜 - Vegetables\r\n剩 - Leftover\r\n饭 - Rice\r\n他 - He \r\n全包 - All included\r\n了 (grammar word). \r\n\r\nOnce again, that strange \"all included\" - we are again expected to infer the verb here. Any guesses? The sentence means \"Leftover Vegetables, Leftover Rice, he eats it all!\" or \"He eats all the leftovers!\" So the missing word we kinda have to mentally fill in is \"eats\". \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\r\n爸爸的<strong>力气</strong>真不小\r\n做得多说得少\r\n<strong>脏活</strong><strong>累活</strong>他全包了\r\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\r\n爸爸的<strong>肚量</strong>真不小\r\n<strong>挣</strong>得多<strong>花</strong>得少\r\n<strong>剩</strong>菜剩饭他全包了\r\n挣得多花得少\r\n剩菜剩饭他全包了\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDad\'s the best, Dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best!\r\nDad\'s really got no shortage of strength \r\nHe does a lot but speaks little\r\nHe does all the dirty and tired work.\r\nDad\'s the best, dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best! \r\nDad\'s really got no shortage of generosity\r\nHe earns a lot but spends little\r\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \r\nHe earns a lot but spends little \r\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Lyrics: Baba Hao, a Song for Father\'s Day', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1363-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:05:11', '2016-10-31 07:05:11', '', 1363, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1363-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1364, 1, '2013-05-21 11:09:51', '2013-05-21 15:09:51', '', 'Reading in Simplified Chinese: Easy Exercises for Language Study', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130521-inline', '', '', '2013-05-21 11:09:51', '2013-05-21 15:09:51', '', 1363, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130521-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1365, 1, '2013-05-21 11:09:52', '2013-05-21 15:09:52', '', 'Reading in Simplified Chinese: Easy Exercises for Language Study', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130521', '', '', '2013-05-21 11:09:52', '2013-05-21 15:09:52', '', 1363, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130521.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1366, 1, '2013-05-21 11:05:02', '2013-05-21 15:05:02', '[two_third]\nFather\'s Day\'s coming up in a few weeks, and we\'ll be looking at the lyrics of a beginner-level saccharine-cute song written for children to sing to their dads (or, for the children of the digital generation, to forward to their dads) on their special day. This post is accompanied by a Flash Father\'s Day video where you can listen to the song on an INFINITE LOOP. Lucky you. <!--more-->\n\nHere\'s the original video with the actual song. <a href=\"http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1\">http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1</a>, have a listen if you dare. \n\nBecause this is a song, we have a couple of instances where a similar sentence structure is used with different words - these are probably the hardest sentences in the song. Example: 脏活累活他全包了. First, let me break down this sentence: \n\n脏 - Dirty\n活 - Activity, work\n累 - Tired\n活 - Activity, work\n他 - He\n全包 - All included\n了 - (grammar word)\n\nWhat? Dirty activity tired activity he all included?! What the heck does that mean? In proper English, we might translate that as \"Dirty work, Tired work, he does it all!\" We are, of course, talking about our amazing dads and all the thanklessly exhausting housework and job work they do. Thing is, there\'s nowhere in this sentence where the verb \"does\" as in \"to do work\" actually appears. We\'re just expected to infer the word from the context of 全包 - \"all included\". \n\nWe see the same sentence structure later in the song: 剩菜剩饭他全包了. The breakdown: \n\n剩 - Leftover\n菜 - Vegetables\n剩 - Leftover\n饭 - Rice\n他 - He \n全包 - All included\n了 (grammar word). \n\nOnce again, that strange \"all included\" - we are again expected to infer the verb here. Any guesses? The sentence means \"Leftover Vegetables, Leftover Rice, he eats it all!\" or \"He eats all the leftovers!\" So the missing word we kinda have to mentally fill in is \"eats\". \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n力气 - [pinyin]li4 qi4[/pinyin] - Strength\n脏活 - [pinyin]zang4 huo2[/pinyin] - Dirty work\n累活 - [pinyin]lei4 huo2[/pinyin] - Exhausting work\n肚量 - [pinyin]du4 liang4[/pinyin] - Generosity\n挣 - [pinyin]zheng1[/pinyin] - Earn (usually money)\n花 - [pinyin]hua1[/pinyin] - Spend (money)\n剩 - [pinyin]sheng4[/pinyin] - Surplus, leftover\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\n爸爸的<strong>力气</strong>真不小\n做得多说得少\n<strong>脏活</strong><strong>累活</strong>他全包了\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\n爸爸的<strong>肚量</strong>真不小\n<strong>挣</strong>得多<strong>花</strong>得少\n<strong>剩</strong>菜剩饭他全包了\n挣得多花得少\n剩菜剩饭他全包了\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDad\'s the best, Dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best!\nDad\'s really got not shortage of strength \nHe does a lot but speaks little\nHe does all the dirty and tired work.\nDad\'s the best, dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best! \nDad\'s really got no shortage of generosity\nHe earns a lot but spends little\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \nHe earns a lot but spends little \nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \n[/hide-this-part]', 'Lyrics: Baba Hao, a Song for Father\'s Day', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1363-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-21 11:05:02', '2013-05-21 15:05:02', '', 1363, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/21/1363-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1367, 1, '2013-05-21 11:12:34', '2013-05-21 15:12:34', '[two_third]\r\nFather\'s Day\'s coming up in a few weeks, and we\'ll be looking at the lyrics of a beginner-level saccharine-cute song written for children to sing to their dads (or, for the children of the digital generation, to forward to their dads) on their special day. This post is accompanied by a Flash Father\'s Day video where you can listen to the song on an INFINITE LOOP. Lucky you. <!--more-->\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130521-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Drills for Learning to Read Mandarin Characters\" title=\"Reading in Simplified Chinese: Easy Exercises for Language Study\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />\r\nHere\'s the original video with the actual song. <a href=\"http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1\">http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1</a>, have a listen if you dare. \r\n\r\nBecause this is a song, we have a couple of instances where a similar sentence structure is used with different words - these are probably the hardest sentences in the song. Example: 脏活累活他全包了. First, let me break down this sentence: \r\n\r\n脏 - Dirty\r\n活 - Activity, work\r\n累 - Tired\r\n活 - Activity, work\r\n他 - He\r\n全包 - All included\r\n了 - (grammar word)\r\n\r\nWhat? Dirty activity tired activity he all included?! What the heck does that mean? In proper English, we might translate that as \"Dirty work, Tired work, he does it all!\" We are, of course, talking about our amazing dads and all the thanklessly exhausting housework and job work they do. Thing is, there\'s nowhere in this sentence where the verb \"does\" as in \"to do work\" actually appears. We\'re just expected to infer the word from the context of 全包 - \"all included\". \r\n\r\nWe see the same sentence structure later in the song: 剩菜剩饭他全包了. The breakdown: \r\n\r\n剩 - Leftover\r\n菜 - Vegetables\r\n剩 - Leftover\r\n饭 - Rice\r\n他 - He \r\n全包 - All included\r\n了 (grammar word). \r\n\r\nOnce again, that strange \"all included\" - we are again expected to infer the verb here. Any guesses? The sentence means \"Leftover Vegetables, Leftover Rice, he eats it all!\" or \"He eats all the leftovers!\" So the missing word we kinda have to mentally fill in is \"eats\". \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力气 - [pinyin]li4 qi4[/pinyin] - Strength\r\n脏活 - [pinyin]zang4 huo2[/pinyin] - Dirty work\r\n累活 - [pinyin]lei4 huo2[/pinyin] - Exhausting work\r\n肚量 - [pinyin]du4 liang4[/pinyin] - Generosity\r\n挣 - [pinyin]zheng1[/pinyin] - Earn (usually money)\r\n花 - [pinyin]hua1[/pinyin] - Spend (money)\r\n剩 - [pinyin]sheng4[/pinyin] - Surplus, leftover\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\r\n爸爸的<strong>力气</strong>真不小\r\n做得多说得少\r\n<strong>脏活</strong><strong>累活</strong>他全包了\r\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\r\n爸爸的<strong>肚量</strong>真不小\r\n<strong>挣</strong>得多<strong>花</strong>得少\r\n<strong>剩</strong>菜剩饭他全包了\r\n挣得多花得少\r\n剩菜剩饭他全包了\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDad\'s the best, Dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best!\r\nDad\'s really got not shortage of strength \r\nHe does a lot but speaks little\r\nHe does all the dirty and tired work.\r\nDad\'s the best, dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best! \r\nDad\'s really got no shortage of generosity\r\nHe earns a lot but spends little\r\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \r\nHe earns a lot but spends little \r\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Lyrics: Baba Hao, a Song for Father\'s Day', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1363-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-21 11:12:34', '2013-05-21 15:12:34', '', 1363, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/21/1363-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1368, 1, '2013-05-21 11:12:41', '2013-05-21 15:12:41', '[two_third]\r\nFather\'s Day\'s coming up in a few weeks, and we\'ll be looking at the lyrics of a beginner-level saccharine-cute song written for children to sing to their dads (or, for the children of the digital generation, to forward to their dads) on their special day. This post is accompanied by a Flash Father\'s Day video where you can listen to the song on an INFINITE LOOP. Lucky you. <!--more-->\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130521-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Drills for Learning to Read Mandarin Characters\" title=\"Reading in Simplified Chinese: Easy Exercises for Language Study\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />\r\nHere\'s the original video with the actual song. <a href=\"http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1\">http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1</a>, have a listen if you dare. \r\n\r\nBecause this is a song, we have a couple of instances where a similar sentence structure is used with different words - these are probably the hardest sentences in the song. Example: 脏活累活他全包了. First, let me break down this sentence: \r\n\r\n脏 - Dirty\r\n活 - Activity, work\r\n累 - Tired\r\n活 - Activity, work\r\n他 - He\r\n全包 - All included\r\n了 - (grammar word)\r\n\r\nWhat? Dirty activity tired activity he all included?! What the heck does that mean? In proper English, we might translate that as \"Dirty work, Tired work, he does it all!\" We are, of course, talking about our amazing dads and all the thanklessly exhausting housework and job work they do. Thing is, there\'s nowhere in this sentence where the verb \"does\" as in \"to do work\" actually appears. We\'re just expected to infer the word from the context of 全包 - \"all included\". \r\n\r\nWe see the same sentence structure later in the song: 剩菜剩饭他全包了. The breakdown: \r\n\r\n剩 - Leftover\r\n菜 - Vegetables\r\n剩 - Leftover\r\n饭 - Rice\r\n他 - He \r\n全包 - All included\r\n了 (grammar word). \r\n\r\nOnce again, that strange \"all included\" - we are again expected to infer the verb here. Any guesses? The sentence means \"Leftover Vegetables, Leftover Rice, he eats it all!\" or \"He eats all the leftovers!\" So the missing word we kinda have to mentally fill in is \"eats\". \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力气 - [pinyin]li4 qi4[/pinyin] - Strength\r\n脏活 - [pinyin]zang4 huo2[/pinyin] - Dirty work\r\n累活 - [pinyin]lei4 huo2[/pinyin] - Exhausting work\r\n肚量 - [pinyin]du4 liang4[/pinyin] - Generosity\r\n挣 - [pinyin]zheng1[/pinyin] - Earn (usually money)\r\n花 - [pinyin]hua1[/pinyin] - Spend (money)\r\n剩 - [pinyin]sheng4[/pinyin] - Surplus, leftover\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\r\n爸爸的<strong>力气</strong>真不小\r\n做得多说得少\r\n<strong>脏活</strong><strong>累活</strong>他全包了\r\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\r\n爸爸的<strong>肚量</strong>真不小\r\n<strong>挣</strong>得多<strong>花</strong>得少\r\n<strong>剩</strong>菜剩饭他全包了\r\n挣得多花得少\r\n剩菜剩饭他全包了\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDad\'s the best, Dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best!\r\nDad\'s really got not shortage of strength \r\nHe does a lot but speaks little\r\nHe does all the dirty and tired work.\r\nDad\'s the best, dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best! \r\nDad\'s really got no shortage of generosity\r\nHe earns a lot but spends little\r\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \r\nHe earns a lot but spends little \r\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Lyrics: Baba Hao, a Song for Father\'s Day', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1363-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-21 11:12:41', '2013-05-21 15:12:41', '', 1363, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/21/1363-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1369, 1, '2013-05-27 14:39:05', '2013-05-27 18:39:05', '\r\nThanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you\'ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditional style of Japanese art. The Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\".\r\n\r\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures.\r\n\r\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\r\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\r\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n19世纪初，一位荷兰商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本瓷器包装纸上居然有一副美人肖像，姿态传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他翻出了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容各异的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本版画之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎震撼了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，以至于现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是色情，第二想到的就是梵高和印象派。</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen. Clearly this completely revolutionary work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcuts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Historical Essays] 浮世绘 - The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'art-blog-the-tale-of-japanese-ukiyo-e-woodblock-paintings', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:42:57', '2016-11-04 10:42:57', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1369', 0, 'post', '', 5),
(2057, 1, '2016-11-04 06:42:57', '2016-11-04 10:42:57', '\r\nThanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you\'ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditional style of Japanese art. The Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\".\r\n\r\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures.\r\n\r\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\r\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\r\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n19世纪初，一位荷兰商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本瓷器包装纸上居然有一副美人肖像，姿态传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他翻出了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容各异的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本版画之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎震撼了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，以至于现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是色情，第二想到的就是梵高和印象派。</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen. Clearly this completely revolutionary work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcuts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Historical Essays] 浮世绘 - The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1369-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:42:57', '2016-11-04 10:42:57', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1369-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1370, 1, '2013-05-27 13:27:59', '2013-05-27 17:27:59', '[two_third]\nThanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art - the vocabulary is upper-intermediate to advanced, but the sentence structure is conversational, which I love. \n\nThe Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\". \n\nFor me, the hardest part of this read was the following phrase, which seems to make sense on its own, but makes little sense in the context of the sentence, was this: 不用于往日视觉经验的. \n\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n力气 - [pinyin]li4 qi4[/pinyin] - Strength\n脏活 - [pinyin]zang4 huo2[/pinyin] - Dirty work\n累活 - [pinyin]lei4 huo2[/pinyin] - Exhausting work\n肚量 - [pinyin]du4 liang4[/pinyin] - Generosity\n挣 - [pinyin]zheng1[/pinyin] - Earn (usually money)\n花 - [pinyin]hua1[/pinyin] - Spend (money)\n剩 - [pinyin]sheng4[/pinyin] - Surplus, leftover\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n19世纪初，一位荷兰商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本瓷器包装纸上居然有一副美人肖像，姿态传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他翻出了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容各异的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本版画之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎震撼了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，以至于现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是色情，第二想到的就是梵高和印象派。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen.  Clearly this completely NEED NOT LOOK TO FORMER DAYS EXPERIENCE work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcusts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism. \n[/hide-this-part]', 'Art Blog: The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1369-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 13:27:59', '2013-05-27 17:27:59', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/1369-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1371, 1, '2013-05-27 13:35:33', '2013-05-27 17:35:33', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130528', '', '', '2013-05-27 13:35:33', '2013-05-27 17:35:33', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1372, 1, '2013-05-27 13:35:35', '2013-05-27 17:35:35', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130528-inline', '', '', '2013-05-27 13:35:35', '2013-05-27 17:35:35', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1373, 1, '2013-05-27 13:44:43', '2013-05-27 17:44:43', '[two_third]\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Art Essays, Artist Blog Posts\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> Thanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you\'ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditional style of Japanese art. <!--more-->\n\nThe Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\". \n\nFor me, the hardest part of this read was the following phrase, which seems to make sense on its own, but makes little sense in the context of the sentence, was this: 不用于往日视觉经验的. \n\nI\'m also a fan of the word 翻出 - \n\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Eroti\n梵高\n印象派\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n19世纪初，一位<strong>荷兰</strong>商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本<strong>瓷器</strong><strong>包装纸</strong>上居然有一副美人<strong>肖像</strong>，<strong>姿态</strong>传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他<strong>翻出</strong>了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容<strong>各异</strong>的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本<strong>版画</strong>之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎<strong>震撼</strong>了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，<strong>以至于</strong>现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是<strong>色情</strong>，第二想到的就是<strong>梵高</strong>和<strong>印象派</strong>。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen.  Clearly this completely NEED NOT LOOK TO FORMER DAYS EXPERIENCE work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcusts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism. \n[/hide-this-part]', 'Art Blog: The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1369-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 13:44:43', '2013-05-27 17:44:43', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/1369-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1374, 1, '2012-08-22 22:56:59', '2012-08-23 02:56:59', '<h3>The Basics</h3>\r\nMy name is: <strong>Kendra</strong>\r\nI live in: <strong>Beijing</strong>\r\nAge: <strong>29</strong> \r\nFirst year in China: <strong>2002</strong>\r\nWhat this site is for: This site doesn\'t exist to teach you Chinese from scratch - there are plenty of sites and programs that do that. But this collection might help you keep your skills fresh, practice recognizing sentence structure, or pick up the occasional new vocabulary word.\r\n\r\n<h3>The Story</h3>\r\nAfter spending a few years China studying Mandarin and working, I took a several-year hiatus and returned to my native country. It was alarming how quickly my language skills began disintegrating. I searched online for Chinese reading materials, and though I found plenty of dictionaries and flash card sources, I had a very difficult time finding something that was at an appropriate reading level, was different than the typical textbook-y stuff available online, was presented in a way that was easy to read, and that I was sure I could get through. I ended up spending more time looking for something that was suitable than actually doing any reading.\r\n\r\nAs someone who organizes her thoughts into a series of domain names, it was inevitable I\'d eventually start a website about it, and here you are. I post whenever I get a chance.\r\n\r\n<h4>About the Translations</h4>\r\nMost (but not all) of the translations on this site are done by me, and I don\'t post anything unless I\'ve checked it several times, but that doesn\'t mean I haven\'t missed something. Do feel free to comment if you see anything that ought to have a better translation - it won\'t be taken amiss. \r\n\r\nIt\'s often quite difficult to do a word-for-word translation, as Chinese words that fit well into a particular Chinese sentence read very awkwardly after they\'ve been translated - sometimes a direct translation just sounds off. This is more and more true the higher your reading level.  \r\n\r\nI\'ll often change the order of wording in a sentence so that it makes sense or reads well in English. You\'ll also notice that I often remove commas, split long Chinese sentences into two or more English sentences, or rearrange the order of clauses, which is necessary to accommodate Chinese grammar.  The translation is meant as a guidepost to help point you in the right direction and keep you grounded in the text when needed - it\'s up to you to dissect sentence structure.\r\n<h4>How I Classify Reading Levels</h4>\r\nUltimately, my classifications are pretty arbitrary, but I\'ll try to lay out some of my basic reasoning here.\r\n\r\n<strong>Beginner</strong> - Very very few of these texts are actually beginner tests; at least I haven\'t been able to find any real beginner stuff yet (I\'m still looking for good sources of real beginner texts that aren\'t boring dialogs - if you know of any, please write!). This is because for any story, article or essay to really take shape, it usually must involve some intermediate grammar or intermediate vocabulary. This is why most truly beginner textbooks stick to dialogs as opposed to actual articles. In order to do any real reading, you\'ve got to at least know the basics of sentence structure. I will classify something as beginner if at least a couple of the following criteria are met:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>The sentence structure is easy throughout</li>\r\n	<li>It contains mostly simpler words that are in the dictionary</li>\r\n	<li>There is no modern slang</li>\r\n	<li>The subject matter is basic / or for children</li>\r\n	<li>It\'s not too long</li>\r\n	<li>It contains few or no idioms</li>\r\n<li>It contains intermediate vocabulary but the story structure is very repetitive, so you can pick up the thread more easily as you go along.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Intermediate</strong> - I classify something as intermediate if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It\'s a longer piece that you have to hold a narrative thread through.</li>\r\n<li>The language is intermediate or upper-intermediate.</li>\r\n<li>There are some light idioms.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Advanced</strong> - Most of what\'s out there online is advanced reading. That\'s why as of now, there are more advanced texts on here than anything else. I classify something as advanced if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It contains many specialized or technical words (technology, health, beauty, geography, etc.)</li>\r\n<li>It contains high-level structures, like newspaper-y or literary writing styles.</li>\r\n<li>It contains any archaic words.</li>\r\n<li>The sentence structure is very complicated.</li>\r\n<li>It contains a lot of modern slang.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\nEnjoy, and good luck with your studies.', 'About', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '2-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-08-22 22:56:59', '2012-08-23 02:56:59', '', 2, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/08/22/2-revision-23/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1375, 1, '2013-05-13 05:32:06', '2013-05-13 09:32:06', '[two_third]\r\nI\'m not sure what stars aligned in the googley cosmos, but this is the second guest post I\'ve gotten this week. In this recipe post by blogger <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/waiguonv\">Rosie Zhao</a>, we learn how to make cake in a rice cooker (bless you, Rosie, bless you). This is particularly relevant if you live in China, the land of no ovens. You can find the original post, with delicious cake-filled pictures, <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_c0a10a4b0101mo4s.html\">here</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130513-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Simplified Mandarin Recipes\" title=\"Learning to Read Chinese Exercises: Chinese Rice Cooker Recipes with English Translations\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Rosie says: \"<strong><em>Since living in China I\'ve become more and more interested in learning to cook western food from scratch. I want to try to recreate some of my favorites from back home in the U.S. I am trying to post some recipes in both English and Chinese on my blog in hopes that other expats as well as Chinese locals will give them a try. This recipe is my own and translated into Chinese with the help of my husband.</em></strong>\"\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电饭煲 - [pinyin]dian4 fan4 bao1[/pinyin] - Rice cooker\r\n克 - [pinyin]ke4[/pinyin] - Gram\r\n毫升 - [pinyin]hao2 sheng1[/pinyin] - Milliliter\r\n室温的 - [pinyin]shi4 wen1 de5[/pinyin] - Room temperature\r\n捣碎 - [pinyin]dao3 sui4[/pinyin] - Mashed\r\n涂抹 - [pinyin]tu2 mo3[/pinyin] - Spread\r\n拌入 - [pinyin]ban4 ru4[/pinyin] - Stir in\r\n混合物 - [pinyin]hun4 he2 wu4[/pinyin] - Mixture\r\n跳闸 - [pinyin]tiao4 zha2[/pinyin] - Flips, switch\r\n牙签 - [pinyin]ya2 qian1[/pinyin] - Toothpick\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水果反转蛋糕 （使用电饭煲做的）\r\n份量：8\r\n\r\n准备材料\r\n水果（比如：草莓，芒果）250 克\r\n黄油（常温的）115克或者油180毫升*\r\n白糖180克\r\n鸡蛋2个\r\n牛奶180毫升\r\n香草精5毫升  （可选可不选）**\r\n自发粉125克\r\n苏打粉1茶匙\r\n盐1小撮\r\n\r\n制作方法\r\n准备：10分钟 | 制作：15分钟 | 额外时间：10 分钟, 放凉\r\n1. 把水果放在碗里。使用一把叉子捣碎水果做水果泥。我用的水果是草莓和芒果，其他的水果也可，比如：香蕉，菠萝等。\r\n2. 用刷子把电饭煲内壁底部轻上一层油。\r\n3. 把水果泥放在电饭煲底,均匀涂抹。\r\n4. 拿一中碗，拌入面粉、苏打粉和盐混合在一起。\r\n5. 另拿一大碗里把室温的黄油（或者油）和白糖混合一起。拌入鸡蛋搅拌。后拌入香草精和牛奶搅拌。\r\n6. 慢慢将面粉混合物加入以上混合物拌均。\r\n7. 把混合物倒入电饭煲。\r\n8. 按“煮饭”的开关。蛋糕要制作大约15分钟。如果在这个时候煮饭开关已经跳闸了请等几分钟然后再按“煮饭”的开关。继续制作直至蛋糕完成为止。\r\n9. 蛋糕制作好了以后需要用牙签测试一下是否已经熟了，插进去拔出来没有碎屑就代表熟了反之则不熟。\r\n10. 让蛋糕冷却10分钟。用塑料或木制的勺子把蛋糕轻轻的取出来。\r\n11. 最后用一个碟子盖着锅然后翻转，这样有水果的一面就在上面了。可以多加一些新鲜的水果在蛋糕上面。\r\n\r\n*不同的油有不同的味道。做蛋糕的话，我觉得植物油或葵花籽油是最好的。\r\n**很多西式甜点要求香草精。如果您经常想做西式布丁，蛋糕，饼干等您应该买一瓶，在淘宝能买到。\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\nUpside Down Cake (in a rice cooker)\r\n\r\nServings: 8\r\n\r\nIngredients:\r\n1 c fruit\r\n½ c softened butter OR 3/8 c oil\r\n¾ c white sugar\r\n2 eggs\r\n3/8 c milk\r\n1 tsp vanilla extract optional\r\n1 c flour\r\n1 tsp baking soda\r\npinch of salt\r\n\r\nDirections:\r\n\r\n1. Mash fruit in a bowl, using a fork. I used strawberries and mangoes, but feel free to experiment!\r\n2. Grease the bottom of your rice cooker with oil or butter.\r\n3. Spread fruit in bottom of greased rice cooker.\r\n4. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt.\r\n5. In a second bowl, cream butter (or oil) with sugar. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla extract and milk and mix.\r\n6. Stir dry mixture into wet mixture. Stir until combined.\r\n7. Pour batter into rice cooker.\r\n8. Close cooker and press \'cook\' button. The cake will probably take about 15 minutes to cook but the \'cook\' button will change to \'keep\' before that. Just let it stay on \'keep\' for a few minutes and then hit \'cook\' again. Repeat if needed.\r\n9. Check cake with toothpick, it should come out clean.\r\n10. Let cool for 10 minutes. When done, loosen cake from sides of rice cooker with a plastic or wooden spoon (or spatula).\r\n11. Flip onto plate and serve. Top with fresh fruit if desired.\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rosie Zhao: Cake Without the Bake', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1357-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-13 05:32:06', '2013-05-13 09:32:06', '', 1357, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/13/1357-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1376, 1, '2013-05-27 14:38:11', '2013-05-27 18:38:11', '[two_third]\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Art Essays, Artist Blog Posts\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> Thanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you\'ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditional style of Japanese art. <!--more-->\n\nThe Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\". \n\nFor me, the hardest part of this read was the following phrase, which seems to make sense on its own, but makes little sense in the context of the sentence, was this: 不用于往日视觉经验的. By itself, this says \"no use (不用于) in looking to days past (于往日) for this visual experience (视觉经验的)\". Okay, fair enough. But the full sentence is: 显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他. We\'ve got the beginning of the sentence (显然这种全然) - this means \"Obviously this type of completely...\". And we\'ve got the end of the sentence (作品深深的吸引了他), which means \"works of art deeply attracted him.\" But when we add the middle bit, the sentence no longer seems clear: \"Obviously this type of completely [no use in looking to days past for this visual experience] work of art deeply attracted him. \n\nWhat?\n\nI\'m told by my Chinese friend that this language is pretty rare, but turns out, the middle phrase is just a way of describing just how different from other things this Ukiyo-e actually was. There\'s \"no use consulting the past\" to re-live this experience, because the experience (seeing the work of art) has never been had before (by the person viewing). Anyone with input, please feel free to add to this. \n\nIf I were to write that sentence in English, I\'d replace that phrase with \"revolutionary\", but the word \"revolutionary\" in Chinese tends to call up a lot of other associations that aren\'t \n\nI\'m also a fan of the word 翻出 - \n\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Erotic\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n19世纪初，一位<strong>荷兰</strong>商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本<strong>瓷器</strong><strong>包装纸</strong>上居然有一副美人<strong>肖像</strong>，<strong>姿态</strong>传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他<strong>翻出</strong>了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容<strong>各异</strong>的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本<strong>版画</strong>之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎<strong>震撼</strong>了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，<strong>以至于</strong>现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是<strong>色情</strong>，第二想到的就是<strong>梵高</strong>和<strong>印象派</strong>。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen.  Clearly this completely NEED NOT LOOK TO FORMER DAYS EXPERIENCE work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcusts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism. \n[/hide-this-part]', 'Art Blog: The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1369-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 14:38:11', '2013-05-27 18:38:11', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/1369-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1377, 1, '2016-11-04 06:42:45', '2016-11-04 10:42:45', '\nThanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you\'ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditional style of Japanese art. The Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\".\n\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures.\n\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\n19世纪初，一位荷兰商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本瓷器包装纸上居然有一副美人肖像，姿态传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他翻出了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容各异的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本版画之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎震撼了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，以至于现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是色情，第二想到的就是梵高和印象派。</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen. Clearly this completely revolutionary work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcuts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Historical Essays] 浮世绘 - The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1369-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:42:45', '2016-11-04 10:42:45', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/1369-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2058, 1, '2016-11-18 19:08:53', '2016-11-19 00:08:53', 'Father\'s Day\'s coming up in a few weeks, and we\'ll be looking at the lyrics of a beginner-level saccharine-cute song written for children to sing to their dads (or, for the children of the digital generation, to forward to their dads) on their special day. This post is accompanied by a Flash Father\'s Day video where you can listen to the song on an INFINITE LOOP. Lucky you. <!--more-->\n\nHere\'s the original video with the actual song. <a href=\"http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1\" target=\"_blank\">http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1</a>, have a listen if you dare. \n\nBecause this is a song, we have a couple of instances where a similar sentence structure is used with different words - these are probably the hardest sentences in the song. Example: 脏活累活他全包了. First, let me break down this sentence: \n\n脏 - Dirty\n活 - Activity, work\n累 - Tired\n活 - Activity, work\n他 - He\n全包 - All included\n了 - (grammar word)\n\nWhat? Dirty activity tired activity he all included?! What the heck does that mean? In proper English, we might translate that as \"Dirty work, Tired work, he does it all!\" We are, of course, talking about our amazing dads and all the thanklessly exhausting housework and job work they do. Thing is, there\'s nowhere in this sentence where the verb \"does\" as in \"to do work\" actually appears. We\'re just expected to infer the word from the context of 全包 - \"all included\". \n\nWe see the same sentence structure later in the song: 剩菜剩饭他全包了. The breakdown: \n\n剩 - Leftover\n菜 - Vegetables\n剩 - Leftover\n饭 - Rice\n他 - He \n全包 - All included\n了 (grammar word). \n\nOnce again, that strange \"all included\" - we are again expected to infer the verb here. Any guesses? The sentence means \"Leftover Vegetables, Leftover Rice, he eats it all!\" or \"He eats all the leftovers!\" So the missing word we kinda have to mentally fill in is \"eats\". \n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\n爸爸的力气真不小\n做得多说得少\n脏活累活他全包了\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\n爸爸的肚量真不小\n挣得多花得少\n剩菜剩饭他全包了\n挣得多花得少\n剩菜剩饭他全包了\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDad\'s the best, Dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best!\nDad\'s really got no shortage of strength \nHe does a lot but speaks little\nHe does all the dirty and tired work.\nDad\'s the best, dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best! \nDad\'s really got no shortage of generosity\nHe earns a lot but spends little\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \nHe earns a lot but spends little \nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \n[/hide-this-part]', '[Chinese Children\'s Songs] 爸爸好 - Baba Hao, a Song for Father\'s Day', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1363-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-18 19:08:53', '2016-11-19 00:08:53', '', 1363, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1363-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1378, 1, '2013-05-27 14:39:05', '2013-05-27 18:39:05', '[two_third]\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Art Essays, Artist Blog Posts\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> Thanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you\'ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditional style of Japanese art. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\". \r\n\r\nFor me, the hardest part of this read was the following phrase, which seems to make sense on its own, but makes little sense in the context of the sentence, was this: 不用于往日视觉经验的. By itself, this says \"no use (不用于) in looking to days past (于往日) for this visual experience (视觉经验的)\". Okay, fair enough. But the full sentence is: 显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他. We\'ve got the beginning of the sentence (显然这种全然) - this means \"Obviously this type of completely...\". And we\'ve got the end of the sentence (作品深深的吸引了他), which means \"works of art deeply attracted him.\" But when we add the middle bit, the sentence no longer seems clear: \"Obviously this type of completely [no use in looking to days past for this visual experience] work of art deeply attracted him. \r\n\r\nWhat?\r\n\r\nI\'m told by my Chinese friend that this language is pretty rare, but turns out, the middle phrase is just a way of describing just how different from other things this Ukiyo-e actually was. There\'s \"no use consulting the past\" to re-live this experience, because the experience (seeing the work of art) has never been had before (by the person viewing). Anyone with input, please feel free to add to this. \r\n\r\nIf I were to write that sentence in English, I\'d replace that phrase with \"revolutionary\" - \"Obviously this type of completely revolutionary artwork deeply attracted him\" - but the word \"revolutionary\" in Chinese tends to call up a lot of other associations that aren\'t relevant in this context. \r\n\r\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\r\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\r\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\r\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\r\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\r\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\r\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\r\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\r\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\r\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Erotic\r\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\r\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n19世纪初，一位<strong>荷兰</strong>商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本<strong>瓷器</strong><strong>包装纸</strong>上居然有一副美人<strong>肖像</strong>，<strong>姿态</strong>传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他<strong>翻出</strong>了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容<strong>各异</strong>的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本<strong>版画</strong>之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎<strong>震撼</strong>了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，<strong>以至于</strong>现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是<strong>色情</strong>，第二想到的就是<strong>梵高</strong>和<strong>印象派</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\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen.  Clearly this completely NEED NOT LOOK TO FORMER DAYS EXPERIENCE work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcusts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism. \r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Art Blog: The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1369-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 14:39:05', '2013-05-27 18:39:05', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/1369-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1379, 1, '2013-05-27 14:41:13', '2013-05-27 18:41:13', '[two_third]\r\nThanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you\'ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditional style of Japanese art. The Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\".<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img class=\"imgborder alignleft\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Art Essays, Artist Blog Posts\" src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528-INLINE.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" />For me, the hardest part of this read was the following phrase, which seems to make sense on its own, but makes little sense in the context of the sentence, was this: 不用于往日视觉经验的. By itself, this says \"no use (不用于) in looking to days past (于往日) for this visual experience (视觉经验的)\". Okay, fair enough. But the full sentence is: 显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他. We\'ve got the beginning of the sentence (显然这种全然) - this means \"Obviously this type of completely...\". And we\'ve got the end of the sentence (作品深深的吸引了他), which means \"works of art deeply attracted him.\" But when we add the middle bit, the sentence no longer seems clear: \"Obviously this type of completely [no use in looking to days past for this visual experience] work of art deeply attracted him.\r\n\r\nWhat?\r\n\r\nI\'m told by my Chinese friend that this language is pretty rare, but turns out, the middle phrase is just a way of describing just how different from other things this Ukiyo-e actually was. There\'s \"no use consulting the past\" to re-live this experience, because the experience (seeing the work of art) has never been had before (by the person viewing). Anyone with input, please feel free to add to this.\r\n\r\nIf I were to write that sentence in English, I\'d replace that phrase with \"revolutionary\" - \"Obviously this type of completely revolutionary artwork deeply attracted him\" - but the word \"revolutionary\" in Chinese tends to call up a lot of other associations that aren\'t relevant in this context.\r\n\r\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures.\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\r\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\r\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\r\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\r\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\r\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\r\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\r\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\r\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\r\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Erotic\r\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\r\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">19世纪初，一位<strong>荷兰</strong>商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本<strong>瓷器</strong><strong>包装纸</strong>上居然有一副美人<strong>肖像</strong>，<strong>姿态</strong>传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他<strong>翻出</strong>了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容<strong>各异</strong>的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本<strong>版画</strong>之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎<strong>震撼</strong>了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，<strong>以至于</strong>现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是<strong>色情</strong>，第二想到的就是<strong>梵高</strong>和<strong>印象派</strong>。</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen. Clearly this completely NEED NOT LOOK TO FORMER DAYS EXPERIENCE work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcusts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism.\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Art Blog: The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1369-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 14:41:13', '2013-05-27 18:41:13', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/1369-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1380, 1, '2013-05-27 14:42:14', '2013-05-27 18:42:14', '[two_third]\r\nThanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you\'ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditional style of Japanese art. The Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\".<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img class=\"imgborder alignleft\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Art Essays, Artist Blog Posts\" src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528-INLINE.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" />For me, the hardest part of this read was the following phrase, which seems to make sense on its own, but makes little sense in the context of the sentence: 不用于往日视觉经验的. By itself, this says \"no use (不用于) in looking to days past (于往日) for this visual experience (视觉经验的)\". Okay, fair enough. But the full sentence is: 显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他. We\'ve got the beginning of the sentence (显然这种全然) - this means \"Obviously this type of completely...\". And we\'ve got the end of the sentence (作品深深的吸引了他), which means \"works of art deeply attracted him.\" But when we add the middle bit, the sentence no longer seems clear: \"Obviously this type of completely [no use in looking to days past for this visual experience] work of art deeply attracted him.\r\n\r\nWhat?\r\n\r\nI\'m told by my Chinese friend that this language is pretty rare, but turns out, the middle phrase is just a way of describing just how different from other things this Ukiyo-e actually was. There\'s \"no use consulting the past\" to re-live this experience, because the experience (seeing the work of art) has never been had before (by the person viewing). Anyone with input, please feel free to add to this.\r\n\r\nIf I were to write that sentence in English, I\'d replace that phrase with \"revolutionary\" - \"Obviously this type of completely revolutionary artwork deeply attracted him\" - but the word \"revolutionary\" in Chinese tends to call up a lot of other associations that aren\'t relevant in this context.\r\n\r\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures.\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\r\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\r\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\r\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\r\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\r\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\r\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\r\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\r\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\r\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Erotic\r\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\r\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">19世纪初，一位<strong>荷兰</strong>商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本<strong>瓷器</strong><strong>包装纸</strong>上居然有一副美人<strong>肖像</strong>，<strong>姿态</strong>传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他<strong>翻出</strong>了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容<strong>各异</strong>的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本<strong>版画</strong>之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎<strong>震撼</strong>了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，<strong>以至于</strong>现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是<strong>色情</strong>，第二想到的就是<strong>梵高</strong>和<strong>印象派</strong>。</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen. Clearly this completely NEED NOT LOOK TO FORMER DAYS EXPERIENCE work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcusts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism.\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Art Blog: The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1369-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 14:42:14', '2013-05-27 18:42:14', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/1369-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1381, 1, '2013-05-27 14:42:32', '2013-05-27 18:42:32', '[two_third]\r\nThanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you\'ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditional style of Japanese art. The Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\".<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img class=\"imgborder alignleft\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Art Essays, Artist Blog Posts\" src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528-INLINE.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" />For me, the hardest part of this read was the following phrase, which seems to make sense on its own, but makes little sense in the context of the sentence: 不用于往日视觉经验的. By itself, this says \"no use (不用) in looking to days past (于往日) for this visual experience (视觉经验的)\". Okay, fair enough. But the full sentence is: 显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他. We\'ve got the beginning of the sentence (显然这种全然) - this means \"Obviously this type of completely...\". And we\'ve got the end of the sentence (作品深深的吸引了他), which means \"works of art deeply attracted him.\" But when we add the middle bit, the sentence no longer seems clear: \"Obviously this type of completely [no use in looking to days past for this visual experience] work of art deeply attracted him.\r\n\r\nWhat?\r\n\r\nI\'m told by my Chinese friend that this language is pretty rare, but turns out, the middle phrase is just a way of describing just how different from other things this Ukiyo-e actually was. There\'s \"no use consulting the past\" to re-live this experience, because the experience (seeing the work of art) has never been had before (by the person viewing). Anyone with input, please feel free to add to this.\r\n\r\nIf I were to write that sentence in English, I\'d replace that phrase with \"revolutionary\" - \"Obviously this type of completely revolutionary artwork deeply attracted him\" - but the word \"revolutionary\" in Chinese tends to call up a lot of other associations that aren\'t relevant in this context.\r\n\r\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures.\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\r\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\r\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\r\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\r\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\r\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\r\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\r\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\r\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\r\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Erotic\r\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\r\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">19世纪初，一位<strong>荷兰</strong>商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本<strong>瓷器</strong><strong>包装纸</strong>上居然有一副美人<strong>肖像</strong>，<strong>姿态</strong>传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他<strong>翻出</strong>了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容<strong>各异</strong>的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本<strong>版画</strong>之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎<strong>震撼</strong>了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，<strong>以至于</strong>现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是<strong>色情</strong>，第二想到的就是<strong>梵高</strong>和<strong>印象派</strong>。</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen. Clearly this completely NEED NOT LOOK TO FORMER DAYS EXPERIENCE work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcusts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism.\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Art Blog: The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1369-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 14:42:32', '2013-05-27 18:42:32', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/1369-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1382, 1, '2013-05-27 14:21:51', '2013-05-27 18:21:51', '<h3>The Basics</h3>\r\nMy name is: <strong>Kendra</strong>\r\nI live in: <strong>Beijing</strong>\r\nAge: <strong>30</strong> \r\nFirst year in China: <strong>2002</strong>\r\nWhat this site is for: This site doesn\'t exist to teach you Chinese from scratch - there are plenty of sites and programs that do that. But this collection might help you keep your skills fresh, practice recognizing sentence structure, or pick up the occasional new vocabulary word.\r\n\r\n<h3>The Story</h3>\r\nAfter spending a few years China studying Mandarin and working, I took a several-year hiatus and returned to my native country. It was alarming how quickly my language skills began disintegrating. I searched online for Chinese reading materials, and though I found plenty of dictionaries and flash card sources, I had a very difficult time finding something that was at an appropriate reading level, was different than the typical textbook-y stuff available online, was presented in a way that was easy to read, and that I was sure I could get through. I ended up spending more time looking for something that was suitable than actually doing any reading.\r\n\r\nAs someone who organizes her thoughts into a series of domain names, it was inevitable I\'d eventually start a website about it, and here you are. I post whenever I get a chance.\r\n\r\n<h4>About the Translations</h4>\r\nMost (but not all) of the translations on this site are done by me, and I don\'t post anything unless I\'ve checked it several times, but that doesn\'t mean I haven\'t missed something. Do feel free to comment if you see anything that ought to have a better translation - it won\'t be taken amiss. \r\n\r\nIt\'s often quite difficult to do a word-for-word translation, as Chinese words that fit well into a particular Chinese sentence read very awkwardly after they\'ve been translated - sometimes a direct translation just sounds off. This is more and more true the higher your reading level.  \r\n\r\nI\'ll often change the order of wording in a sentence so that it makes sense or reads well in English. You\'ll also notice that I often remove commas, split long Chinese sentences into two or more English sentences, or rearrange the order of clauses, which is necessary to accommodate Chinese grammar.  The translation is meant as a guidepost to help point you in the right direction and keep you grounded in the text when needed - it\'s up to you to dissect sentence structure.\r\n<h4>How I Classify Reading Levels</h4>\r\nUltimately, my classifications are pretty arbitrary, but I\'ll try to lay out some of my basic reasoning here.\r\n\r\n<strong>Beginner</strong> - Very very few of these texts are actually beginner tests; at least I haven\'t been able to find any real beginner stuff yet (I\'m still looking for good sources of real beginner texts that aren\'t boring dialogs - if you know of any, please write!). This is because for any story, article or essay to really take shape, it usually must involve some intermediate grammar or intermediate vocabulary. This is why most truly beginner textbooks stick to dialogs as opposed to actual articles. In order to do any real reading, you\'ve got to at least know the basics of sentence structure. I will classify something as beginner if at least a couple of the following criteria are met:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>The sentence structure is easy throughout</li>\r\n	<li>It contains mostly simpler words that are in the dictionary</li>\r\n	<li>There is no modern slang</li>\r\n	<li>The subject matter is basic / or for children</li>\r\n	<li>It\'s not too long</li>\r\n	<li>It contains few or no idioms</li>\r\n<li>It contains intermediate vocabulary but the story structure is very repetitive, so you can pick up the thread more easily as you go along.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Intermediate</strong> - I classify something as intermediate if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It\'s a longer piece that you have to hold a narrative thread through.</li>\r\n<li>The language is intermediate or upper-intermediate.</li>\r\n<li>There are some light idioms.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Advanced</strong> - Most of what\'s out there online is advanced reading. That\'s why as of now, there are more advanced texts on here than anything else. I classify something as advanced if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It contains many specialized or technical words (technology, health, beauty, geography, etc.)</li>\r\n<li>It contains high-level structures, like newspaper-y or literary writing styles.</li>\r\n<li>It contains any archaic words.</li>\r\n<li>The sentence structure is very complicated.</li>\r\n<li>It contains a lot of modern slang.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\nEnjoy, and good luck with your studies.', 'About', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '2-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 14:21:51', '2013-05-27 18:21:51', '', 2, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/2-revision-24/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1383, 1, '2013-05-27 14:43:32', '2013-05-27 18:43:32', '[two_third]\r\nThanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you\'ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditional style of Japanese art. The Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\".<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img class=\"imgborder alignleft\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Art Essays, Artist Blog Posts\" src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528-INLINE.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" />For me, the hardest part of this read was the following phrase, which seems to make sense on its own, but makes little sense in the context of the sentence: 不用于往日视觉经验的. By itself, this says \"no use (不用) in looking to days past (于往日) for this visual experience (视觉经验的)\". Okay, fair enough. But the full sentence is: 显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他. We\'ve got the beginning of the sentence (显然这种全然) - this means \"Obviously this type of completely...\". And we\'ve got the end of the sentence (作品深深的吸引了他), which means \"works of art deeply attracted him.\" But when we add the middle bit, the sentence no longer seems clear: \"Obviously this type of completely [no use in looking to days past for this visual experience] work of art deeply attracted him.\r\n\r\nWhat?\r\n\r\nI\'m told by my Chinese friend that this language is pretty rare, but turns out, the middle phrase is just a way of describing just how different from other things this Ukiyo-e actually was. There\'s \"no use consulting the past\" to re-live this experience, because the experience (seeing the work of art) has never been had before (by the person viewing). (Anyone with input, please feel free to add to this in the comments).\r\n\r\nIf I were to write that sentence in English, I\'d replace that phrase with \"revolutionary\" - \"Obviously this type of completely revolutionary artwork deeply attracted him\" - but the word \"revolutionary\" in Chinese tends to call up a lot of other associations that aren\'t relevant in this context.\r\n\r\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures.\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\r\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\r\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\r\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\r\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\r\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\r\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\r\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\r\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\r\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Erotic\r\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\r\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">19世纪初，一位<strong>荷兰</strong>商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本<strong>瓷器</strong><strong>包装纸</strong>上居然有一副美人<strong>肖像</strong>，<strong>姿态</strong>传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他<strong>翻出</strong>了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容<strong>各异</strong>的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本<strong>版画</strong>之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎<strong>震撼</strong>了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，<strong>以至于</strong>现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是<strong>色情</strong>，第二想到的就是<strong>梵高</strong>和<strong>印象派</strong>。</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen. Clearly this completely NEED NOT LOOK TO FORMER DAYS EXPERIENCE work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcusts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism.\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Art Blog: The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1369-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 14:43:32', '2013-05-27 18:43:32', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/1369-revision-8/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1384, 1, '2013-05-27 14:50:48', '2013-05-27 18:50:48', '[two_third]\r\nThanks to Sina Weibo, China\'s most popular blog network, I stumbled across this neat <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/zjf998\">art blog</a>, which I recommend taking a stab at if you like art, as you\'ll learn a bunch of useful simplified Chiense artist vocabulary. This post discusses the fable-like origins of Ukiyo-e, a traditional style of Japanese art. The Chinese for \"Ukiyo-e\" is 浮世绘, or \"Floating world paintings\".<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img class=\"imgborder alignleft\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Art Vocabulary and Simplified Chinese Art Blogs\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Art Essays, Artist Blog Posts\" src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130528-INLINE.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" />For me, the hardest part of this read was the following phrase, which seems to make sense on its own, but makes little sense in the context of the sentence: 不用于往日视觉经验的. By itself, this says \"no use (不用) in looking to days past (于往日) for this visual experience (视觉经验的)\". Okay, fair enough. But the full sentence is: 显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他. We\'ve got the beginning of the sentence (显然这种全然) - this means \"Obviously this type of completely...\". And we\'ve got the end of the sentence (作品深深的吸引了他), which means \"works of art deeply attracted him.\" But when we add the middle bit, the sentence no longer seems clear: \"Obviously this type of completely [no use in looking to days past for this visual experience] work of art deeply attracted him.\r\n\r\nWhat?\r\n\r\nI\'m told by my Chinese friend that this language is pretty rare, but turns out, the middle phrase is just a way of describing just how different from other things this Ukiyo-e actually was. There\'s \"no use consulting the past\" to re-live this experience, because the experience (seeing the work of art) has never been had before (by the person viewing). (Anyone with input, please feel free to add to this in the comments).\r\n\r\nIf I were to write that sentence in English, I\'d replace that phrase with \"revolutionary\" - \"Obviously this type of completely revolutionary artwork deeply attracted him\" - but the word \"revolutionary\" in Chinese tends to call up a lot of other associations that aren\'t relevant in this context.\r\n\r\nI\'ve only translated the first paragraph here. <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4aa4c0c30102e3p9.html\">Here\'s the original post</a>, if you care to finish it on your own. The original post has the best pictures.\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\r\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\r\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\r\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\r\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\r\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\r\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\r\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\r\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\r\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Erotic\r\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\r\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">19世纪初，一位<strong>荷兰</strong>商人在他的办公室里发现了他的日本<strong>瓷器</strong><strong>包装纸</strong>上居然有一副美人<strong>肖像</strong>，<strong>姿态</strong>传神生动，但是却不同于他见过的所有西方肖像。显然这种全然不用于往日视觉经验的作品深深的吸引了他，他<strong>翻出</strong>了所有的瓷器包装纸，发现它们上面都有着色彩亮丽，内容<strong>各异</strong>的画面。从此以后，商人开始寻求这种日本<strong>版画</strong>之路。当时这类版画可谓是价格低廉，便于收藏。当他把这些藏品拿出来展览之时，几乎<strong>震撼</strong>了所有的来宾。这批日本版画就是“浮世绘”。这些版画对欧洲的画坛产生了深远的印象，<strong>以至于</strong>现在大家提起浮世绘，第一想到的是<strong>色情</strong>，第二想到的就是<strong>梵高</strong>和<strong>印象派</strong>。</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIn the beginning of the 19th century, a businessman from Holland was in his office when he suddenly noticed, [painted on] the wrapping paper of some porcelain, a beautiful portrait, the pose both vivid and lifelike, but it was unlike any of the Western portraits he had seen. Clearly this completely NEED NOT LOOK TO FORMER DAYS EXPERIENCE work of art deeply attracted him, and he turned over every piece of porcelain wrapping paper, discovering that all of them were painted with a colorful, bright and beautiful scene, each one different. From then on, the businessman took to the road seeking this type of Japanese wood cut painting. At that time, this type of woodcut was actually quite cheap, and easy to collect. When he took these collector\'s items out and exhibited them, it practically stunned all the visitors. These Japanese woodcut paintings are \"Ukiyo-e\". These woodcusts had a deep and lasting influence on the European art world, so much so that when anyone raises the topic of ukiyo-e, the first association that comes to mind is pornography, the second is Van Gogh and Impressionism.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Art Blog: The Tale of Japanese Ukiyo-e Woodblock Paintings', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1369-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 14:50:48', '2013-05-27 18:50:48', '', 1369, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/1369-revision-9/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
