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(1555, 1, '2015-02-19 22:41:07', '2015-02-20 03:41:07', '[two_third]\r\nHey hey, lookie here, an excellent guest post submitted by native Chinese speaker Yang from <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com\" target=\"_blank\">Learn Mandarin Now</a>. This story tells us a bit about the Chinese <em>chengyu</em> (idiom),塞翁失马, which can mean \"a blessing in disguise\", or can conversely mean \"bad luck in disguised as good\". It\'s used to point out the hidden positives or negatives in a situation, so you might say it means \"there are two sides to every circumstance\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI\'m loving this post for the fable-y language: \"servant\", \"steed\", etc. Plus, I learned a new favorite word in this one: 塞外 [pinyin]sai4 wai4[/pinyin], meaning \"Beyond the Great Wall\". In other words, a remote place near the outskirts or borders of China. Also, don\'t forget, 匹 [pinyin]pi3[/pinyin] is the measure word for Horses, so you\'re gonna see that a few times. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one phrase I\'d like to discuss, because I don\'t think it\'s immediately clear what it means: 全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗. Let\'s take a look at this, word by word:\r\n\r\n全国 - The whole country\r\n上下的 - Everywhere\r\n年轻男子 - young men\r\n都 - all\r\n被 - grammar word usually indicating that the subject of the sentence has had something unfortunate happen to them\r\n抓 - grabbed\r\n去 - go out\r\n打仗 - fight \r\n\r\nThe key word here is 抓 [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin], which usually means to \"catch\" or \"grab\". In this case, the word means \"drafted\", so it still means to \"grab\", but in this case, it\'s the ruling power (probably the king) doing the grabbing up (of potential soldiers). The 被 in this case functions as \"were\", with a negative overtone. So this can be translated as \"All the young men everywhere in the country <strong>were drafted</strong> to go fight a war.\"\r\n\r\nLearn Mandarin Now\'s \"<a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-read-chinese/\" target=\"_blank\">How to Read Chinese</a>\" page for a basic overview on getting started with Simplified characters, and look at <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/blog/\" target=\"_blank\">their new blog</a> for some learning tips. \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老翁 - [pinyin]lao3 weng1[/pinyin] - Old man\r\n仆人 - [pinyin]pu2 ren2[/pinyin] - Servant\r\n邻国 - [pinyin]lin2 guo2[/pinyin] - Neighboring country\r\n闻讯 - [pinyin]wen2 xun4[/pinyin] - [upon] hearing the news...\r\n骏马 - [pinyin]jun4 ma3[/pinyin] - Great Steed\r\n战场 - [pinyin]zhan4 chang3[/pinyin] - Battlefield\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n从前，一位<strong>老翁</strong>和他的儿子住在<strong>塞外</strong>的边境上。他们都非常喜欢换骑马。有一天，他们家的<strong>仆人</strong>给老先生报告：\"我们家的一匹骏马走丢了，好像跑去<strong>邻国</strong>了。\"\r\n\r\n老翁的朋友<strong>闻讯</strong>都过来安慰他。但老先生说：“呵呵，这也许不是坏事，谁知道呢！＂\r\n\r\n几个月之后，奇妙的事情发生了，那匹走失了的骏马意外地跑回来了，并且从邻国带来了一匹新的<strong>骏马</strong>。老翁的好友纷纷过来祝贺他。老翁说：“唉，这也许不是什么好事情呢！”\r\n\r\n一天，老翁的儿子正在骑那匹新的骏马，突然不小心从马上掉了下来并摔断了腿。他从今以后都不能正常走路了。老翁的朋友都为老翁感到伤心，但老翁却说：“这个意外以后能为咱们带来好运也不一定。”\r\n\r\n一年后，全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗，大部分去参军的年轻人都死在了<strong>战场</strong>。老翁的儿子因为腿受伤了所以避过了这一次劫难。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nOnce upon a time, there was an old man who lived with his son on the borders of the country. They both very much enjoyed riding horses. One day, a servant reported to the old man, “One of our good horses has gone missing. It seems the horse ran across to the neighboring country.\"\r\n\r\nOld man\'s friends came and comforted him. However, the old man said: \"Well, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Who knows!\"\r\n\r\nCouple of months later, a strange thing happened. The missing horse came back, accompanied by a great steed from the neighboring country. When his friends congratulated him on this great news, the old man said: \"Well, this might bring us bad luck.\"\r\n\r\nOne day, his son was having fun riding on the fine [new] steed. Suddenly, he fell from the hose and broke his leg. His son was never able to walk again. Again, his friends came to comfort the old man. But the old man was not bothered and said: \"This accident might bring us good luck in the future.\"\r\n\r\nA year later, all young men in the country were drafted to join a war. Most young men who fought died on the battlefield. Luckily, his son avoided entering the war because of his broken leg.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: Story Behind the Idiom - Sai Weng Shi Ma', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1551-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-19 22:41:07', '2015-02-20 03:41:07', '', 1551, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/19/1551-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1556, 1, '2015-02-19 22:44:54', '2015-02-20 03:44:54', '[two_third]\r\nHey hey, lookie here, an excellent guest post submitted by native Chinese speaker Yang from <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com\" target=\"_blank\">Learn Mandarin Now</a>. This story tells us a bit about the Chinese <em>chengyu</em> (idiom),塞翁失马, which can mean \"a blessing in disguise\", or can conversely mean \"bad luck in disguised as good\". It\'s used to point out the hidden positives or negatives in a situation, so you might say it means \"there are two sides to every circumstance\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150220-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading: Intermediate Chinese Fables and Idioms\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'m loving this post for the fable-y language: \"servant\", \"steed\", etc. Plus, I learned a new favorite word in this one: 塞外 [pinyin]sai4 wai4[/pinyin], meaning \"Beyond the Great Wall\". In other words, a remote place near the outskirts or borders of China. Also, don\'t forget, 匹 [pinyin]pi3[/pinyin] is the measure word for Horses, so you\'re gonna see that a few times. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one phrase we should probably get into in greater detail, because I don\'t think it\'s immediately clear what it means: 全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗. Let\'s take a look at this, word by word:\r\n\r\n全国 - The whole country\r\n上下的 - Everywhere\r\n年轻男子 - young men\r\n都 - all\r\n被 - grammar word usually indicating that the subject of the sentence has had something unfortunate happen to them\r\n抓 - grabbed\r\n去 - go out\r\n打仗 - fight \r\n\r\nThe key word here is 抓 [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin], which usually means to \"catch\" or \"grab\". In this case, the word means \"drafted\", so it still means to \"grab\", but in this case, it\'s the ruling power (probably the king) doing the grabbing up (of potential soldiers). The 被 in this case functions as \"were\", with a negative overtone. So this can be translated as \"All the young men everywhere in the country <strong>were drafted</strong> to go fight a war.\"\r\n\r\nLearn Mandarin Now\'s \"<a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-read-chinese/\" target=\"_blank\">How to Read Chinese</a>\" page for a basic overview on getting started with Simplified characters, and look at <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/blog/\" target=\"_blank\">their new blog</a> for some learning tips. \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老翁 - [pinyin]lao3 weng1[/pinyin] - Old man\r\n仆人 - [pinyin]pu2 ren2[/pinyin] - Servant\r\n邻国 - [pinyin]lin2 guo2[/pinyin] - Neighboring country\r\n闻讯 - [pinyin]wen2 xun4[/pinyin] - [upon] hearing the news...\r\n骏马 - [pinyin]jun4 ma3[/pinyin] - Great Steed\r\n战场 - [pinyin]zhan4 chang3[/pinyin] - Battlefield\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n从前，一位<strong>老翁</strong>和他的儿子住在<strong>塞外</strong>的边境上。他们都非常喜欢换骑马。有一天，他们家的<strong>仆人</strong>给老先生报告：\"我们家的一匹骏马走丢了，好像跑去<strong>邻国</strong>了。\"\r\n\r\n老翁的朋友<strong>闻讯</strong>都过来安慰他。但老先生说：“呵呵，这也许不是坏事，谁知道呢！＂\r\n\r\n几个月之后，奇妙的事情发生了，那匹走失了的骏马意外地跑回来了，并且从邻国带来了一匹新的<strong>骏马</strong>。老翁的好友纷纷过来祝贺他。老翁说：“唉，这也许不是什么好事情呢！”\r\n\r\n一天，老翁的儿子正在骑那匹新的骏马，突然不小心从马上掉了下来并摔断了腿。他从今以后都不能正常走路了。老翁的朋友都为老翁感到伤心，但老翁却说：“这个意外以后能为咱们带来好运也不一定。”\r\n\r\n一年后，全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗，大部分去参军的年轻人都死在了<strong>战场</strong>。老翁的儿子因为腿受伤了所以避过了这一次劫难。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nOnce upon a time, there was an old man who lived with his son on the borders of the country. They both very much enjoyed riding horses. One day, a servant reported to the old man, “One of our good horses has gone missing. It seems the horse ran across to the neighboring country.\"\r\n\r\nOld man\'s friends came and comforted him. However, the old man said: \"Well, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Who knows!\"\r\n\r\nCouple of months later, a strange thing happened. The missing horse came back, accompanied by a great steed from the neighboring country. When his friends congratulated him on this great news, the old man said: \"Well, this might bring us bad luck.\"\r\n\r\nOne day, his son was having fun riding on the fine [new] steed. Suddenly, he fell from the hose and broke his leg. His son was never able to walk again. Again, his friends came to comfort the old man. But the old man was not bothered and said: \"This accident might bring us good luck in the future.\"\r\n\r\nA year later, all young men in the country were drafted to join a war. Most young men who fought died on the battlefield. Luckily, his son avoided entering the war because of his broken leg.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: Story Behind the Idiom - Sai Weng Shi Ma', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1551-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-19 22:44:54', '2015-02-20 03:44:54', '', 1551, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/19/1551-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1557, 1, '2015-03-01 00:30:15', '2015-03-01 05:30:15', 'Yang over at <a href=\"http://learnmandarinnow.com\">Learn Mandarin Now</a> is spoiling me with all these guest posts. I\'ve been struggling to find something that suitable for beginners lately - everything I stumble across ends up being intermediate. But this is a very good place for beginners to start reading <em>[pinyin]cheng2yu3[/pinyin]</em> (成语 idiom) stories, because you\'ll get an introduction to a few words that you often see in this kind of \"long long ago, far far away\" fable, though you may struggle a bit. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn the very first sentence, we run across three words of interest. One, 从前 [pinyin]cong2qian2[/pinyin], means \"a long time ago\", your classic storybook beginning. \r\n\r\nThe second, 楚国人 [pinyin]chu3guo2ren2[/pinyin], means \"a man from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)\" target=\"_blank\">State of Chu</a>\". The State of Chu was a Chinese jurisdictional division during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC). In stories that reference pre-1900 China, you\'ll often see references to places that existed in ancient times.  <a href=\"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116528/Chu\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia Britannica</a> tells us: \"China itself was at the time divided into a series of small duke states, all of which theoretically owed allegiance to the Zhou dynasty, although the Zhou rulers had long since been unable to exercise control over more than their own fiefs.\"  Anyhoo, the third word is 宝剑 [pinyin]bao3jian4[/pinyin], which means \"a double-edged sword\". How fable-y is that, huh?\r\n \r\nI\'d also like to draw your attention to the word 移动 [pinyin]yi4dong4[/pinyin], meaning \"to be moving\" or \"mobile\". This word is quite common - it\'s used to refer to people who move often, and also to \"mobile\" phones (the cell provider \"China Mobile\" has this in their Chinese name: 中国移动).\r\n\r\nOkay, let\'s do this. And thanks again to <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-learn-chinese-the-easiest-way/\" target=\"_blank\">Yang</a>! Lots of work for some paltry backlinks. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) <strong>从前</strong>有一位楚国人, 他非常<strong>爱惜</strong>他的宝剑。有一天，他正坐在船上准备过河，<strong>一不小心</strong>他就把宝剑掉进了河里。他马上在宝剑掉落的地方作了<strong>记号</strong>。当他到达对岸的时候，他沿着记号跳进河里去找他的宝剑。当然，他已经找不到了。\r\n \r\n2) 宝剑已经不在原来掉落的地方因为船和水都在<strong>移动</strong>。这个故事形容只会刻板地遵守规则，不懂变通的人。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) Long ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn\'t able to find it.  \r\n \r\n2) The sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances]. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 刻舟求剑 - Actions Made Pointless by Changing Circumstances', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'guest-post-story-behind-the-idiom-ke-zhou-qiu-jian', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:46:22', '2016-11-04 09:46:22', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1557', 0, 'post', '', 39),
(1686, 1, '2016-10-31 01:44:22', '2016-10-31 05:44:22', 'Yang over at <a href=\"http://learnmandarinnow.com\">Learn Mandarin Now</a> is spoiling me with all these guest posts. I\'ve been struggling to find something that suitable for beginners lately - everything I stumble across ends up being intermediate. But this is a very good place for beginners to start reading <em>[pinyin]cheng2yu3[/pinyin]</em> (成语 idiom) stories, because you\'ll get an introduction to a few words that you often see in this kind of \"long long ago, far far away\" fable. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn the very first sentence, we run across three words of interest. One, 从前 [pinyin]cong2qian2[/pinyin], means \"a long time ago\", your classic storybook beginning. \r\n\r\nThe second, 楚国人 [pinyin]chu3guo2ren2[/pinyin], means \"a man from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)\" target=\"_blank\">State of Chu</a>\". The State of Chu was a Chinese jurisdictional division during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC). In stories that reference pre-1900 China, you\'ll often see references to places that existed in ancient times.  <a href=\"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116528/Chu\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia Britannica</a> tells us: \"China itself was at the time divided into a series of small duke states, all of which theoretically owed allegiance to the Zhou dynasty, although the Zhou rulers had long since been unable to exercise control over more than their own fiefs.\"  Anyhoo, the third word is 宝剑 [pinyin]bao3jian4[/pinyin], which means \"a double-edged sword\". How fable-y is that, huh?\r\n \r\nI\'d also like to draw your attention to the word 移动 [pinyin]yi4dong4[/pinyin], meaning \"to be moving\" or \"mobile\". This word is quite common - it\'s used to refer to people who move often, and also to \"mobile\" phones (the cell provider \"China Mobile\" has this in their Chinese name: 中国移动).\r\n\r\nOkay, let\'s do this. And thanks again to <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-learn-chinese-the-easiest-way/\" target=\"_blank\">Yang</a>! Lots of work for some paltry backlinks. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>从前</strong>有一位楚国人, 他非常<strong>爱惜</strong>他的宝剑。有一天，他正坐在船上准备过河，<strong>一不小心</strong>他就把宝剑掉进了河里。他马上在宝剑掉落的地方作了<strong>记号</strong>。当他到达对岸的时候，他沿着记号跳进河里去找他的宝剑。当然，他已经找不到了。\r\n \r\n宝剑已经不在原来掉落的地方因为船和水都在<strong>移动</strong>。这个故事形容只会刻板地遵守规则，不懂变通的人。\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\nLong ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn\'t able to find it.  \r\n \r\nThe sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances]. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 刻舟求剑 - Actions Made Pointless by Changing Circumstances', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1557-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:44:22', '2016-10-31 05:44:22', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1557-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1559, 1, '2015-02-25 21:41:04', '2015-02-26 02:41:04', '[two_third]\nYang over at <a href=\"http://learnmandarinnow.com\">Learn Mandarin Now</a> is spoiling me with all these guest posts. I\'ve been struggling to find something that suitable for beginners lately - everything I stumble across ends up being intermediate. But this is a very good place for beginners to start reading <em>[pinyin]cheng2yu3[/pinyin]</em> (成语 idiom) stories, because you\'ll get an introduction to a few words that you often see in this kind of \"long long ago, far far away\" fable. <!--more-->\n\nIn the very first sentence, we run across three words of interest. One, 从前 [pinyin]cong2qian2[/pinyin], means \"a long time ago\", your classic storybook beginning. \n\nThe second, 楚国人 [pinyin]chu1guo2ren2[/pinyin], means \"a man from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)\" target=\"_blank\">State of Chu</a>\". The State of Chu was a Chinese jurisdictional division during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC). In stories that reference pre-1900 China, you\'ll often see references to places that existed in ancient times.  <a href=\"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116528/Chu\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia Britannica</a> tells us: \"China itself was at the time divided into a series of small duke states, all of which theoretically owed allegiance to the Zhou dynasty, although the Zhou rulers had long since been unable to exercise control over more than their own fiefs.\"  Anyhoo, the third word is 宝剑 [pinyin]bao3jian4[/pinyin], which means \"a double-edged sword\". How fable-y is that, huh?\n \nI\'d also like to draw your attention to the word 移动 [pinyin]yi4dong4[/pinyin], meaning \"to be moving\" or \"mobile\". This word is quite common - it\'s used to refer to people who move often, and also to \"mobile\" phones (the cell provider \"China Mobile\" has this in their Chinese name: 中国移动).\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n从前 - [pinyin]sui4 dao4[/pinyin] - Tunnel\n爱惜 - [pinyin]ning2 jing4[/pinyin] - Tranquil\n一不小心 - [pinyin]hua1 jia3[/pinyin] - Old person over 60\n宝 - [pinyin]fu4 weng1[/pinyin] - Millionaire\n记号 - [pinyin]zhong1 dian3 zhan4[/pinyin] - Terminus\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<strong>从前</strong>有一位楚国人, 他非常<strong>爱惜</strong>他的宝剑。有一天，他正坐在船上准备过河，<strong>一不小心</strong>他就把宝剑掉进了河里。他马上在宝剑掉落的地方作了<strong>记号</strong>。当他到达对岸的时候，他沿着记号跳进河里去找他的宝剑。当然，他已经找不到了。\n \n宝剑已经不在原来掉落的地方因为船和水都在<strong>移动</strong>。这个故事形容只会刻板地遵守规则，不懂变通的人。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nLong ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn\'t able to find it.  \n \nThe sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances]. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: Story Behind the Idiom, Ke Zhou Qiu Jian', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1557-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-25 21:41:04', '2015-02-26 02:41:04', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/25/1557-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1560, 1, '2015-02-25 21:51:40', '2015-02-26 02:51:40', '', 'Easy Reading Material Chinese: Learn to Read Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150226', '', '', '2015-02-25 21:51:40', '2015-02-26 02:51:40', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150226.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1561, 1, '2015-02-25 21:51:42', '2015-02-26 02:51:42', '', 'Easy Reading Material Chinese: Learn to Read Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150226-inline', '', '', '2015-02-25 21:51:42', '2015-02-26 02:51:42', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150226-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1562, 1, '2015-02-25 21:44:09', '2015-02-26 02:44:09', '[two_third]\nYang over at <a href=\"http://learnmandarinnow.com\">Learn Mandarin Now</a> is spoiling me with all these guest posts. I\'ve been struggling to find something that suitable for beginners lately - everything I stumble across ends up being intermediate. But this is a very good place for beginners to start reading <em>[pinyin]cheng2yu3[/pinyin]</em> (成语 idiom) stories, because you\'ll get an introduction to a few words that you often see in this kind of \"long long ago, far far away\" fable. <!--more-->\n\nIn the very first sentence, we run across three words of interest. One, 从前 [pinyin]cong2qian2[/pinyin], means \"a long time ago\", your classic storybook beginning. \n\nThe second, 楚国人 [pinyin]chu1guo2ren2[/pinyin], means \"a man from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)\" target=\"_blank\">State of Chu</a>\". The State of Chu was a Chinese jurisdictional division during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC). In stories that reference pre-1900 China, you\'ll often see references to places that existed in ancient times.  <a href=\"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116528/Chu\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia Britannica</a> tells us: \"China itself was at the time divided into a series of small duke states, all of which theoretically owed allegiance to the Zhou dynasty, although the Zhou rulers had long since been unable to exercise control over more than their own fiefs.\"  Anyhoo, the third word is 宝剑 [pinyin]bao3jian4[/pinyin], which means \"a double-edged sword\". How fable-y is that, huh?\n \nI\'d also like to draw your attention to the word 移动 [pinyin]yi4dong4[/pinyin], meaning \"to be moving\" or \"mobile\". This word is quite common - it\'s used to refer to people who move often, and also to \"mobile\" phones (the cell provider \"China Mobile\" has this in their Chinese name: 中国移动).\n\nOkay, let\'s do this. And thanks again to <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-learn-chinese-the-easiest-way/\" target=\"_blank\">Yang</a>! Lots of work for some paltry backlinks. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n从前 - [pinyin]cong2 qian2[/pinyin] - A long time ago\n爱惜 - [pinyin]ai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Cherish\n一不小心 - [pinyin]yi1 bu4 xiao3 xin1[/pinyin] - Accidentally\n记号 - [pinyin]ji4 hao4[/pinyin] - Notch, notation made to remember something\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<strong>从前</strong>有一位楚国人, 他非常<strong>爱惜</strong>他的宝剑。有一天，他正坐在船上准备过河，<strong>一不小心</strong>他就把宝剑掉进了河里。他马上在宝剑掉落的地方作了<strong>记号</strong>。当他到达对岸的时候，他沿着记号跳进河里去找他的宝剑。当然，他已经找不到了。\n \n宝剑已经不在原来掉落的地方因为船和水都在<strong>移动</strong>。这个故事形容只会刻板地遵守规则，不懂变通的人。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nLong ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn\'t able to find it.  \n \nThe sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances]. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: Story Behind the Idiom, Ke Zhou Qiu Jian', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1557-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-25 21:44:09', '2015-02-26 02:44:09', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/25/1557-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1563, 1, '2015-02-25 21:53:44', '2015-02-26 02:53:44', '[two_third]\r\nYang over at <a href=\"http://learnmandarinnow.com\">Learn Mandarin Now</a> is spoiling me with all these guest posts. I\'ve been struggling to find something that suitable for beginners lately - everything I stumble across ends up being intermediate. But this is a very good place for beginners to start reading <em>[pinyin]cheng2yu3[/pinyin]</em> (成语 idiom) stories, because you\'ll get an introduction to a few words that you often see in this kind of \"long long ago, far far away\" fable. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150226-INLINE.jpg\" title=\"Easy Reading Material Chinese: Learn to Read Chinese\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Free: Mandarin Reading Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In the very first sentence, we run across three words of interest. One, 从前 [pinyin]cong2qian2[/pinyin], means \"a long time ago\", your classic storybook beginning. \r\n\r\nThe second, 楚国人 [pinyin]chu1guo2ren2[/pinyin], means \"a man from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)\" target=\"_blank\">State of Chu</a>\". The State of Chu was a Chinese jurisdictional division during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC). In stories that reference pre-1900 China, you\'ll often see references to places that existed in ancient times.  <a href=\"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116528/Chu\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia Britannica</a> tells us: \"China itself was at the time divided into a series of small duke states, all of which theoretically owed allegiance to the Zhou dynasty, although the Zhou rulers had long since been unable to exercise control over more than their own fiefs.\"  Anyhoo, the third word is 宝剑 [pinyin]bao3jian4[/pinyin], which means \"a double-edged sword\". How fable-y is that, huh?\r\n \r\nI\'d also like to draw your attention to the word 移动 [pinyin]yi4dong4[/pinyin], meaning \"to be moving\" or \"mobile\". This word is quite common - it\'s used to refer to people who move often, and also to \"mobile\" phones (the cell provider \"China Mobile\" has this in their Chinese name: 中国移动).\r\n\r\nOkay, let\'s do this. And thanks again to <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-learn-chinese-the-easiest-way/\" target=\"_blank\">Yang</a>! Lots of work for some paltry backlinks. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n从前 - [pinyin]cong2 qian2[/pinyin] - A long time ago\r\n爱惜 - [pinyin]ai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Cherish\r\n一不小心 - [pinyin]yi1 bu4 xiao3 xin1[/pinyin] - Accidentally\r\n记号 - [pinyin]ji4 hao4[/pinyin] - Notch, notation made to remember something\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>从前</strong>有一位楚国人, 他非常<strong>爱惜</strong>他的宝剑。有一天，他正坐在船上准备过河，<strong>一不小心</strong>他就把宝剑掉进了河里。他马上在宝剑掉落的地方作了<strong>记号</strong>。当他到达对岸的时候，他沿着记号跳进河里去找他的宝剑。当然，他已经找不到了。\r\n \r\n宝剑已经不在原来掉落的地方因为船和水都在<strong>移动</strong>。这个故事形容只会刻板地遵守规则，不懂变通的人。\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\nLong ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn\'t able to find it.  \r\n \r\nThe sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances]. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: Story Behind the Idiom, Ke Zhou Qiu Jian', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1557-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-25 21:53:44', '2015-02-26 02:53:44', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/25/1557-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1565, 1, '2015-03-05 06:00:18', '2015-03-05 11:00:18', 'Your basic \"it\'s what\'s on the inside that counts\", moral-of-the-story story about a rabbit filled with self-loathing. \r\n\r\n<h3>Burrowing into 钻</h3>\r\nDifficult bits in this passage include the phrase 钻出来 [pinyin]zuan1 chu1 lai2[/pinyin]. We know that 出来 means to \"come out of\". But 钻? If you check the dictionary, the first definition that comes up for this word is \"diamond\", but that wasn\'t the correct definition in this case. Secondly, it also means to \"drill\" or \"bore\", which makes sense as a second definition of \"diamond\" - lots of diamond drill bits out there. But that still doesn\'t work in context of the whole sentence. But if you run a Baidu image search on the phrase, and you\'ll find lots of pictures of people squeezing out of small spaces, children coming out of playground tunnels, workers coming out of manholes, and you\'ll probably realize that 钻出来 means to wiggle out of a space via a small opening. Imagine a secret agent crawling through an air duct; in Chinese, there\'s a word for that, and that word is 钻. So it\'s really more like \"to burrow out of or in to\". I often hear it used in Beijing in reference to \"burrowing under the covers\" (钻进被窝).\r\n\r\n<h3>Sources</h3>\r\nI got this story from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>, in a post where she lists a few different easy stories, so if you wanna read some more on your own, head on over. I\'ll probably translate another couple from there before too long. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n森林里住着一只小兔子，它叫“丑丑”。它的眼睛红红的，像一对红宝石。可是它的毛灰灰的，像是从灰炉里钻出来似的，它觉得自己太丑了，常常一个人躲在家里。\r\n\r\n虽然它长得不好看，但是它有一颗无比善良的心。小猴子乐乐的家被大水冲垮了，无家可归。丑丑就让乐乐住在自己的家，还把自己最喜欢吃的巧克力分给乐乐吃。不仅如此，谁头痛、生病了，没钱买药，它都会尽其所能进行帮助。\r\n\r\n日子一天天过去了，丑丑还是很孤单。一次，森林里最好看的小兔子美美来找它玩，可丑丑觉得自己太丑了，没脸见它。美美告诉丑丑：“人的外表并不重要，重要的是内在美。”丑丑恍然大悟，它跑了出去，和伙伴们一起尽情地玩耍。\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 forest there lived a little rabbit whose name was \"Chouchou\". His eyes were red, like a pair of rubies. But his fur was grey, like he\'d wiggled out of a furnace, and he felt himself to be very ugly, often hiding in his house alone. \r\n\r\nAlthough he wasn\'t nice to look at, he had an incomparably kind heart. When Little Monkey Lele\'s home was burst apart by a flood, he had no house to return to. Chouchou let Lele live with him, and he divided up his favorite chocolate to give some to Lele to eat. Not only that, whoever had a headach, or got sick, with no money to buy medicine, he did everything he was able to do to help. \r\n\r\nThe days passed one by one, and Chouchou was still alone. One time, the forest\'s most beautiful rabbit Meimei came looking for Chouchou to play, but Chouchou thought of himself as just too ugly, he couldn\'t face seeing her. Meimei told Chouchou: \"It\'s not what\'s on the outside that counts, the important thing is what\'s on the inside.\" Chouchou suddenly saw the light, he ran outside, and played with his friends to his heart\'s content.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Short Stories] “美丽”的小兔 - The \"Beautiful\" Rabbit', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'the-beautiful-rabbit', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:41:11', '2016-11-04 09:41:11', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1565', 0, 'post', '', 125),
(1566, 1, '2015-09-24 21:47:56', '2015-09-25 01:47:56', 'This is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. The words are mostly OK, but there are one too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nThis is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you start reading and then one word trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. Uh, well, [pinyin]xiang1 cao3[/pinyin] means \"vanilla\" and [pinyin]wa2 wa2[/pinyin] is \"baby\", so... vanilla baby? Really? In the story, 香草娃娃 is used as a toy\'s name, so I thought, maybe there\'s a toy called a Vanilla Baby? Anyway, it turns out an out-of-use definition for 香草 is \"old and dependable\". Ah hah - \"old, dependable baby doll\". That makes sense. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one other very useful phrase here that\'s very commonly used in everyday language: 太过分了！Directly translated, this means \"Too excessive!\", but this phrase doesn\'t usually actually refer to a large amount of things. It\'s more often used to refer to a circumstance or someone\'s behavior, like, \"That is just too much to bear!\". If someone was very mean to you, you could say, \"太过分了!\" or if an interview process was super rough and you got raked over the coals, also \"太过分了!\" \r\n\r\nEnjoy this one, and consider it good practicing in very colloquial story building.\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹非凡。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着舞池，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这时，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很气愤，说：“他们怎么能这样对待你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了灿烂的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\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 new year had almost arrived, and the Toy Kingdom planned to invite everyone to a grand ball. The day of the dance, the toys were all dancing and laughing, and the whole ballroom was extraordinarily lively. But off in one corner, receiving no attention from anyone, there was an old purple doll silently gazing at the dance floor, her eyes were blank and she looked lonely. Just then, a white polar bear in front of her saw this, walked over and asked the dependable old doll, \"Doll, why don\'t you go dance?\" The dependable doll lowered her head sadly, saying in a small voice, \"The [other] toys all say I\'m too short, they\'re not willing to dance with me.\"  Saying this, she began to cry. Polar Bear was furious when he heard this, and said: \"How could they treat you this way? Don\'t they understand solidarity? That\'s just too much!\" Little Bear pulled on the baby doll\'s hand, and said: \"Doll, don\'t be sad. Come on, I\'m asking you to dance with me.\" The dependable doll heard these words, and a brilliant smile immediately lit up her face. She quickly wiped the tears off her face and said happily, \"Wonderful! Wonderful!\" On the dance floor, Doll and Bear danced and laughed, and passed a lovely evening together. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Children\'s Stories] The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'the-little-polar-bear-and-the-doll-dance-together', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:32:52', '2016-11-04 09:32:52', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1566', 0, 'post', '', 23),
(2026, 1, '2016-11-04 05:32:18', '2016-11-04 09:32:18', 'This is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. The words are mostly OK, but there are one too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nThis is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you start reading and then one word trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. Uh, well, [pinyin]xiang1 cao3[/pinyin] means \"vanilla\" and [pinyin]wa2 wa2[/pinyin] is \"baby\", so... vanilla baby? Really? In the story, 香草娃娃 is used as a toy\'s name, so I thought, maybe there\'s a toy called a Vanilla Baby? Anyway, it turns out an out-of-use definition for 香草 is \"old and dependable\". Ah hah - \"old, dependable baby doll\". That makes sense. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one other very useful phrase here that\'s very commonly used in everyday language: 太过分了！Directly translated, this means \"Too excessive!\", but this phrase doesn\'t usually actually refer to a large amount of things. It\'s more often used to refer to a circumstance or someone\'s behavior, like, \"That is just too much to bear!\". If someone was very mean to you, you could say, \"太过分了!\" or if an interview process was super rough and you got raked over the coals, also \"太过分了!\" \r\n\r\nEnjoy this one, and consider it good practicing in very colloquial story building.\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹非凡。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着舞池，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这时，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很气愤，说：“他们怎么能这样对待你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了灿烂的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\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 new year had almost arrived, and the Toy Kingdom planned to invite everyone to a grand ball. The day of the dance, the toys were all dancing and laughing, and the whole ballroom was extraordinarily lively. But off in one corner, receiving no attention from anyone, there was an old purple doll silently gazing at the dance floor, her eyes were blank and she looked lonely. Just then, a white polar bear in front of her saw this, walked over and asked the dependable old doll, \"Doll, why don\'t you go dance?\" The dependable doll lowered her head sadly, saying in a small voice, \"The [other] toys all say I\'m too short, they\'re not willing to dance with me.\"  Saying this, she began to cry. Polar Bear was furious when he heard this, and said: \"How could they treat you this way? Don\'t they understand solidarity? That\'s just too much!\" Little Bear pulled on the baby doll\'s hand, and said: \"Doll, don\'t be sad. Come on, I\'m asking you to dance with me.\" The dependable doll heard these words, and a brilliant smile immediately lit up her face. She quickly wiped the tears off her face and said happily, \"Wonderful! Wonderful!\" On the dance floor, Doll and Bear danced and laughed, and passed a lovely evening together. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Children\'s Stories] The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1566-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:32:18', '2016-11-04 09:32:18', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1566-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1567, 1, '2012-11-01 02:15:23', '2012-11-01 06:15:23', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 夜郎自大</strong>\r\n\r\nHere we\'ll cover the back story behind the idiom \"夜郎自大\", or \"Yelang thinks highly of itself\". This idiom one refers to someone who has a high, but misguided, opinion of their own worth. Stick this one in the language bank for when you need to take someone down a peg (preferably while stroking your fu manchu and calmly catching flies with your chopsticks). <!--more-->\r\n\r\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. \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 [pinyin1]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[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n汉朝 - [pinyin]han4 chao2[/pinyin] - Han Dynasty\r\n部下 - [pinyin]bu4 xia4[/pinyin] - Troops or subordinates under one\'s command\r\n巡视 - [pinyin]xun2 shi4[/pinyin] - Go on an inspection tour\r\n国境 - [pinyin]guo2 jing4[/pinyin] - National Borders\r\n迎合 - [pinyin]ying2 he2[/pinyin] - Serve one\'s own interests / to fawn or cater\r\n异口同声 - [pinyin]yi4 kou3 tong2 sheng1[/pinyin] - To say in unison\r\n派 - [pinyin]pai4[/pinyin] - To dispatch, send someone\r\n使者 - [pinyin]shi3 zhe3[/pinyin] - Envoy\r\n途中 - [pinyin]tu2 zhong1[/pinyin] - En route\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>汉朝</strong>的时候，在西南方有个名叫夜郎的小国家，它虽然是一个独立的国家，可是<strong>国土</strong>很小，百姓也少，物产更是少得可怜。但是由于邻近地区以夜郎这个国家最大，从没离开过国家的夜郎国国王就以为自己<strong>统治</strong>的国家是全天下最大的国家。\r\n\r\n有一天，夜郎国国王与<strong>部下</strong><strong>巡视</strong><strong>国境</strong>的时候，他指着前方问说：“这里哪个国家最大呀？”部下们为了<strong>迎合</strong>国王的心意，于是就说：“当然是夜郎国最大啰！”走着走着，国王又抬起头来、望着前方的高山问说：“天底下还有比这座山更高的山吗？”部下们回答说：“天底下没有比这座山更高的山了。”后来，他们来到河边，国王又问：“我认为这可是世界上最长的河川了。”部下们仍然<strong>异口同声</strong>回答说：“大王说得一点都没错。”从此以后，无知的国王就更相信夜郎是天底下最大的国家。\r\n\r\n有一次，汉朝<strong>派</strong><strong>使者</strong>来到夜郎，<strong>途中</strong>先经过夜郎的邻国滇国，滇王问使者：“汉朝和我的国家比起来哪个大？”使者一听吓了一跳，他没想到这个小国家，竟然无知的自以为能与汉朝相比。却没想到后来使者到了夜郎国，骄傲又无知的国王因为不知道自己统治的国家只和汉朝的一个县差不多大，竟然不知天高地厚也问使者：“汉朝和我的国家哪个大？”\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDuring the Han Dynasty, in the southwest there was a small country called Yelang, and although it was an independent nation, its territory was small, there weren\'t many citizens, and its products were pitifully few. Because it was the largest kingdom in the near area, the Yelang king who\'d never left his own country thought the country he ruled was the biggest on earth. \r\n\r\nOne day, the king of Yelang was on a national border inspection tour with his troops, when he pointed in front of him [to neighboring country] and said, \"Which country is bigger?\" In order to serve their own interests and make the king happy, the troops said, \"Of course Yelang is bigger!\" They walked along, and the king once again lifted up his head, gazed at the big mountain in the distance and asked: \"Is there a taller mountain than this anywhere on earth?\" And his men answered: \"No, there\'s no mountain taller than this one on earth.\" After a while, they reached the river side, and the king asked again: \"I think this is the world\'s longest river.\" And all his men said in unison \"The king speaks truly.\" After this, the ignorant king believed even more firmly that Yelang was the world\'s biggest country.\r\n\r\nThen one day, the Han Dynasty dispatched an envoy to Yelang, and en route they encountered the neighboring kingdom DianGuo, and the King of Dian asked the emissary: \"If you compared the Han Dynasty and my Kingdom, which one would be bigger?\" The emissary listened in astonishment, as he\'d never have thought this small a country thought it could compare itself to the Han Dynasty. But he really never could have suspected that when he got to Yelang, the prideful and ignorant king who didn\'t know that the kingdom he ruled was about the size of one Han county, would ask with an exaggerated opinion of his own worth, \"Which is bigger: the Han Dynasty or my country?\"  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: YeLang Zi Da', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1300-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-11-01 02:15:23', '2012-11-01 06:15:23', '', 1300, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/11/01/1300-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1568, 1, '2015-02-27 21:47:43', '2015-02-28 02:47:43', '[two_third]\nThis is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. One too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations. <!--more-->\n\nThis is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you find a story with one word that trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n从前 - [pinyin]cong2 qian2[/pinyin] - A long time ago\n爱惜 - [pinyin]ai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Cherish\n一不小心 - [pinyin]yi1 bu4 xiao3 xin1[/pinyin] - Accidentally\n记号 - [pinyin]ji4 hao4[/pinyin] - Notch, notation made to remember something\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹非凡。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着舞池，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这是，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很气愤，说：“他们怎么能这样对待你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了灿烂的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\n \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹非凡。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着舞池，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这是，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很气愤，说：“他们怎么能这样对待你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了灿烂的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1566-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-27 21:47:43', '2015-02-28 02:47:43', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/27/1566-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1569, 1, '2015-02-27 22:15:56', '2015-02-28 03:15:56', '[two_third]\nA fairly simple read for newbies about a self-hating rabbit. <!--more-->\n\nIn terms of plot, this is your basic \"it\'s what\'s on the inside that counts\", moral-of-the-story story. Frankly, it\'s a bit boring, but there are a couple of good words and phrases in here. One in particular is difficult, and I couldn\'t figure it out just by looking at the definition, I had to go hunt around a bit: 钻出来 [pinyin]zuan1 chu1 lai2[/pinyin]. We know that 出来 means to \"come out of\". But 钻? The first definition that came up when I looked was \"diamond\", but that wasn\'t the correct definition in this case. Secondly, it also means to \"drill\" or \"bore\", which makes sense as a second definition of \"diamond\" - lots of diamond drill bits out there. But that still doesn\'t work in context of the whole sentence. I finally ran a Baidu image search on the phrase, and there were lots of pictures of miners squeezing out of small spaces, children coming out of playground tunnels, workers coming out of manholes, and I realized that 钻出来 means to wiggle out of a space via a small opening. Imagine a secret agent crawling through an air duct; in Chinese, there\'s a word for that, and that word is 钻. \n\nI got this from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>, in a post where she lists a few different easy stories, so if you wanna . I\'ll probably translate another couple from there before too long. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n红宝石 - [pinyin]hong2 bao3 shi2[/pinyin] - Ruby\n灰炉 - [pinyin]hui1 lu2[/pinyin] - Furnace\n丑 - [pinyin]chou3[/pinyin] - Ugly\n不仅如此 - [pinyin]ji4 hao4[/pinyin] - Not only that, \n孤单 - [pinyin]ji4 hao4[/pinyin] - Alone\n外表 - [pinyin]ji4 hao4[/pinyin] - Appearance\n内在 - [pinyin]ji4 hao4[/pinyin] - Inherent / (abstract) interior \n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n森林里住着一只小兔子，它叫“丑丑”。它的眼睛红红的，像一对<strong>红宝石</strong>。可是它的毛灰灰的，像是从<strong>灰炉</strong>里钻出来似的，它觉得自己太<strong>丑</strong>了，常常一个人躲在家里。\n\n虽然它长得不好看，但是它有一颗无比善良的心。小猴子乐乐的家被大水<strong>冲垮</strong>了，无家可归。丑丑就让乐乐住在自己的家，还把自己最喜欢吃的巧克力分给乐乐吃。<strong>不仅如此</strong>，谁头痛、生病了，没钱买药，它都会尽其所能进行帮助。\n\n日子一天天过去了，丑丑还是很<strong>孤单</strong>。一次，森林里最好看的小兔子美美来找它玩，可丑丑觉得自己太丑了，没脸见它。美美告诉丑丑：“人的<strong>外表</strong>并不重要，重要的是<strong>内在</strong>美。”丑丑恍然大悟，它跑了出去，和伙伴们一起尽情地玩耍。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn the forest there lived a little rabbit whose name was \"Chouchou\". His eyes were red, like a pair of rubies. But his fur was grey, like he\'d wiggled out of a furnace, and he felt himself to be very ugly, often hiding in his house alone. \n\nAlthough he wasn\'t nice to look at, he had an incomparably kind heart. When Little Monkey Lele\'s home was burst apart by a flood, he had no house to return to. Chouchou let Lele live with him, and he divided up his favorite chocolate to give some to Lele to eat. Not only that, whoever had a headach, or got sick, with no money to buy medicine, he did everything he was able to do to help. \n\nThe days passed one by one, and Chouchou was still alone. One time, the forest\'s most beautiful rabbit Meimei came looking for Chouchou to play, but Chouchou thought of himself as just too ugly, he couldn\'t face seeing her. Meimei told Chouchou: \"It\'s not what\'s on the outside that counts, the important thing is what\'s on the inside.\" Chouchou suddenly saw the light, he ran outside, and played with his friends to his heart\'s content.  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The \"Beautiful\" Rabbit', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1565-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-27 22:15:56', '2015-02-28 03:15:56', '', 1565, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/27/1565-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1570, 1, '2015-02-27 22:21:55', '2015-02-28 03:21:55', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Mandarin Readying Study', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150305', '', '', '2015-02-27 22:21:55', '2015-02-28 03:21:55', '', 1565, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150305.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1571, 1, '2015-02-27 22:21:56', '2015-02-28 03:21:56', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Mandarin Readying Study', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150305-inline', '', '', '2015-02-27 22:21:56', '2015-02-28 03:21:56', '', 1565, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150305-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1572, 1, '2015-02-27 22:16:22', '2015-02-28 03:16:22', '[two_third]\r\nA fairly simple read for newbies about a self-hating rabbit. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn terms of plot, this is your basic \"it\'s what\'s on the inside that counts\", moral-of-the-story story. Frankly, it\'s a bit boring, but there are a couple of good words and phrases in here. One in particular is difficult, and I couldn\'t figure it out just by looking at the definition, I had to go hunt around a bit: 钻出来 [pinyin]zuan1 chu1 lai2[/pinyin]. We know that 出来 means to \"come out of\". But 钻? The first definition that came up when I looked was \"diamond\", but that wasn\'t the correct definition in this case. Secondly, it also means to \"drill\" or \"bore\", which makes sense as a second definition of \"diamond\" - lots of diamond drill bits out there. But that still doesn\'t work in context of the whole sentence. I finally ran a Baidu image search on the phrase, and there were lots of pictures of miners squeezing out of small spaces, children coming out of playground tunnels, workers coming out of manholes, and I realized that 钻出来 means to wiggle out of a space via a small opening. Imagine a secret agent crawling through an air duct; in Chinese, there\'s a word for that, and that word is 钻. \r\n\r\nI got this from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>, in a post where she lists a few different easy stories, so if you wanna . I\'ll probably translate another couple from there before too long. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n红宝石 - [pinyin]hong2 bao3 shi2[/pinyin] - Ruby\r\n灰炉 - [pinyin]hui1 lu2[/pinyin] - Furnace\r\n丑 - [pinyin]chou3[/pinyin] - Ugly\r\n不仅如此 - [pinyin]bu4 jin3 ru2 ci3[/pinyin] - Not only that, \r\n孤单 - [pinyin]gu1 dan1[/pinyin] - Alone\r\n外表 - [pinyin]wai4 biao3[/pinyin] - Appearance\r\n内在 - [pinyin]nei4 zai4[/pinyin] - Inherent / (abstract) interior \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森林里住着一只小兔子，它叫“丑丑”。它的眼睛红红的，像一对<strong>红宝石</strong>。可是它的毛灰灰的，像是从<strong>灰炉</strong>里钻出来似的，它觉得自己太<strong>丑</strong>了，常常一个人躲在家里。\r\n\r\n虽然它长得不好看，但是它有一颗无比善良的心。小猴子乐乐的家被大水<strong>冲垮</strong>了，无家可归。丑丑就让乐乐住在自己的家，还把自己最喜欢吃的巧克力分给乐乐吃。<strong>不仅如此</strong>，谁头痛、生病了，没钱买药，它都会尽其所能进行帮助。\r\n\r\n日子一天天过去了，丑丑还是很<strong>孤单</strong>。一次，森林里最好看的小兔子美美来找它玩，可丑丑觉得自己太丑了，没脸见它。美美告诉丑丑：“人的<strong>外表</strong>并不重要，重要的是<strong>内在</strong>美。”丑丑恍然大悟，它跑了出去，和伙伴们一起尽情地玩耍。\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 forest there lived a little rabbit whose name was \"Chouchou\". His eyes were red, like a pair of rubies. But his fur was grey, like he\'d wiggled out of a furnace, and he felt himself to be very ugly, often hiding in his house alone. \r\n\r\nAlthough he wasn\'t nice to look at, he had an incomparably kind heart. When Little Monkey Lele\'s home was burst apart by a flood, he had no house to return to. Chouchou let Lele live with him, and he divided up his favorite chocolate to give some to Lele to eat. Not only that, whoever had a headach, or got sick, with no money to buy medicine, he did everything he was able to do to help. \r\n\r\nThe days passed one by one, and Chouchou was still alone. One time, the forest\'s most beautiful rabbit Meimei came looking for Chouchou to play, but Chouchou thought of himself as just too ugly, he couldn\'t face seeing her. Meimei told Chouchou: \"It\'s not what\'s on the outside that counts, the important thing is what\'s on the inside.\" Chouchou suddenly saw the light, he ran outside, and played with his friends to his heart\'s content.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The \"Beautiful\" Rabbit', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1565-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-27 22:16:22', '2015-02-28 03:16:22', '', 1565, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/27/1565-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1573, 1, '2015-02-27 22:33:30', '2015-02-28 03:33:30', '[two_third]\nThis is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. One too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations. <!--more-->\n\nThis is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you start reading and then one word trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. Uh, well, [pinyin]xiang1 cao3[/pinyin] means \"vanilla\" and [pinyin]wa2 wa2[/pinyin] is \"baby\", so... vanilla baby? Really? In the story, 香草娃娃 is used as a toy\'s name, so maybe it was actually. Anyway, it turns out an out-of-use definition for 香草\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n从前 - [pinyin]cong2 qian2[/pinyin] - A long time ago\n爱惜 - [pinyin]ai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Cherish\n一不小心 - [pinyin]yi1 bu4 xiao3 xin1[/pinyin] - Accidentally\n记号 - [pinyin]ji4 hao4[/pinyin] - Notch, notation made to remember something\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹非凡。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着舞池，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这是，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很气愤，说：“他们怎么能这样对待你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了灿烂的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\n \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹非凡。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着舞池，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这是，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很气愤，说：“他们怎么能这样对待你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了灿烂的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1566-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-27 22:33:30', '2015-02-28 03:33:30', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/27/1566-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1574, 1, '2015-02-25 21:54:56', '2015-02-26 02:54:56', '[two_third]\r\nYang over at <a href=\"http://learnmandarinnow.com\">Learn Mandarin Now</a> is spoiling me with all these guest posts. I\'ve been struggling to find something that suitable for beginners lately - everything I stumble across ends up being intermediate. But this is a very good place for beginners to start reading <em>[pinyin]cheng2yu3[/pinyin]</em> (成语 idiom) stories, because you\'ll get an introduction to a few words that you often see in this kind of \"long long ago, far far away\" fable. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150226-INLINE.jpg\" title=\"Easy Reading Material Chinese: Learn to Read Chinese\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Free: Mandarin Reading Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In the very first sentence, we run across three words of interest. One, 从前 [pinyin]cong2qian2[/pinyin], means \"a long time ago\", your classic storybook beginning. \r\n\r\nThe second, 楚国人 [pinyin]chu3guo2ren2[/pinyin], means \"a man from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)\" target=\"_blank\">State of Chu</a>\". The State of Chu was a Chinese jurisdictional division during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC). In stories that reference pre-1900 China, you\'ll often see references to places that existed in ancient times.  <a href=\"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116528/Chu\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia Britannica</a> tells us: \"China itself was at the time divided into a series of small duke states, all of which theoretically owed allegiance to the Zhou dynasty, although the Zhou rulers had long since been unable to exercise control over more than their own fiefs.\"  Anyhoo, the third word is 宝剑 [pinyin]bao3jian4[/pinyin], which means \"a double-edged sword\". How fable-y is that, huh?\r\n \r\nI\'d also like to draw your attention to the word 移动 [pinyin]yi4dong4[/pinyin], meaning \"to be moving\" or \"mobile\". This word is quite common - it\'s used to refer to people who move often, and also to \"mobile\" phones (the cell provider \"China Mobile\" has this in their Chinese name: 中国移动).\r\n\r\nOkay, let\'s do this. And thanks again to <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-learn-chinese-the-easiest-way/\" target=\"_blank\">Yang</a>! Lots of work for some paltry backlinks. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n从前 - [pinyin]cong2 qian2[/pinyin] - A long time ago\r\n爱惜 - [pinyin]ai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Cherish\r\n一不小心 - [pinyin]yi1 bu4 xiao3 xin1[/pinyin] - Accidentally\r\n记号 - [pinyin]ji4 hao4[/pinyin] - Notch, notation made to remember something\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>从前</strong>有一位楚国人, 他非常<strong>爱惜</strong>他的宝剑。有一天，他正坐在船上准备过河，<strong>一不小心</strong>他就把宝剑掉进了河里。他马上在宝剑掉落的地方作了<strong>记号</strong>。当他到达对岸的时候，他沿着记号跳进河里去找他的宝剑。当然，他已经找不到了。\r\n \r\n宝剑已经不在原来掉落的地方因为船和水都在<strong>移动</strong>。这个故事形容只会刻板地遵守规则，不懂变通的人。\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\nLong ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn\'t able to find it.  \r\n \r\nThe sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances]. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: Story Behind the Idiom, Ke Zhou Qiu Jian', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1557-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-25 21:54:56', '2015-02-26 02:54:56', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/25/1557-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1575, 1, '2015-03-01 22:39:59', '2015-03-02 03:39:59', '[two_third]\r\nYang over at <a href=\"http://learnmandarinnow.com\">Learn Mandarin Now</a> is spoiling me with all these guest posts. I\'ve been struggling to find something that suitable for beginners lately - everything I stumble across ends up being intermediate. But this is a very good place for beginners to start reading <em>[pinyin]cheng2yu3[/pinyin]</em> (成语 idiom) stories, because you\'ll get an introduction to a few words that you often see in this kind of \"long long ago, far far away\" fable. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150226-INLINE.jpg\" title=\"Easy Reading Material Chinese: Learn to Read Chinese\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Free: Mandarin Reading Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In the very first sentence, we run across three words of interest. One, 从前 [pinyin]cong2qian2[/pinyin], means \"a long time ago\", your classic storybook beginning. \r\n\r\nThe second, 楚国人 [pinyin]chu3guo2ren2[/pinyin], means \"a man from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)\" target=\"_blank\">State of Chu</a>\". The State of Chu was a Chinese jurisdictional division during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC). In stories that reference pre-1900 China, you\'ll often see references to places that existed in ancient times.  <a href=\"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116528/Chu\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia Britannica</a> tells us: \"China itself was at the time divided into a series of small duke states, all of which theoretically owed allegiance to the Zhou dynasty, although the Zhou rulers had long since been unable to exercise control over more than their own fiefs.\"  Anyhoo, the third word is 宝剑 [pinyin]bao3jian4[/pinyin], which means \"a double-edged sword\". How fable-y is that, huh?\r\n \r\nI\'d also like to draw your attention to the word 移动 [pinyin]yi4dong4[/pinyin], meaning \"to be moving\" or \"mobile\". This word is quite common - it\'s used to refer to people who move often, and also to \"mobile\" phones (the cell provider \"China Mobile\" has this in their Chinese name: 中国移动).\r\n\r\nOkay, let\'s do this. And thanks again to <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-learn-chinese-the-easiest-way/\" target=\"_blank\">Yang</a>! Lots of work for some paltry backlinks. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n从前 - [pinyin]cong2 qian2[/pinyin] - A long time ago\r\n爱惜 - [pinyin]ai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Cherish\r\n一不小心 - [pinyin]yi1 bu4 xiao3 xin1[/pinyin] - Accidentally\r\n记号 - [pinyin]ji4 hao4[/pinyin] - Notch, notation made to remember something\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>从前</strong>有一位楚国人, 他非常<strong>爱惜</strong>他的宝剑。有一天，他正坐在船上准备过河，<strong>一不小心</strong>他就把宝剑掉进了河里。他马上在宝剑掉落的地方作了<strong>记号</strong>。当他到达对岸的时候，他沿着记号跳进河里去找他的宝剑。当然，他已经找不到了。\r\n \r\n宝剑已经不在原来掉落的地方因为船和水都在<strong>移动</strong>。这个故事形容只会刻板地遵守规则，不懂变通的人。\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\nLong ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn\'t able to find it.  \r\n \r\nThe sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances]. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: Story Behind the Idiom, Ke Zhou Qiu Jian', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1557-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-03-01 22:39:59', '2015-03-02 03:39:59', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/03/01/1557-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1576, 1, '2015-03-01 22:40:15', '2015-03-02 03:40:15', '[two_third]\r\nYang over at <a href=\"http://learnmandarinnow.com\">Learn Mandarin Now</a> is spoiling me with all these guest posts. I\'ve been struggling to find something that suitable for beginners lately - everything I stumble across ends up being intermediate. But this is a very good place for beginners to start reading <em>[pinyin]cheng2yu3[/pinyin]</em> (成语 idiom) stories, because you\'ll get an introduction to a few words that you often see in this kind of \"long long ago, far far away\" fable. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150226-INLINE.jpg\" title=\"Easy Reading Material Chinese: Learn to Read Chinese\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Free: Mandarin Reading Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In the very first sentence, we run across three words of interest. One, 从前 [pinyin]cong2qian2[/pinyin], means \"a long time ago\", your classic storybook beginning. \r\n\r\nThe second, 楚国人 [pinyin]chu3guo2ren2[/pinyin], means \"a man from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)\" target=\"_blank\">State of Chu</a>\". The State of Chu was a Chinese jurisdictional division during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC). In stories that reference pre-1900 China, you\'ll often see references to places that existed in ancient times.  <a href=\"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116528/Chu\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia Britannica</a> tells us: \"China itself was at the time divided into a series of small duke states, all of which theoretically owed allegiance to the Zhou dynasty, although the Zhou rulers had long since been unable to exercise control over more than their own fiefs.\"  Anyhoo, the third word is 宝剑 [pinyin]bao3jian4[/pinyin], which means \"a double-edged sword\". How fable-y is that, huh?\r\n \r\nI\'d also like to draw your attention to the word 移动 [pinyin]yi4dong4[/pinyin], meaning \"to be moving\" or \"mobile\". This word is quite common - it\'s used to refer to people who move often, and also to \"mobile\" phones (the cell provider \"China Mobile\" has this in their Chinese name: 中国移动).\r\n\r\nOkay, let\'s do this. And thanks again to <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-learn-chinese-the-easiest-way/\" target=\"_blank\">Yang</a>! Lots of work for some paltry backlinks. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n从前 - [pinyin]cong2 qian2[/pinyin] - A long time ago\r\n爱惜 - [pinyin]ai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Cherish\r\n一不小心 - [pinyin]yi1 bu4 xiao3 xin1[/pinyin] - Accidentally\r\n记号 - [pinyin]ji4 hao4[/pinyin] - Notch, notation made to remember something\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>从前</strong>有一位楚国人, 他非常<strong>爱惜</strong>他的宝剑。有一天，他正坐在船上准备过河，<strong>一不小心</strong>他就把宝剑掉进了河里。他马上在宝剑掉落的地方作了<strong>记号</strong>。当他到达对岸的时候，他沿着记号跳进河里去找他的宝剑。当然，他已经找不到了。\r\n \r\n宝剑已经不在原来掉落的地方因为船和水都在<strong>移动</strong>。这个故事形容只会刻板地遵守规则，不懂变通的人。\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\nLong ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn\'t able to find it.  \r\n \r\nThe sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances]. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: Story Behind the Idiom, Ke Zhou Qiu Jian', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1557-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-03-01 22:40:15', '2015-03-02 03:40:15', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/03/01/1557-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1577, 1, '2015-02-19 22:48:42', '2015-02-20 03:48:42', '[two_third]\r\nHey hey, lookie here, an excellent guest post submitted by native Chinese speaker Yang from <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com\" target=\"_blank\">Learn Mandarin Now</a>. This story tells us a bit about the Chinese <em>chengyu</em> (idiom),塞翁失马, which can mean \"a blessing in disguise\", or can conversely mean \"bad luck disguised as good\". It\'s used to point out the hidden positives or negatives in a situation, so you might say it means \"there are two sides to every circumstance\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150220-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading: Intermediate Chinese Fables and Idioms\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'m loving this post for the fable-y language: \"servant\", \"steed\", etc. Plus, I learned a new favorite word in this one: 塞外 [pinyin]sai4 wai4[/pinyin], meaning \"Beyond the Great Wall\". In other words, a remote place near the outskirts or borders of China. Also, don\'t forget, 匹 [pinyin]pi3[/pinyin] is the measure word for Horses, so you\'re gonna see that a few times. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one phrase we should probably get into in greater detail, because I don\'t think it\'s immediately clear what it means: 全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗. Let\'s take a look at this, word by word:\r\n\r\n全国 - The whole country\r\n上下的 - Everywhere\r\n年轻男子 - young men\r\n都 - all\r\n被 - grammar word usually indicating that the subject of the sentence has had something unfortunate happen to them\r\n抓 - grabbed\r\n去 - go out\r\n打仗 - fight \r\n\r\nThe key word here is 抓 [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin], which usually means to \"catch\" or \"grab\". In this case, the word means \"drafted\", so it still means to \"grab\", but in this case, it\'s the ruling power (probably the king) doing the grabbing up (of potential soldiers). The 被 in this case functions as \"were\", with a negative overtone. So this can be translated as \"All the young men everywhere in the country <strong>were drafted</strong> to go fight a war.\"\r\n\r\nLearn Mandarin Now\'s \"<a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-read-chinese/\" target=\"_blank\">How to Read Chinese</a>\" page for a basic overview on getting started with Simplified characters, and look at <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/blog/\" target=\"_blank\">their new blog</a> for some learning tips. \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老翁 - [pinyin]lao3 weng1[/pinyin] - Old man\r\n仆人 - [pinyin]pu2 ren2[/pinyin] - Servant\r\n邻国 - [pinyin]lin2 guo2[/pinyin] - Neighboring country\r\n闻讯 - [pinyin]wen2 xun4[/pinyin] - [upon] hearing the news...\r\n骏马 - [pinyin]jun4 ma3[/pinyin] - Great Steed\r\n战场 - [pinyin]zhan4 chang3[/pinyin] - Battlefield\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n从前，一位<strong>老翁</strong>和他的儿子住在<strong>塞外</strong>的边境上。他们都非常喜欢换骑马。有一天，他们家的<strong>仆人</strong>给老先生报告：\"我们家的一匹骏马走丢了，好像跑去<strong>邻国</strong>了。\"\r\n\r\n老翁的朋友<strong>闻讯</strong>都过来安慰他。但老先生说：“呵呵，这也许不是坏事，谁知道呢！＂\r\n\r\n几个月之后，奇妙的事情发生了，那匹走失了的骏马意外地跑回来了，并且从邻国带来了一匹新的<strong>骏马</strong>。老翁的好友纷纷过来祝贺他。老翁说：“唉，这也许不是什么好事情呢！”\r\n\r\n一天，老翁的儿子正在骑那匹新的骏马，突然不小心从马上掉了下来并摔断了腿。他从今以后都不能正常走路了。老翁的朋友都为老翁感到伤心，但老翁却说：“这个意外以后能为咱们带来好运也不一定。”\r\n\r\n一年后，全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗，大部分去参军的年轻人都死在了<strong>战场</strong>。老翁的儿子因为腿受伤了所以避过了这一次劫难。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nOnce upon a time, there was an old man who lived with his son on the borders of the country. They both very much enjoyed riding horses. One day, a servant reported to the old man, “One of our good horses has gone missing. It seems the horse ran across to the neighboring country.\"\r\n\r\nOld man\'s friends came and comforted him. However, the old man said: \"Well, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Who knows!\"\r\n\r\nCouple of months later, a strange thing happened. The missing horse came back, accompanied by a great steed from the neighboring country. When his friends congratulated him on this great news, the old man said: \"Well, this might bring us bad luck.\"\r\n\r\nOne day, his son was having fun riding on the fine [new] steed. Suddenly, he fell from the hose and broke his leg. His son was never able to walk again. Again, his friends came to comfort the old man. But the old man was not bothered and said: \"This accident might bring us good luck in the future.\"\r\n\r\nA year later, all young men in the country were drafted to join a war. Most young men who fought died on the battlefield. Luckily, his son avoided entering the war because of his broken leg.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: Story Behind the Idiom - Sai Weng Shi Ma', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1551-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-19 22:48:42', '2015-02-20 03:48:42', '', 1551, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/19/1551-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1578, 1, '2015-02-18 02:49:47', '2015-02-18 07:49:47', '[two_third]\r\nHappy Year of the Sheep! Couple of days ago, I stumbled across the Book \"The Last Yin Yang Master\", aka \"The Last Onmyoji\" （最后一个阴阳师), a supernatural ghost story available for free online. It\'s incredibly rare to find full-length books that aren\'t impossibly difficult to get through, but this one is phenomenal for learners. I\'m gonna put part of the first chapter here, so you can dive on in. The rest can be grabbed on <a href=\"http://www.zhuaji.org/read/146/\" target=\"_blank\">Zhuaji.com</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150218-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Beginner Chinese Books with English Translations\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Intermediate Chinese Reading Exercises\"  width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft imgborder\" />I\'ve recently sort of discovered that ghost stories and detective novels are where it\'s at for practicing reading. The cliches in a Chinese murder mystery are exactly the same as they are anywhere: hard-boiled cop, confused rookie, seductive woman, shady business, and definitely a chase scene. It\'s easier to follow a story when you have a semi-expectation of what\'s supposed to happen. They get hard when people start talking about blood spatter and ballistics, but you can kind of get the gist. Ghost stories are the same way - a scene of normalcy is set, followed by some red-flag strangeness that everyone completely ignores because they don\'t believe in the supernatural, followed by some myths and legends, or maybe a mysterious old man, or maybe a body goes missing, and then things really freaky. Again, the read gets hard when characters start talking about the mystic books of old, or funeral customs, so you should probably be reading this with the help of Pleco (which I do), but The Last Onmyoji is accessible enough that those parts shouldn\'t totally derail you. Highly recommended.\r\n\r\nThis really is worth a go for readers at almost all levels. The read is late-intermediate, but using Pleco, late-stage beginners and early-intermediates will be able to understand large chunks of it, enough to motivate you to puzzle through the parts you don\'t get, more so because this is being told in first-person. Remember, now, that the beginning of a book is usually the hardest as you try to get a sense of the story. Once the story gets rolling, it\'s easier to flow with it. Advanced readers may just appreciate learning a bit of spooky vocab. \r\n\r\nThe segment that I\"m translating here doesn\'t have any ghostly bits in it, this is the first chapter to get you going on the story. It\'s packed full of Chinese village culture, and some parts at the end that would be considered extremely un-PC in the west: a little anti-Japanese talk, and a little bit about buying women, the rarities of college education in the countryside: the realities of village life in China, even these days. \r\n\r\nThere\'s a lot I could talk about in here, but I do like the word 投 [pinyin]tou2[/pinyin] - This word had a ton of meanings. Imagine slipping a piece of paper into a suggestion box. Got it? That\'s what this word embodies, that action, or anything related to a similar action of taking a flat object and dropping it into a slot, literally or figuratively. So it can mean to \"vote\", as in an election, because you\'re submitting a ballot. It can mean to \"slide\" an envelope into a letter box. In this case, it means to \"submit\" a resume while seeking a job offer. We don\'t have a word for that concept in English, I think. \r\n\r\nEnjoy!\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盘缠 - [pinyin]pan2 chan2[/pinyin] - Travel money\r\n肺痨 - [pinyin]fei4 lao2[/pinyin] - Tuberculosis\r\n张罗 - [pinyin]zhang1 luo5[/pinyin] - Gather together\r\n屁股 - [pinyin]pi4 gu5[/pinyin] - Butt, behind, rump\r\n浑浑噩噩 - [pinyin]hun2 hun2 e4 e4[/pinyin] - Butt, behind, rump\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我叫林小凡,今年23岁。大学刚毕业。一个三流的大学四流的成绩,大学是在杭州读,毕业之后最开始在一家房地产公司做销售员,底薪一千八。因为业绩太差,公司没说辞退我,我自己就不好意思待了。\r\n\r\n在杭州转了两个月,<strong>投</strong>了不知道多少份儿简历,面试了多少次,都没有通过。<strong>盘缠</strong>花光之后,就回了老家。\r\n\r\n我的老家是洛阳。洛阳的乡下,一个叫做十里铺儿的小村儿落。\r\n\r\n之所以回来,是因为村儿里小学唯一的教师得了<strong>肺痨</strong>,病的已经非常严重,我作为村里走出来唯一的大学生,村长愿意一月掏出一千块的巨资来请我去代课。\r\n\r\n所以我回来了。\r\n\r\n在外面活的不如一条狗的我,在老家得到了极大的尊严。\r\n\r\n在偏远的山村,大学生,还是一个极其厉害的存在,村民们在看到我父亲的时候,都会为他竖起大拇指,说:“老林家祖坟冒了青烟,竟然出了个大学生,以后你就走出了大山咯。”\r\n\r\n每当这个时候,我父亲都会憨厚的笑一笑,抹去他脸上的汗水。\r\n\r\n我回到村子之后,方圆几里的媒婆都争着抢着给我介绍对象,几乎踏破我家的门槛儿,这不是吹牛。你不在那个环境里,不知道大学生三个字的分量。\r\n\r\n父亲也极力的给我<strong>张罗</strong>,在他们眼里,23岁,甚至已经过了结婚的年纪。跟我同龄的人,现在儿子已经可以光着<strong>屁股</strong>到处跑了。\r\n\r\n为了不让他们操心,我也去一次次的应付相亲。\r\n\r\n对,是应付。\r\n\r\n大学,说白了就是一个区分性与理性的地方,虽然是山村出来的,可是我的相貌并不算丑,甚至可以说英俊。也谈过一个女朋友,我没钱,她也不是非常的富裕,可是就算这样,我们还在在一起了三年,我尽我所能的打零工,来做一个男朋友该做的。大三那年,我们分手。\r\n\r\n那一天,我在我们学校的后山喝了一瓶2块钱的二锅头。醒来之后,不再悲伤,继续<strong>浑浑噩噩</strong>的过日子。\r\n\r\n关于相貌这一点,我继承了我母亲。\r\n\r\n 一个不知道故乡在哪里的美貌女人。\r\n\r\n她有痴呆症。\r\n\r\n在几十年前,我父亲进城,用了三百块钱把她买了回来。\r\n\r\n我父亲说,他那一天花了两元钱给母亲买了一身衣服,回来的时候母亲的美貌,让村里的人哈喇子都流到了地上。\r\n\r\n可惜,她是个傻子。\r\n\r\n如果不是傻子,我父亲也买不起。\r\n\r\n后来有了我,母亲的痴傻一直都是那样,可是她的傻,并不是像街头的疯子一样,她非常安静。\r\n\r\n不说话,不动。只是安静的坐着。\r\n\r\n我就在这样的一个环境下长大,可是我并不想文艺的说,我有孤僻的性格,因为就算是这样,我还是有完整的童年。\r\n\r\n我父亲非常的勤劳,他尽一个农民的极限,利用手中的农具,养活一个家。我没有什么怪他的地方。\r\n\r\n没钱,这是命。\r\n\r\n我爷爷,是一个退伍的老军人,他不识字,没有农民典型的精明,反倒是实诚的可怕。有人说他是gmd,有人说他是gcd,可是他自己都不知道自己到底是哪个党,他唯一知道的,就是他拿枪打日本鬼子,鬼子打跑之后,他就回到了家。\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\nMy name is Lin Xiaofan, I\'m 23 years old this year. I just graduated from college. A third-rate school with fourth-tier grades, my college was in Hangzhou, and after I graduated I first went to work as sales staff at a real estate agency with a salary of 1,800 [translator\'s note: this is a very low salary, about $300 USD / month]. My sales performance was poor, and the company never fired me, but I was so embarrassed that I left. \r\n\r\nI wandered around Hangzhou for two months, submitted I don\'t even know how many resumes, or went to how many interviews, but nothing came through. After I\'d spent all my travel money, I went back to my home town.\r\n\r\nMy home town is Luoyang. In the Luoyang countryside falls a little village called Shilipu\'er. \r\n\r\nThe reason I went home is because the village\'s only teacher got tuberculosis, and he was very seriously ill, so as the village\'s only person who\'d ever gone off to college, the village chief dug up a thousand-dollar [translator\'s note: \"1000 kuai\" is \"1000 Chinese Renminbi\"] investment and asked me to substitute teach. \r\n\r\nSo I went home. \r\n\r\nMy life away from home wasn\'t even as good as a dog\'s, but I get plenty of respect in my home town. \r\n\r\nIn such a remote village, being a college graduate is still an extremely awesome thing to be, and every time the villagers see my father, they all give him a thumbs-up and say, \"Your family\'s ancestral grave is emitting green smoke, unexpectedly out popped a college student! You\'ll be walking off this mountain after a while!\" [translator\'s note: this is a compliment regarding the family\'s lineage.]\r\n\r\nOf course at these times, my father would smile in a simple and honest way, wiping the sweat off his brow. \r\n\r\nAfter I came back to the village, all the local matchmakers tried to set me up with someone, almost trampling down my door, no exaggeration. If you\'ve never been in that [village] environment, you don\'t know the power of those three words, \"College Degree Holder\".\r\n\r\nMy dad also made a supreme effort to settle me, because in his eyes, at 23 years old I\'d already passed marrying age. Everyone my age already had kids running around with their bare butts hanging out. \r\n\r\nSo as not to make him worry, I\'d already coped with my first blind date. \r\n\r\nYes, it was definitely \"coping\". \r\n\r\nCollege, speaking frankly, was a place with completely different place with different rationales, but although I came from a farm village, I wasn\'t considered ugly, you might even say I\'m handsome. I had a girlfriend, but I had no money, and she wasn\'t very rich either, but that\'s just the way it was, we were together three years, and I used up all my part-time work money trying to do all the things a boyfriend is supposed to do. In the third year, we broke up. \r\n\r\nOn that day, on the hill behind our school, I drank a bottle of 2-dollar liquor. After I woke up, I wasn\'t sad anymore, and I just continued muddle-headedly passing the days. \r\n\r\nAbout my looks, those I inherited from my mother. \r\n\r\nA good-looking woman from who-knows-where.  \r\n\r\nShe had dementia.\r\n\r\nA few decades ago, my father went to the city, and spent three hundred dollars to buy her and bring her home.\r\n\r\nMy dad said, that day he spent two bucks to buy mom some clothes, and when he returned, mom\'s good looks made everyone in the village drool all over the ground. \r\n\r\nPity, she was an idiot.\r\n\r\nIf she hadn\'t been an idiot, my dad could never have afforded her. \r\n\r\nThen I came along, and mom\'s dementia continued as before, but her brand of dementia wasn\'t like a crazy street person\'s, she was very quiet. \r\n\r\nShe didn\'t speak, didn\'t move. Just quietly sat there.\r\n\r\nThis is the environment I grew up in, but I don\'t want to make it sound literary, I had an antisocial nature, but even so, I still had a full childhood. \r\n\r\nMy father is very industrious, he has a farmer\'s strength, using the farm tools in his hands, he nurtured a household. I don\'t have anything to blame him for. \r\n\r\nNo money, that\'s just life. \r\n\r\nMy grandfather is a retired soldier, he\'s illiterate, and he doesn\'t have any of a villager\'s typical shrewdness, on the contrary he\'s terrifyingly honest. Some people said he was GMD [translator\'s note: GMD = guo min dang, the fascist party in the Chinese civil war, who lost], some people said he was GCD [GCD = gong chang dang, the communist party that won the war and remains in power today], but he doesn\'t even know himself which \"dang\" [translator\'s note - this \"dang\" means \"political party\"] he was in, the only thing he knows is that he grabbed a gun and fought the Japanese devils [the Japanese invaded while the GMD and the GCD were fighting each other], and after the devils ran away, he went home.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Great book: The Last Yin Yang Master', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1539-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-18 02:49:47', '2015-02-18 07:49:47', '', 1539, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/18/1539-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1580, 1, '2015-09-24 21:46:52', '2015-09-25 01:46:52', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Chinese Children Fables Stories for Kids', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150925-inline', '', '', '2015-09-24 21:46:52', '2015-09-25 01:46:52', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/20150925-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1581, 1, '2015-09-24 21:46:54', '2015-09-25 01:46:54', '', '20150925', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150925', '', '', '2015-09-24 21:46:54', '2015-09-25 01:46:54', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/20150925.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1582, 1, '2015-09-24 21:45:15', '2015-09-25 01:45:15', '[two_third]\nFeels like it\'s been a hundred years since I threw something up here. Rest assured I carry the shame of an un-updated blog around with me constantly, so - yay, guilt. I\'m actually taking intensive classes in Chinese (yet again) to push my reading level higher, hence the lack of posts. I\'m more active on here when I\'m not studying anywhere else. Anyhoo, this is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. The words are mostly OK, but there are one too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations.<!--more-->\n\nThis is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you start reading and then one word trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. Uh, well, [pinyin]xiang1 cao3[/pinyin] means \"vanilla\" and [pinyin]wa2 wa2[/pinyin] is \"baby\", so... vanilla baby? Really? In the story, 香草娃娃 is used as a toy\'s name, so I thought, maybe there\'s a toy called a Vanilla Baby? Anyway, it turns out an out-of-use definition for 香草 is \"old and dependable\". Ah hah - \"old, dependable baby doll\". That makes sense. \n\nThere\'s one other very useful phrase here that\'s very commonly used in everyday language here: 太过分了！Directly translated, this means \"Too excessive!\", but this phrase doesn\'t usually actually refer to a large amount of things. It\'s more often used to refer to a circumstance or someone\'s behavior, like, \"That is just too much to bear!\". If someone was very mean to you, you could say, \"太过分了!\" or if an interview process was super rough and you got raked over the coals, also \"太过分了!\" \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n非凡 - [pinyin]fei1 fan2[/pinyin] - Extraordinarily\n舞池 - [pinyin]wu3 chi2[/pinyin] - Dance floor\n气愤 - [pinyin]qi4 fen4[/pinyin] - Angry\n对待 - [pinyin]dui4 dai4[/pinyin] - To treat someone (a certain way)\n灿烂 - [pinyin]can4 lan4[/pinyin] - Brilliant (smile, light)\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹<strong>非凡</strong>。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着<strong>舞池</strong>，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这时，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很<strong>气愤</strong>，说：“他们怎么能这样<strong>对待</strong>你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了灿烂的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\n \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe new year had almost arrived, and the Toy Kingdom planned to invite everyone to a grand ball. The day of the dance, the toys were all dancing and laughing, and the whole ballroom was extraordinarily lively. But off in one corner, receiving no attention from anyone, there was an old purple doll silently gazing at the dance floor, her eyes were blank and she looked lonely. Just then, a white polar bear in front of her saw this, walked over and asked the dependable old doll, \"Doll, why don\'t you go dance?\" The dependable doll lowered her head sadly, saying in a small voice, \"The [other] toys all say I\'m too short, they\'re not willing to dance with me.\"  Saying this, she began to cry. Polar Bear was furious when he heard this, and said: \"How could they treat you this way? Don\'t they understand solidarity? That\'s just too much!\" Little Bear pulled on the baby doll\'s hand, and said: \"Doll, don\'t be sad. Come on, I\'m asking you to dance with me.\" The dependable doll heard these words, and a brilliant smile immediately lit up her face. She quickly wiped the tears off her face and said happily, \"Wonderful! Wonderful!\" On the dance floor, Doll and Bear danced and laughed, and passed a lovely evening together. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1566-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-09-24 21:45:15', '2015-09-25 01:45:15', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/09/24/1566-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1583, 1, '2015-09-24 21:47:56', '2015-09-25 01:47:56', '[two_third]\r\nFeels like it\'s been a hundred years since I threw something up here. Rest assured I carry the shame of an un-updated blog around with me constantly, so - yay, guilt. I\'m actually taking intensive classes in Chinese (yet again) to push my reading level higher, hence the lack of posts. I\'m more active on here when I\'m not studying anywhere else. Anyhoo, this is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. The words are mostly OK, but there are one too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/20150925-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Stories for Kids in Mandarin Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />This is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you start reading and then one word trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. Uh, well, [pinyin]xiang1 cao3[/pinyin] means \"vanilla\" and [pinyin]wa2 wa2[/pinyin] is \"baby\", so... vanilla baby? Really? In the story, 香草娃娃 is used as a toy\'s name, so I thought, maybe there\'s a toy called a Vanilla Baby? Anyway, it turns out an out-of-use definition for 香草 is \"old and dependable\". Ah hah - \"old, dependable baby doll\". That makes sense. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one other very useful phrase here that\'s very commonly used in everyday language here: 太过分了！Directly translated, this means \"Too excessive!\", but this phrase doesn\'t usually actually refer to a large amount of things. It\'s more often used to refer to a circumstance or someone\'s behavior, like, \"That is just too much to bear!\". If someone was very mean to you, you could say, \"太过分了!\" or if an interview process was super rough and you got raked over the coals, also \"太过分了!\" \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n非凡 - [pinyin]fei1 fan2[/pinyin] - Extraordinarily\r\n舞池 - [pinyin]wu3 chi2[/pinyin] - Dance floor\r\n气愤 - [pinyin]qi4 fen4[/pinyin] - Angry\r\n对待 - [pinyin]dui4 dai4[/pinyin] - To treat someone (a certain way)\r\n灿烂 - [pinyin]can4 lan4[/pinyin] - Brilliant (smile, light)\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新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹<strong>非凡</strong>。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着<strong>舞池</strong>，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这时，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很<strong>气愤</strong>，说：“他们怎么能这样<strong>对待</strong>你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了灿烂的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\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 new year had almost arrived, and the Toy Kingdom planned to invite everyone to a grand ball. The day of the dance, the toys were all dancing and laughing, and the whole ballroom was extraordinarily lively. But off in one corner, receiving no attention from anyone, there was an old purple doll silently gazing at the dance floor, her eyes were blank and she looked lonely. Just then, a white polar bear in front of her saw this, walked over and asked the dependable old doll, \"Doll, why don\'t you go dance?\" The dependable doll lowered her head sadly, saying in a small voice, \"The [other] toys all say I\'m too short, they\'re not willing to dance with me.\"  Saying this, she began to cry. Polar Bear was furious when he heard this, and said: \"How could they treat you this way? Don\'t they understand solidarity? That\'s just too much!\" Little Bear pulled on the baby doll\'s hand, and said: \"Doll, don\'t be sad. Come on, I\'m asking you to dance with me.\" The dependable doll heard these words, and a brilliant smile immediately lit up her face. She quickly wiped the tears off her face and said happily, \"Wonderful! Wonderful!\" On the dance floor, Doll and Bear danced and laughed, and passed a lovely evening together. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1566-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-09-24 21:47:56', '2015-09-25 01:47:56', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/09/24/1566-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1584, 1, '2015-09-24 21:49:27', '2015-09-25 01:49:27', '[two_third]\r\nFeels like it\'s been a hundred years since I threw something up here. Rest assured I carry the shame of an un-updated blog around with me constantly, so - yay, guilt. I\'m actually taking intensive classes in Chinese (yet again) to push my reading level higher, hence the lack of posts. I\'m more active on here when I\'m not studying anywhere else. Anyhoo, this is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. The words are mostly OK, but there are one too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/20150925-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Stories for Kids in Mandarin Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />This is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you start reading and then one word trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. Uh, well, [pinyin]xiang1 cao3[/pinyin] means \"vanilla\" and [pinyin]wa2 wa2[/pinyin] is \"baby\", so... vanilla baby? Really? In the story, 香草娃娃 is used as a toy\'s name, so I thought, maybe there\'s a toy called a Vanilla Baby? Anyway, it turns out an out-of-use definition for 香草 is \"old and dependable\". Ah hah - \"old, dependable baby doll\". That makes sense. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one other very useful phrase here that\'s very commonly used in everyday language: 太过分了！Directly translated, this means \"Too excessive!\", but this phrase doesn\'t usually actually refer to a large amount of things. It\'s more often used to refer to a circumstance or someone\'s behavior, like, \"That is just too much to bear!\". If someone was very mean to you, you could say, \"太过分了!\" or if an interview process was super rough and you got raked over the coals, also \"太过分了!\" \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n非凡 - [pinyin]fei1 fan2[/pinyin] - Extraordinarily\r\n舞池 - [pinyin]wu3 chi2[/pinyin] - Dance floor\r\n气愤 - [pinyin]qi4 fen4[/pinyin] - Angry\r\n对待 - [pinyin]dui4 dai4[/pinyin] - To treat someone (a certain way)\r\n灿烂 - [pinyin]can4 lan4[/pinyin] - Brilliant (smile, light)\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新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹<strong>非凡</strong>。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着<strong>舞池</strong>，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这时，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很<strong>气愤</strong>，说：“他们怎么能这样<strong>对待</strong>你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了灿烂的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\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 new year had almost arrived, and the Toy Kingdom planned to invite everyone to a grand ball. The day of the dance, the toys were all dancing and laughing, and the whole ballroom was extraordinarily lively. But off in one corner, receiving no attention from anyone, there was an old purple doll silently gazing at the dance floor, her eyes were blank and she looked lonely. Just then, a white polar bear in front of her saw this, walked over and asked the dependable old doll, \"Doll, why don\'t you go dance?\" The dependable doll lowered her head sadly, saying in a small voice, \"The [other] toys all say I\'m too short, they\'re not willing to dance with me.\"  Saying this, she began to cry. Polar Bear was furious when he heard this, and said: \"How could they treat you this way? Don\'t they understand solidarity? That\'s just too much!\" Little Bear pulled on the baby doll\'s hand, and said: \"Doll, don\'t be sad. Come on, I\'m asking you to dance with me.\" The dependable doll heard these words, and a brilliant smile immediately lit up her face. She quickly wiped the tears off her face and said happily, \"Wonderful! Wonderful!\" On the dance floor, Doll and Bear danced and laughed, and passed a lovely evening together. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1566-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-09-24 21:49:27', '2015-09-25 01:49:27', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/09/24/1566-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1585, 1, '2015-09-24 21:49:41', '2015-09-25 01:49:41', '[two_third]\r\nFeels like it\'s been a hundred years since I threw something up here. Rest assured I carry the shame of an un-updated blog around with me constantly, so - yay, guilt. I\'m actually taking intensive classes in Chinese (yet again) to push my reading level higher, hence the lack of posts. I\'m more active on here when I\'m not studying anywhere else. Anyhoo, this is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. The words are mostly OK, but there are one too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/20150925-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Stories for Kids in Mandarin Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />This is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you start reading and then one word trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. Uh, well, [pinyin]xiang1 cao3[/pinyin] means \"vanilla\" and [pinyin]wa2 wa2[/pinyin] is \"baby\", so... vanilla baby? Really? In the story, 香草娃娃 is used as a toy\'s name, so I thought, maybe there\'s a toy called a Vanilla Baby? Anyway, it turns out an out-of-use definition for 香草 is \"old and dependable\". Ah hah - \"old, dependable baby doll\". That makes sense. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one other very useful phrase here that\'s very commonly used in everyday language: 太过分了！Directly translated, this means \"Too excessive!\", but this phrase doesn\'t usually actually refer to a large amount of things. It\'s more often used to refer to a circumstance or someone\'s behavior, like, \"That is just too much to bear!\". If someone was very mean to you, you could say, \"太过分了!\" or if an interview process was super rough and you got raked over the coals, also \"太过分了!\" \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n非凡 - [pinyin]fei1 fan2[/pinyin] - Extraordinarily\r\n舞池 - [pinyin]wu3 chi2[/pinyin] - Dance floor\r\n气愤 - [pinyin]qi4 fen4[/pinyin] - Angry\r\n对待 - [pinyin]dui4 dai4[/pinyin] - To treat someone (a certain way)\r\n灿烂 - [pinyin]can4 lan4[/pinyin] - Brilliant (smile, light)\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新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹<strong>非凡</strong>。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着<strong>舞池</strong>，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这时，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很<strong>气愤</strong>，说：“他们怎么能这样<strong>对待</strong>你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了<strong>灿烂</strong>的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\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 new year had almost arrived, and the Toy Kingdom planned to invite everyone to a grand ball. The day of the dance, the toys were all dancing and laughing, and the whole ballroom was extraordinarily lively. But off in one corner, receiving no attention from anyone, there was an old purple doll silently gazing at the dance floor, her eyes were blank and she looked lonely. Just then, a white polar bear in front of her saw this, walked over and asked the dependable old doll, \"Doll, why don\'t you go dance?\" The dependable doll lowered her head sadly, saying in a small voice, \"The [other] toys all say I\'m too short, they\'re not willing to dance with me.\"  Saying this, she began to cry. Polar Bear was furious when he heard this, and said: \"How could they treat you this way? Don\'t they understand solidarity? That\'s just too much!\" Little Bear pulled on the baby doll\'s hand, and said: \"Doll, don\'t be sad. Come on, I\'m asking you to dance with me.\" The dependable doll heard these words, and a brilliant smile immediately lit up her face. She quickly wiped the tears off her face and said happily, \"Wonderful! Wonderful!\" On the dance floor, Doll and Bear danced and laughed, and passed a lovely evening together. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1566-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-09-24 21:49:41', '2015-09-25 01:49:41', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/09/24/1566-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1910, 1, '2016-11-02 02:22:41', '0000-00-00 00:00:00', '我是一条天狗呀！\r\n我把月来吞了，\r\n我把日来吞了，\r\n我把一切的星球来吞了，\r\n我把全宇宙来吞了。\r\n我便是我了！\r\n我是月的光，\r\n我是日的光，\r\n我是一切星球的光，\r\n我是 X 光线的光，\r\n我是全宇宙的 Energy （能量）的总量！\r\n我飞奔，\r\n我狂叫，\r\n我燃烧。\r\n我如烈火一样地燃烧！\r\n我如大海一样地狂叫！\r\n我如电气一样地飞跑！\r\n我飞跑，\r\n我飞跑，\r\n我飞跑，\r\n我剥我的皮，\r\n我食我的肉，\r\n我吸我的血，\r\n我啮我的心肝，\r\n我在我神经上飞跑，\r\n我在我脊髓上飞跑，\r\n我在我脑筋上飞跑。\r\n我便是我呀！\r\n我的我要爆了！\r\n\r\nhttp://baike.baidu.com/subview/5737/6582464.htm?fromtitle=%E3%80%8A%E5%A4%A9%E7%8B%97%E3%80%8B&type=syn\r\n', '[Modern Chinese Poetry] 《天狗》by Guo Moruo', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', '', '', '', '2016-11-02 02:22:41', '2016-11-02 06:22:41', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1910', 0, 'post', '', 0),
(1587, 1, '2016-04-28 07:01:48', '2016-04-28 11:01:48', 'Kinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\r\n\r\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Advanced Chinese Poetry, Modern Chinese Poetry\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \r\n\r\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \r\n\r\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\r\n\r\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \r\n\r\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n1) 撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望逢着\r\n一个丁香一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n\r\n2) 她是有\r\n丁香一样的颜色，\r\n丁香一样的芬芳，\r\n丁香一样的忧愁，\r\n在雨中哀怨，\r\n哀怨又彷徨；\r\n\r\n3) 她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\r\n撑着油纸伞\r\n像我一样，\r\n像我一样地\r\n默默彳亍着，\r\n冷漠，凄清，又惆怅。\r\n\r\n4) 她静默地走近\r\n走近，又投出\r\n太息一般的眼光，\r\n她飘过\r\n像梦一般的，\r\n像梦一般的凄婉迷茫。\r\n\r\n5) 像梦中飘过\r\n一枝丁香的，\r\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\r\n她静默地远了，远了，\r\n到了颓圮的篱墙，\r\n走尽这雨巷。\r\n\r\n6) 在雨的哀曲里，\r\n消了她的颜色，\r\n散了她的芬芳\r\n消散了，甚至她的\r\n太息般的眼光，\r\n丁香般的惆怅。\r\n\r\n7) 撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望飘过\r\n一个丁香一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\n1) Holding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand solitary rainy alley.\r\nI hope to come upon\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n2) She has\r\nThe color of lilacs\r\nThe scent of lilacs\r\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\r\nGrudging in the rain,\r\nResentful and hesitating. \r\n\r\n3) She paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\r\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\r\nAs I do,\r\nJust as I do, \r\nSoundlessly wending,\r\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\r\n\r\n4) She walks quietly closer,\r\nWalks closer, casting\r\nA glance like a sigh,\r\nShe floats past,\r\nAs a dream does,\r\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\r\n\r\n5) Floats by as a dream does, \r\nA single lilac,\r\nThe girl who floats past me, \r\nShe is getting farther, farther,\r\nReaches the toppled fence,\r\nWalks out of this drizzling alley.\r\n\r\n6) In the rain\'s plaintive song,\r\nHer color is washed away\r\nHer scent dissipates\r\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\r\nSighing eyes\r\nHer lilac melancholy.\r\n\r\n7) Holding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand desolate rainy alley.\r\nI hope to float by\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Modern Chinese Poetry] 《雨巷》 Rainy Alley by Dai Wangshu', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'modern-chinese-poetry-rainy-alley-by-dai-wangshu', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:30:11', '2016-11-04 09:30:11', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1587', 0, 'post', '', 3),
(2025, 1, '2016-11-04 05:30:11', '2016-11-04 09:30:11', 'Kinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\r\n\r\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Advanced Chinese Poetry, Modern Chinese Poetry\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \r\n\r\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \r\n\r\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\r\n\r\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \r\n\r\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n1) 撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望逢着\r\n一个丁香一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n\r\n2) 她是有\r\n丁香一样的颜色，\r\n丁香一样的芬芳，\r\n丁香一样的忧愁，\r\n在雨中哀怨，\r\n哀怨又彷徨；\r\n\r\n3) 她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\r\n撑着油纸伞\r\n像我一样，\r\n像我一样地\r\n默默彳亍着，\r\n冷漠，凄清，又惆怅。\r\n\r\n4) 她静默地走近\r\n走近，又投出\r\n太息一般的眼光，\r\n她飘过\r\n像梦一般的，\r\n像梦一般的凄婉迷茫。\r\n\r\n5) 像梦中飘过\r\n一枝丁香的，\r\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\r\n她静默地远了，远了，\r\n到了颓圮的篱墙，\r\n走尽这雨巷。\r\n\r\n6) 在雨的哀曲里，\r\n消了她的颜色，\r\n散了她的芬芳\r\n消散了，甚至她的\r\n太息般的眼光，\r\n丁香般的惆怅。\r\n\r\n7) 撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望飘过\r\n一个丁香一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\n1) Holding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand solitary rainy alley.\r\nI hope to come upon\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n2) She has\r\nThe color of lilacs\r\nThe scent of lilacs\r\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\r\nGrudging in the rain,\r\nResentful and hesitating. \r\n\r\n3) She paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\r\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\r\nAs I do,\r\nJust as I do, \r\nSoundlessly wending,\r\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\r\n\r\n4) She walks quietly closer,\r\nWalks closer, casting\r\nA glance like a sigh,\r\nShe floats past,\r\nAs a dream does,\r\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\r\n\r\n5) Floats by as a dream does, \r\nA single lilac,\r\nThe girl who floats past me, \r\nShe is getting farther, farther,\r\nReaches the toppled fence,\r\nWalks out of this drizzling alley.\r\n\r\n6) In the rain\'s plaintive song,\r\nHer color is washed away\r\nHer scent dissipates\r\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\r\nSighing eyes\r\nHer lilac melancholy.\r\n\r\n7) Holding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand desolate rainy alley.\r\nI hope to float by\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Modern Chinese Poetry] 《雨巷》 Rainy Alley by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:30:11', '2016-11-04 09:30:11', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1587-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1588, 1, '2016-04-27 20:26:18', '2016-04-28 00:26:18', '[two_third]\nHey guys. Been a while. I\'m studying Chinese IRL, so I\'ve got less reason to focus on the blog, but I have been getting all the letters - thank you all. I\'ve also received two guest posts that I\'m embarassed to say I haven\'t put up yet. Apologies, it may be a while, but they\'re coming. Right, on with the poetry. \n\nKinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese authors, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated. Dai Wangshu, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy? Dai Wangshu was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthsma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman), and once when his wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce. \n\n雨巷, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with a long-time lover, and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. \n\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 雨巷 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author in a silent rainy alley. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently. The language is difficult at first, but then get repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, . \n\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, which I\'m using here, and may do my own at some point - I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, so give it a whirl if you can. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n彷徨 - [pinyin]fei1 fan2[/pinyin] - Extraordinarily\n寂寥 - [pinyin]wu3 chi2[/pinyin] - Dance floor\n丁香 - [pinyin]qi4 fen4[/pinyin] - Angry\n愁怨\n芬芳 - [pinyin]dui4 dai4[/pinyin] - To treat someone (a certain way)\n哀怨 - [pinyin]can4 lan4[/pinyin] - Brilliant (smile, light)\n彳亍\n凄清\n太息\n凄婉\n颓圮\n哀曲\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n撑着油纸伞，独自\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\n我希望逢着\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\n\n她是有\n丁香一样的颜色，\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\n丁香一样的忧愁，\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\n哀怨又彷徨；\n\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\n撑着油纸伞\n像我一样，\n像我一样地\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\n\n她静默地走近\n走近，又投出\n<strong>太息</strong>③一般的眼光，\n她飘过\n像梦一般的，\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\n\n像梦中飘过\n一枝丁香的，\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\n她静默地远了，远了，\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\n走尽这雨巷。\n\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\n消了她的颜色，\n散了她的芬芳\n消散了，甚至她的\n太息般的眼光，\n丁香般的惆怅。\n\n撑着油纸伞，独自\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\n又寂寥的雨巷，\n我希望飘过\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\n \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nAlone holding an oil-paper umbrella, \nI wander along a long \nSolitary lane in the rain, \nHoping to encounter \nA girl like a bouquet of lilacs \nGnawed by anxiety and resentment.\n\nA girl \nThe colour of lilacs,\nThe fragrance of lilacs, \nWith the worries of lilacs,\nFeeling melancholy in the rain,\nPlaintive and hesitating.\n\nShe wanders along the solitary lane in the rain,\nHolding an oil-paper umbrella\nJust as I do,\nJust like me,\nWalking slowly in silence,\nAloof, sad and melancholy.\n\nSilently she comes closer,\nCloser, giving me \nA glance like a sigh; \nThen she floats past \nLike a dream, \nDreary and blank like a dream.\n\nLike a lilac\nFloating past in a dream, \nthe girl floats past me; \nSilently she goes further and further, \nTo the crumbling wall, \nOut of the lane in the rain.\n\nIn the mournful melody of the rain, \nHer colour has faded, \nHer fragrance has disappeared, \nVanished into the void; \nEven her glance like a sigh, \nMelancholy like lilacs.\n\nAlone holding an oil-paper umbrella, \nI wander along a long \nSolitary lane in the rain, \nHoping to pass \nA girl like a bouquet of lilacs \nGnawed by anxiety and resentment.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Modern Chinese Poetry: Rainy Alley by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-27 20:26:18', '2016-04-28 00:26:18', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/27/1587-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1589, 1, '2016-04-28 06:56:55', '2016-04-28 10:56:55', '[two_third]\nHey guys. Been a while. I\'m studying Chinese IRL, so I\'ve got less reason to focus on the blog, but I have been getting all the letters - thank you all. I\'ve also received two guest posts that I\'m embarrassed to say I haven\'t put up yet. Apologies, it may be a while, but they\'re coming. Right, on with the poetry.\n\nKinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\n\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\n\n《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \n\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \n\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\n\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \n\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n彷徨 - [pinyin]pang2huang2[/pinyin] - To pace (or to hestitate)\n寂寥 - [pinyin]ji4 liao2[/pinyin] - Solitude / solitary\n丁香 - [pinyin]ding1 xiang1[/pinyin] - Lilac\n愁怨 - [pinyin]chou2 yuan4[/pinyin] - Worried and resentful (two separate words)\n芬芳 - [pinyin]fen1 fang1[/pinyin] - Fragrance\n哀怨 - [pinyin]ai1 yuan4[/pinyin] - Sad\n彳亍 - [pinyin]chi4 chu4[/pinyin] - Walk slowly\n凄清 - [pinyin]qi1 qing1[/pinyin] - Gloomy\n太息 - [pinyin]tai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Sigh\n凄婉 - [pinyin]qi1 wan3[/pinyin] - Bittersweet, sad but beautiful\n颓圮 - [pinyin]tui2 pi3[/pinyin] - Crumbling, toppled\n哀曲 - [pinyin]ai1 qu1[/pinyin] - Sad song\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n撑着油纸伞，独自\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\n我希望逢着\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\n\n她是有\n丁香一样的颜色，\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\n丁香一样的忧愁，\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\n哀怨又彷徨；\n\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\n撑着油纸伞\n像我一样，\n像我一样地\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\n\n她静默地走近\n走近，又投出\n<strong>太息</strong>③一般的眼光，\n她飘过\n像梦一般的，\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\n\n像梦中飘过\n一枝丁香的，\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\n她静默地远了，远了，\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\n走尽这雨巷。\n\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\n消了她的颜色，\n散了她的芬芳\n消散了，甚至她的\n太息般的眼光，\n丁香般的惆怅。\n\n撑着油纸伞，独自\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\n又寂寥的雨巷，\n我希望飘过\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\n \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\npace through a long, long, \nand solitary rainy alley.\nI hope to come upon\nA girl like lilacs, \nDistressed and grudging.\n\nShe has\nThe color of lilacs\nThe scent of lilacs\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\nGrudging in the rain,\nResentful and hesitating. \n\nShe paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\nAs I do,\nJust as I do, \nSoundlessly wending,\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\n\nShe walks quietly closer,\nWalks closer, casting\nA glance like a sigh,\nShe floats past,\nAs a dream does,\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\n\nFloats by as a dream does, \nA single lilac,\nThe girl who floats past me, \nShe is getting farther, farther,\nReaches the toppled fence,\nWalks out of the lane. \n\nIn the rain\'s plaintive song,\nHer color is washed away\nHer scent dissipates\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\nSighing eyes\nHer lilac melancholy.\n\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\npace through a long, long, \nand desolate rainy alley.\nI hope to float by\nA girl like lilacs, \nDistressed and grudging.\n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Modern Chinese Poetry: Rainy Alley by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 06:56:55', '2016-04-28 10:56:55', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/28/1587-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(1591, 1, '2016-04-28 06:59:00', '2016-04-28 10:59:00', '', '20160428', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20160428', '', '', '2016-04-28 06:59:00', '2016-04-28 10:59:00', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1592, 1, '2016-04-28 06:56:57', '2016-04-28 10:56:57', '[two_third]\r\nHey guys. Been a while. I\'m studying Chinese IRL, so I\'ve got less reason to focus on the blog, but I have been getting all the letters - thank you all. I\'ve also received two guest posts that I\'m embarrassed to say I haven\'t put up yet. Apologies, it may be a while, but they\'re coming. Right, on with the poetry.\r\n\r\nKinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\r\n\r\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \r\n\r\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \r\n\r\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\r\n\r\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \r\n\r\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \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彷徨 - [pinyin]pang2huang2[/pinyin] - To pace (or to hestitate)\r\n寂寥 - [pinyin]ji4 liao2[/pinyin] - Solitude / solitary\r\n丁香 - [pinyin]ding1 xiang1[/pinyin] - Lilac\r\n愁怨 - [pinyin]chou2 yuan4[/pinyin] - Worried and resentful (two separate words)\r\n芬芳 - [pinyin]fen1 fang1[/pinyin] - Fragrance\r\n哀怨 - [pinyin]ai1 yuan4[/pinyin] - Sad\r\n彳亍 - [pinyin]chi4 chu4[/pinyin] - Walk slowly\r\n凄清 - [pinyin]qi1 qing1[/pinyin] - Gloomy\r\n太息 - [pinyin]tai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n凄婉 - [pinyin]qi1 wan3[/pinyin] - Bittersweet, sad but beautiful\r\n颓圮 - [pinyin]tui2 pi3[/pinyin] - Crumbling, toppled\r\n哀曲 - [pinyin]ai1 qu1[/pinyin] - Sad song\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撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\r\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\r\n我希望逢着\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\r\n\r\n她是有\r\n丁香一样的颜色，\r\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\r\n丁香一样的忧愁，\r\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\r\n哀怨又彷徨；\r\n\r\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\r\n撑着油纸伞\r\n像我一样，\r\n像我一样地\r\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\r\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\r\n\r\n她静默地走近\r\n走近，又投出\r\n<strong>太息</strong>③一般的眼光，\r\n她飘过\r\n像梦一般的，\r\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\r\n\r\n像梦中飘过\r\n一枝丁香的，\r\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\r\n她静默地远了，远了，\r\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\r\n走尽这雨巷。\r\n\r\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\r\n消了她的颜色，\r\n散了她的芬芳\r\n消散了，甚至她的\r\n太息般的眼光，\r\n丁香般的惆怅。\r\n\r\n撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望飘过\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand solitary rainy alley.\r\nI hope to come upon\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\nShe has\r\nThe color of lilacs\r\nThe scent of lilacs\r\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\r\nGrudging in the rain,\r\nResentful and hesitating. \r\n\r\nShe paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\r\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\r\nAs I do,\r\nJust as I do, \r\nSoundlessly wending,\r\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\r\n\r\nShe walks quietly closer,\r\nWalks closer, casting\r\nA glance like a sigh,\r\nShe floats past,\r\nAs a dream does,\r\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\r\n\r\nFloats by as a dream does, \r\nA single lilac,\r\nThe girl who floats past me, \r\nShe is getting farther, farther,\r\nReaches the toppled fence,\r\nWalks out of the lane. \r\n\r\nIn the rain\'s plaintive song,\r\nHer color is washed away\r\nHer scent dissipates\r\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\r\nSighing eyes\r\nHer lilac melancholy.\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand desolate rainy alley.\r\nI hope to float by\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Modern Chinese Poetry: Rainy Alley by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 06:56:57', '2016-04-28 10:56:57', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/28/1587-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1594, 1, '2016-04-28 07:01:41', '2016-04-28 11:01:41', '[two_third]\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Advanced Chinese Poetry, Modern Chinese Poetry\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Hey guys. Been a while. I\'m studying Chinese IRL, so I\'ve got less reason to focus on the blog, but I have been getting all the letters - thank you all. I\'ve also received two guest posts that I\'m embarrassed to say I haven\'t put up yet. Apologies, it may be a while, but they\'re coming. Right, on with the poetry.\n\nKinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\n\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\n\n《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \n\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \n\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\n\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \n\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n彷徨 - [pinyin]pang2huang2[/pinyin] - To pace (or to hestitate)\n寂寥 - [pinyin]ji4 liao2[/pinyin] - Solitude / solitary\n丁香 - [pinyin]ding1 xiang1[/pinyin] - Lilac\n愁怨 - [pinyin]chou2 yuan4[/pinyin] - Worried and resentful (two separate words)\n芬芳 - [pinyin]fen1 fang1[/pinyin] - Fragrance\n哀怨 - [pinyin]ai1 yuan4[/pinyin] - Sad\n彳亍 - [pinyin]chi4 chu4[/pinyin] - Walk slowly\n凄清 - [pinyin]qi1 qing1[/pinyin] - Gloomy\n太息 - [pinyin]tai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Sigh\n凄婉 - [pinyin]qi1 wan3[/pinyin] - Bittersweet, sad but beautiful\n颓圮 - [pinyin]tui2 pi3[/pinyin] - Crumbling, toppled\n哀曲 - [pinyin]ai1 qu1[/pinyin] - Sad song\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n撑着油纸伞，独自\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\n我希望逢着\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\n\n她是有\n丁香一样的颜色，\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\n丁香一样的忧愁，\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\n哀怨又彷徨；\n\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\n撑着油纸伞\n像我一样，\n像我一样地\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\n\n她静默地走近\n走近，又投出\n<strong>太息</strong>一般的眼光，\n她飘过\n像梦一般的，\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\n\n像梦中飘过\n一枝丁香的，\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\n她静默地远了，远了，\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\n走尽这雨巷。\n\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\n消了她的颜色，\n散了她的芬芳\n消散了，甚至她的\n太息般的眼光，\n丁香般的惆怅。\n\n撑着油纸伞，独自\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\n又寂寥的雨巷，\n我希望飘过\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\n \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\npace through a long, long, \nand solitary rainy alley.\nI hope to come upon\nA girl like lilacs, \nDistressed and grudging.\n\nShe has\nThe color of lilacs\nThe scent of lilacs\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\nGrudging in the rain,\nResentful and hesitating. \n\nShe paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\nAs I do,\nJust as I do, \nSoundlessly wending,\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\n\nShe walks quietly closer,\nWalks closer, casting\nA glance like a sigh,\nShe floats past,\nAs a dream does,\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\n\nFloats by as a dream does, \nA single lilac,\nThe girl who floats past me, \nShe is getting farther, farther,\nReaches the toppled fence,\nWalks out of the \n\nIn the rain\'s plaintive song,\nHer color is washed away\nHer scent dissipates\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\nSighing eyes\nHer lilac melancholy.\n\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\npace through a long, long, \nand desolate rainy alley.\nI hope to float by\nA girl like lilacs, \nDistressed and grudging.\n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Modern Chinese Poetry: Rainy Alley by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 07:01:41', '2016-04-28 11:01:41', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/28/1587-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1593, 1, '2016-04-28 06:59:42', '2016-04-28 10:59:42', '[two_third]\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Advanced Chinese Poetry, Modern Chinese Poetry\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Hey guys. Been a while. I\'m studying Chinese IRL, so I\'ve got less reason to focus on the blog, but I have been getting all the letters - thank you all. I\'ve also received two guest posts that I\'m embarrassed to say I haven\'t put up yet. Apologies, it may be a while, but they\'re coming. Right, on with the poetry.\r\n\r\nKinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\r\n\r\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \r\n\r\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \r\n\r\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\r\n\r\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \r\n\r\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \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彷徨 - [pinyin]pang2huang2[/pinyin] - To pace (or to hestitate)\r\n寂寥 - [pinyin]ji4 liao2[/pinyin] - Solitude / solitary\r\n丁香 - [pinyin]ding1 xiang1[/pinyin] - Lilac\r\n愁怨 - [pinyin]chou2 yuan4[/pinyin] - Worried and resentful (two separate words)\r\n芬芳 - [pinyin]fen1 fang1[/pinyin] - Fragrance\r\n哀怨 - [pinyin]ai1 yuan4[/pinyin] - Sad\r\n彳亍 - [pinyin]chi4 chu4[/pinyin] - Walk slowly\r\n凄清 - [pinyin]qi1 qing1[/pinyin] - Gloomy\r\n太息 - [pinyin]tai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n凄婉 - [pinyin]qi1 wan3[/pinyin] - Bittersweet, sad but beautiful\r\n颓圮 - [pinyin]tui2 pi3[/pinyin] - Crumbling, toppled\r\n哀曲 - [pinyin]ai1 qu1[/pinyin] - Sad song\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撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\r\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\r\n我希望逢着\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\r\n\r\n她是有\r\n丁香一样的颜色，\r\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\r\n丁香一样的忧愁，\r\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\r\n哀怨又彷徨；\r\n\r\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\r\n撑着油纸伞\r\n像我一样，\r\n像我一样地\r\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\r\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\r\n\r\n她静默地走近\r\n走近，又投出\r\n<strong>太息</strong>③一般的眼光，\r\n她飘过\r\n像梦一般的，\r\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\r\n\r\n像梦中飘过\r\n一枝丁香的，\r\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\r\n她静默地远了，远了，\r\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\r\n走尽这雨巷。\r\n\r\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\r\n消了她的颜色，\r\n散了她的芬芳\r\n消散了，甚至她的\r\n太息般的眼光，\r\n丁香般的惆怅。\r\n\r\n撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望飘过\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand solitary rainy alley.\r\nI hope to come upon\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\nShe has\r\nThe color of lilacs\r\nThe scent of lilacs\r\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\r\nGrudging in the rain,\r\nResentful and hesitating. \r\n\r\nShe paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\r\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\r\nAs I do,\r\nJust as I do, \r\nSoundlessly wending,\r\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\r\n\r\nShe walks quietly closer,\r\nWalks closer, casting\r\nA glance like a sigh,\r\nShe floats past,\r\nAs a dream does,\r\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\r\n\r\nFloats by as a dream does, \r\nA single lilac,\r\nThe girl who floats past me, \r\nShe is getting farther, farther,\r\nReaches the toppled fence,\r\nWalks out of the lane. \r\n\r\nIn the rain\'s plaintive song,\r\nHer color is washed away\r\nHer scent dissipates\r\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\r\nSighing eyes\r\nHer lilac melancholy.\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand desolate rainy alley.\r\nI hope to float by\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Modern Chinese Poetry: Rainy Alley by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 06:59:42', '2016-04-28 10:59:42', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/28/1587-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1595, 1, '2016-04-28 07:01:48', '2016-04-28 11:01:48', '[two_third]\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Advanced Chinese Poetry, Modern Chinese Poetry\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Hey guys. Been a while. I\'m studying Chinese IRL, so I\'ve got less reason to focus on the blog, but I have been getting all the letters - thank you all. I\'ve also received two guest posts that I\'m embarrassed to say I haven\'t put up yet. Apologies, it may be a while, but they\'re coming. Right, on with the poetry.\r\n\r\nKinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\r\n\r\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \r\n\r\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \r\n\r\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\r\n\r\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \r\n\r\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \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彷徨 - [pinyin]pang2huang2[/pinyin] - To pace (or to hestitate)\r\n寂寥 - [pinyin]ji4 liao2[/pinyin] - Solitude / solitary\r\n丁香 - [pinyin]ding1 xiang1[/pinyin] - Lilac\r\n愁怨 - [pinyin]chou2 yuan4[/pinyin] - Worried and resentful (two separate words)\r\n芬芳 - [pinyin]fen1 fang1[/pinyin] - Fragrance\r\n哀怨 - [pinyin]ai1 yuan4[/pinyin] - Sad\r\n彳亍 - [pinyin]chi4 chu4[/pinyin] - Walk slowly\r\n凄清 - [pinyin]qi1 qing1[/pinyin] - Gloomy\r\n太息 - [pinyin]tai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n凄婉 - [pinyin]qi1 wan3[/pinyin] - Bittersweet, sad but beautiful\r\n颓圮 - [pinyin]tui2 pi3[/pinyin] - Crumbling, toppled\r\n哀曲 - [pinyin]ai1 qu1[/pinyin] - Sad song\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撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\r\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\r\n我希望逢着\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\r\n\r\n她是有\r\n丁香一样的颜色，\r\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\r\n丁香一样的忧愁，\r\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\r\n哀怨又彷徨；\r\n\r\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\r\n撑着油纸伞\r\n像我一样，\r\n像我一样地\r\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\r\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\r\n\r\n她静默地走近\r\n走近，又投出\r\n<strong>太息</strong>一般的眼光，\r\n她飘过\r\n像梦一般的，\r\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\r\n\r\n像梦中飘过\r\n一枝丁香的，\r\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\r\n她静默地远了，远了，\r\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\r\n走尽这雨巷。\r\n\r\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\r\n消了她的颜色，\r\n散了她的芬芳\r\n消散了，甚至她的\r\n太息般的眼光，\r\n丁香般的惆怅。\r\n\r\n撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望飘过\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand solitary rainy alley.\r\nI hope to come upon\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\nShe has\r\nThe color of lilacs\r\nThe scent of lilacs\r\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\r\nGrudging in the rain,\r\nResentful and hesitating. \r\n\r\nShe paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\r\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\r\nAs I do,\r\nJust as I do, \r\nSoundlessly wending,\r\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\r\n\r\nShe walks quietly closer,\r\nWalks closer, casting\r\nA glance like a sigh,\r\nShe floats past,\r\nAs a dream does,\r\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\r\n\r\nFloats by as a dream does, \r\nA single lilac,\r\nThe girl who floats past me, \r\nShe is getting farther, farther,\r\nReaches the toppled fence,\r\nWalks out of this drizzling alley.\r\n\r\nIn the rain\'s plaintive song,\r\nHer color is washed away\r\nHer scent dissipates\r\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\r\nSighing eyes\r\nHer lilac melancholy.\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand desolate rainy alley.\r\nI hope to float by\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Modern Chinese Poetry: Rainy Alley by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 07:01:48', '2016-04-28 11:01:48', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/28/1587-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1596, 1, '2016-05-01 08:00:04', '2016-05-01 12:00:04', 'Yayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>Using 过</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>Not you, stoopid: 咱们 vs. 我们</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\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> 小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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> Little Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> Little Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> Uncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> Little Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> Little Horse didn\'t know what to think. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> Little Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Short Stories] 小马过河 - Little Horse Crosses the River', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'little-horse-crosses-the-river', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:32:36', '2016-11-04 09:32:36', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1596', 0, 'post', '', 45),
(1670, 1, '2016-10-31 01:18:05', '2016-10-31 05:18:05', 'Yayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>A few notable points:</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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\nLittle Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] Little Horse Crosses the River 小马过河', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:18:05', '2016-10-31 05:18:05', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1596-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1597, 1, '2016-04-28 08:57:25', '2016-04-28 12:57:25', '[two_third]\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\n\n<h3>A few notable points:</h3>\n\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地>过去了。\n\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\n\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \n\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \n\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\n\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \n\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\n\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \n\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \n\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\n\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\n\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \n\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\n\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\n\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\n\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\n\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n粮食 - [pinyin]liang2 shi2[/pinyin] - Grain (or foodstuffs)\n岸 - [pinyin]an4[/pinyin] - Bank (of a river)\n驮 - [pinyin]tuo2[/pinyin] - To carry on the back (of a pack animal)\n犹豫 - [pinyin]you2 yu4[/pinyin] - Hesitate\n迈 - [pinyin]mai4[/pinyin] - Stride, step\n翘 - [pinyin]qiao4[/pinyin] - Lift up\n卷 - [pinyin]juan3[/pinyin] - Roll up\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\n\n小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\n\n牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\n\n小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\n\n小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\n\n小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\n \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nLittle Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \n\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \n\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \n\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \n\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \n\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Horse Crosses the River', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 08:57:25', '2016-04-28 12:57:25', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/28/1596-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(1604, 1, '2016-04-28 07:18:59', '2016-04-28 11:18:59', '[two_third]\r\n>Hey guys. Been a while. I\'m studying Chinese IRL, so I\'ve got less reason to focus on the blog, but I have been getting all the letters - thank you all. I\'ve also received two guest posts that I\'m embarrassed to say I haven\'t put up yet. Apologies, it may be a while, but they\'re coming. Right, on with the poetry.\r\n\r\nKinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\r\n\r\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Advanced Chinese Poetry, Modern Chinese Poetry\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \r\n\r\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \r\n\r\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\r\n\r\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \r\n\r\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \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彷徨 - [pinyin]pang2huang2[/pinyin] - To pace (or to hestitate)\r\n寂寥 - [pinyin]ji4 liao2[/pinyin] - Solitude / solitary\r\n丁香 - [pinyin]ding1 xiang1[/pinyin] - Lilac\r\n愁怨 - [pinyin]chou2 yuan4[/pinyin] - Worried and resentful (two separate words)\r\n芬芳 - [pinyin]fen1 fang1[/pinyin] - Fragrance\r\n哀怨 - [pinyin]ai1 yuan4[/pinyin] - Sad\r\n彳亍 - [pinyin]chi4 chu4[/pinyin] - Walk slowly\r\n凄清 - [pinyin]qi1 qing1[/pinyin] - Gloomy\r\n太息 - [pinyin]tai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n凄婉 - [pinyin]qi1 wan3[/pinyin] - Bittersweet, sad but beautiful\r\n颓圮 - [pinyin]tui2 pi3[/pinyin] - Crumbling, toppled\r\n哀曲 - [pinyin]ai1 qu1[/pinyin] - Sad song\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撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\r\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\r\n我希望逢着\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\r\n\r\n她是有\r\n丁香一样的颜色，\r\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\r\n丁香一样的忧愁，\r\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\r\n哀怨又彷徨；\r\n\r\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\r\n撑着油纸伞\r\n像我一样，\r\n像我一样地\r\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\r\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\r\n\r\n她静默地走近\r\n走近，又投出\r\n<strong>太息</strong>一般的眼光，\r\n她飘过\r\n像梦一般的，\r\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\r\n\r\n像梦中飘过\r\n一枝丁香的，\r\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\r\n她静默地远了，远了，\r\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\r\n走尽这雨巷。\r\n\r\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\r\n消了她的颜色，\r\n散了她的芬芳\r\n消散了，甚至她的\r\n太息般的眼光，\r\n丁香般的惆怅。\r\n\r\n撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望飘过\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand solitary rainy alley.\r\nI hope to come upon\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\nShe has\r\nThe color of lilacs\r\nThe scent of lilacs\r\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\r\nGrudging in the rain,\r\nResentful and hesitating. \r\n\r\nShe paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\r\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\r\nAs I do,\r\nJust as I do, \r\nSoundlessly wending,\r\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\r\n\r\nShe walks quietly closer,\r\nWalks closer, casting\r\nA glance like a sigh,\r\nShe floats past,\r\nAs a dream does,\r\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\r\n\r\nFloats by as a dream does, \r\nA single lilac,\r\nThe girl who floats past me, \r\nShe is getting farther, farther,\r\nReaches the toppled fence,\r\nWalks out of this drizzling alley.\r\n\r\nIn the rain\'s plaintive song,\r\nHer color is washed away\r\nHer scent dissipates\r\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\r\nSighing eyes\r\nHer lilac melancholy.\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand desolate rainy alley.\r\nI hope to float by\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Modern Chinese Poetry: Rainy Alley by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 07:18:59', '2016-04-28 11:18:59', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/28/1587-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1605, 1, '2016-04-28 09:08:48', '2016-04-28 13:08:48', '[two_third]\r\n>Hey guys. Been a while. I\'m studying Chinese IRL, so I\'ve got less reason to focus on the blog, but I have been getting all the letters - thank you all. I\'ve also received two guest posts that I\'m embarrassed to say I haven\'t put up yet. Apologies, it may be a while, but they\'re coming. Right, on with the poetry.\r\n\r\nKinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\r\n\r\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Advanced Chinese Poetry, Modern Chinese Poetry\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \r\n\r\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \r\n\r\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\r\n\r\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \r\n\r\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \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彷徨 - [pinyin]pang2huang2[/pinyin] - To pace (or to hestitate)\r\n寂寥 - [pinyin]ji4 liao2[/pinyin] - Solitude / solitary\r\n丁香 - [pinyin]ding1 xiang1[/pinyin] - Lilac\r\n愁怨 - [pinyin]chou2 yuan4[/pinyin] - Worried and resentful (two separate words)\r\n芬芳 - [pinyin]fen1 fang1[/pinyin] - Fragrance\r\n哀怨 - [pinyin]ai1 yuan4[/pinyin] - Sad\r\n彳亍 - [pinyin]chi4 chu4[/pinyin] - Walk slowly\r\n凄清 - [pinyin]qi1 qing1[/pinyin] - Gloomy\r\n太息 - [pinyin]tai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n凄婉 - [pinyin]qi1 wan3[/pinyin] - Bittersweet, sad but beautiful\r\n颓圮 - [pinyin]tui2 pi3[/pinyin] - Crumbling, toppled\r\n哀曲 - [pinyin]ai1 qu1[/pinyin] - Sad song\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撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\r\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\r\n我希望逢着\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\r\n\r\n她是有\r\n丁香一样的颜色，\r\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\r\n丁香一样的忧愁，\r\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\r\n哀怨又彷徨；\r\n\r\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\r\n撑着油纸伞\r\n像我一样，\r\n像我一样地\r\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\r\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\r\n\r\n她静默地走近\r\n走近，又投出\r\n<strong>太息</strong>一般的眼光，\r\n她飘过\r\n像梦一般的，\r\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\r\n\r\n像梦中飘过\r\n一枝丁香的，\r\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\r\n她静默地远了，远了，\r\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\r\n走尽这雨巷。\r\n\r\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\r\n消了她的颜色，\r\n散了她的芬芳\r\n消散了，甚至她的\r\n太息般的眼光，\r\n丁香般的惆怅。\r\n\r\n撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望飘过\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand solitary rainy alley.\r\nI hope to come upon\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\nShe has\r\nThe color of lilacs\r\nThe scent of lilacs\r\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\r\nGrudging in the rain,\r\nResentful and hesitating. \r\n\r\nShe paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\r\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\r\nAs I do,\r\nJust as I do, \r\nSoundlessly wending,\r\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\r\n\r\nShe walks quietly closer,\r\nWalks closer, casting\r\nA glance like a sigh,\r\nShe floats past,\r\nAs a dream does,\r\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\r\n\r\nFloats by as a dream does, \r\nA single lilac,\r\nThe girl who floats past me, \r\nShe is getting farther, farther,\r\nReaches the toppled fence,\r\nWalks out of this drizzling alley.\r\n\r\nIn the rain\'s plaintive song,\r\nHer color is washed away\r\nHer scent dissipates\r\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\r\nSighing eyes\r\nHer lilac melancholy.\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand desolate rainy alley.\r\nI hope to float by\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Modern Chinese Poetry: Rainy Alley by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 09:08:48', '2016-04-28 13:08:48', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/28/1587-revision-8/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1606, 1, '2016-04-28 09:08:42', '2016-04-28 13:08:42', '[two_third]\nYayzors, horsies. \n\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/20160501-inline2.jpg\" alt=\"20160501-inline\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /><h3>A few notable points:</h3>\n\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地>过去了。\n\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\n\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \n\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \n\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\n\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \n\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\n\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \n\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \n\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\n\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\n\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \n\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\n\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\n\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\n\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\n\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n粮食 - [pinyin]liang2 shi2[/pinyin] - Grain (or foodstuffs)\n岸 - [pinyin]an4[/pinyin] - Bank (of a river)\n驮 - [pinyin]tuo2[/pinyin] - To carry on the back (of a pack animal)\n犹豫 - [pinyin]you2 yu4[/pinyin] - Hesitate\n迈 - [pinyin]mai4[/pinyin] - Stride, step\n翘 - [pinyin]qiao4[/pinyin] - Lift up\n卷 - [pinyin]juan3[/pinyin] - Roll up\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\n\n小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\n\n牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\n\n小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\n\n小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\n\n小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\n \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nLittle Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \n\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \n\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \n\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \n\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \n\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Horse Crosses the River', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 09:08:42', '2016-04-28 13:08:42', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/28/1596-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1607, 1, '2016-04-28 09:09:12', '2016-04-28 13:09:12', '[two_third]\r\nYayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/20160501-inline2.jpg\" alt=\"20160501-inline\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /><h3>A few notable points:</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\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粮食 - [pinyin]liang2 shi2[/pinyin] - Grain (or foodstuffs)\r\n岸 - [pinyin]an4[/pinyin] - Bank (of a river)\r\n驮 - [pinyin]tuo2[/pinyin] - To carry on the back (of a pack animal)\r\n犹豫 - [pinyin]you2 yu4[/pinyin] - Hesitate\r\n迈 - [pinyin]mai4[/pinyin] - Stride, step\r\n翘 - [pinyin]qiao4[/pinyin] - Lift up\r\n卷 - [pinyin]juan3[/pinyin] - Roll up\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小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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\nLittle Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Horse Crosses the River', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 09:09:12', '2016-04-28 13:09:12', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/28/1596-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2255, 1, '2016-11-06 19:53:56', '2016-11-07 00:53:56', '', 'Order &ndash; November 6, 2016 @ 07:53 PM', '', 'wc-processing', 'open', 'closed', 'order_581fd0a1bbf94', 'order-nov-07-2016-1253-am', '', '', '2016-11-06 19:53:56', '2016-11-07 00:53:56', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?post_type=shop_order&#038;p=2255', 0, 'shop_order', '', 2),
(1613, 1, '2016-04-28 09:21:11', '2016-04-28 13:21:11', '[two_third]\r\nYayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/20160501-inline2.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese for Beginners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /><h3>A few notable points:</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\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粮食 - [pinyin]liang2 shi2[/pinyin] - Grain (or foodstuffs)\r\n岸 - [pinyin]an4[/pinyin] - Bank (of a river)\r\n驮 - [pinyin]tuo2[/pinyin] - To carry on the back (of a pack animal)\r\n犹豫 - [pinyin]you2 yu4[/pinyin] - Hesitate\r\n迈 - [pinyin]mai4[/pinyin] - Stride, step\r\n翘 - [pinyin]qiao4[/pinyin] - Lift up\r\n卷 - [pinyin]juan3[/pinyin] - Roll up\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小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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\nLittle Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Horse Crosses the River', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 09:21:11', '2016-04-28 13:21:11', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/1596-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1635, 1, '2016-10-30 23:52:24', '2016-10-31 03:52:24', 'Yayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/20160501-inline2.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese for Beginners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /><h3>A few notable points:</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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\nLittle Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Weekly Freebie: Little Horse Crosses the River 小马过河', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-30 23:52:24', '2016-10-31 03:52:24', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1596-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1614, 1, '2016-10-30 21:39:02', '2016-10-31 01:39:02', '[two_third]\r\nYayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/20160501-inline2.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese for Beginners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /><h3>A few notable points:</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\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粮食 - [pinyin]liang2 shi2[/pinyin] - Grain (or foodstuffs)\r\n岸 - [pinyin]an4[/pinyin] - Bank (of a river)\r\n驮 - [pinyin]tuo2[/pinyin] - To carry on the back (of a pack animal)\r\n犹豫 - [pinyin]you2 yu4[/pinyin] - Hesitate\r\n迈 - [pinyin]mai4[/pinyin] - Stride, step\r\n翘 - [pinyin]qiao4[/pinyin] - Lift up\r\n卷 - [pinyin]juan3[/pinyin] - Roll up\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小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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\nLittle Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Horse Crosses the River 小马过河', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-30 21:39:02', '2016-10-31 01:39:02', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1596-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1615, 1, '2016-04-28 09:08:55', '2016-04-28 13:08:55', '[two_third]\r\nHey guys. Been a while. I\'m studying Chinese IRL, so I\'ve got less reason to focus on the blog, but I have been getting all the letters - thank you all. I\'ve also received two guest posts that I\'m embarrassed to say I haven\'t put up yet. Apologies, it may be a while, but they\'re coming. Right, on with the poetry.\r\n\r\nKinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\r\n\r\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Advanced Chinese Poetry, Modern Chinese Poetry\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \r\n\r\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \r\n\r\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\r\n\r\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \r\n\r\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \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彷徨 - [pinyin]pang2huang2[/pinyin] - To pace (or to hestitate)\r\n寂寥 - [pinyin]ji4 liao2[/pinyin] - Solitude / solitary\r\n丁香 - [pinyin]ding1 xiang1[/pinyin] - Lilac\r\n愁怨 - [pinyin]chou2 yuan4[/pinyin] - Worried and resentful (two separate words)\r\n芬芳 - [pinyin]fen1 fang1[/pinyin] - Fragrance\r\n哀怨 - [pinyin]ai1 yuan4[/pinyin] - Sad\r\n彳亍 - [pinyin]chi4 chu4[/pinyin] - Walk slowly\r\n凄清 - [pinyin]qi1 qing1[/pinyin] - Gloomy\r\n太息 - [pinyin]tai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n凄婉 - [pinyin]qi1 wan3[/pinyin] - Bittersweet, sad but beautiful\r\n颓圮 - [pinyin]tui2 pi3[/pinyin] - Crumbling, toppled\r\n哀曲 - [pinyin]ai1 qu1[/pinyin] - Sad song\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撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\r\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\r\n我希望逢着\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\r\n\r\n她是有\r\n丁香一样的颜色，\r\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\r\n丁香一样的忧愁，\r\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\r\n哀怨又彷徨；\r\n\r\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\r\n撑着油纸伞\r\n像我一样，\r\n像我一样地\r\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\r\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\r\n\r\n她静默地走近\r\n走近，又投出\r\n<strong>太息</strong>一般的眼光，\r\n她飘过\r\n像梦一般的，\r\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\r\n\r\n像梦中飘过\r\n一枝丁香的，\r\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\r\n她静默地远了，远了，\r\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\r\n走尽这雨巷。\r\n\r\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\r\n消了她的颜色，\r\n散了她的芬芳\r\n消散了，甚至她的\r\n太息般的眼光，\r\n丁香般的惆怅。\r\n\r\n撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望飘过\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand solitary rainy alley.\r\nI hope to come upon\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\nShe has\r\nThe color of lilacs\r\nThe scent of lilacs\r\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\r\nGrudging in the rain,\r\nResentful and hesitating. \r\n\r\nShe paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\r\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\r\nAs I do,\r\nJust as I do, \r\nSoundlessly wending,\r\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\r\n\r\nShe walks quietly closer,\r\nWalks closer, casting\r\nA glance like a sigh,\r\nShe floats past,\r\nAs a dream does,\r\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\r\n\r\nFloats by as a dream does, \r\nA single lilac,\r\nThe girl who floats past me, \r\nShe is getting farther, farther,\r\nReaches the toppled fence,\r\nWalks out of this drizzling alley.\r\n\r\nIn the rain\'s plaintive song,\r\nHer color is washed away\r\nHer scent dissipates\r\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\r\nSighing eyes\r\nHer lilac melancholy.\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand desolate rainy alley.\r\nI hope to float by\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Modern Chinese Poetry: Rainy Alley by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 09:08:55', '2016-04-28 13:08:55', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/04/1587-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1634, 1, '2016-10-30 23:51:27', '2016-10-31 03:51:27', 'Kinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\r\n\r\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Advanced Chinese Poetry, Modern Chinese Poetry\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \r\n\r\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \r\n\r\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\r\n\r\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \r\n\r\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\r\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\r\n我希望逢着\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\r\n\r\n她是有\r\n丁香一样的颜色，\r\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\r\n丁香一样的忧愁，\r\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\r\n哀怨又彷徨；\r\n\r\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\r\n撑着油纸伞\r\n像我一样，\r\n像我一样地\r\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\r\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\r\n\r\n她静默地走近\r\n走近，又投出\r\n<strong>太息</strong>一般的眼光，\r\n她飘过\r\n像梦一般的，\r\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\r\n\r\n像梦中飘过\r\n一枝丁香的，\r\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\r\n她静默地远了，远了，\r\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\r\n走尽这雨巷。\r\n\r\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\r\n消了她的颜色，\r\n散了她的芬芳\r\n消散了，甚至她的\r\n太息般的眼光，\r\n丁香般的惆怅。\r\n\r\n撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望飘过\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand solitary rainy alley.\r\nI hope to come upon\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\nShe has\r\nThe color of lilacs\r\nThe scent of lilacs\r\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\r\nGrudging in the rain,\r\nResentful and hesitating. \r\n\r\nShe paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\r\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\r\nAs I do,\r\nJust as I do, \r\nSoundlessly wending,\r\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\r\n\r\nShe walks quietly closer,\r\nWalks closer, casting\r\nA glance like a sigh,\r\nShe floats past,\r\nAs a dream does,\r\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\r\n\r\nFloats by as a dream does, \r\nA single lilac,\r\nThe girl who floats past me, \r\nShe is getting farther, farther,\r\nReaches the toppled fence,\r\nWalks out of this drizzling alley.\r\n\r\nIn the rain\'s plaintive song,\r\nHer color is washed away\r\nHer scent dissipates\r\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\r\nSighing eyes\r\nHer lilac melancholy.\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand desolate rainy alley.\r\nI hope to float by\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Modern Chinese Poetry: Rainy Alley 《雨巷》 by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-30 23:51:27', '2016-10-31 03:51:27', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1587-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1616, 1, '2016-10-30 22:03:31', '2016-10-31 02:03:31', '[two_third]\r\nHey guys. Been a while. I\'m studying Chinese IRL, so I\'ve got less reason to focus on the blog, but I have been getting all the letters - thank you all. I\'ve also received two guest posts that I\'m embarrassed to say I haven\'t put up yet. Apologies, it may be a while, but they\'re coming. Right, on with the poetry.\r\n\r\nKinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\r\n\r\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Advanced Chinese Poetry, Modern Chinese Poetry\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \r\n\r\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \r\n\r\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\r\n\r\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \r\n\r\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \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彷徨 - [pinyin]pang2huang2[/pinyin] - To pace (or to hestitate)\r\n寂寥 - [pinyin]ji4 liao2[/pinyin] - Solitude / solitary\r\n丁香 - [pinyin]ding1 xiang1[/pinyin] - Lilac\r\n愁怨 - [pinyin]chou2 yuan4[/pinyin] - Worried and resentful (two separate words)\r\n芬芳 - [pinyin]fen1 fang1[/pinyin] - Fragrance\r\n哀怨 - [pinyin]ai1 yuan4[/pinyin] - Sad\r\n彳亍 - [pinyin]chi4 chu4[/pinyin] - Walk slowly\r\n凄清 - [pinyin]qi1 qing1[/pinyin] - Gloomy\r\n太息 - [pinyin]tai4 xi1[/pinyin] - Sigh\r\n凄婉 - [pinyin]qi1 wan3[/pinyin] - Bittersweet, sad but beautiful\r\n颓圮 - [pinyin]tui2 pi3[/pinyin] - Crumbling, toppled\r\n哀曲 - [pinyin]ai1 qu1[/pinyin] - Sad song\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撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\r\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\r\n我希望逢着\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\r\n\r\n她是有\r\n丁香一样的颜色，\r\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\r\n丁香一样的忧愁，\r\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\r\n哀怨又彷徨；\r\n\r\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\r\n撑着油纸伞\r\n像我一样，\r\n像我一样地\r\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\r\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\r\n\r\n她静默地走近\r\n走近，又投出\r\n<strong>太息</strong>一般的眼光，\r\n她飘过\r\n像梦一般的，\r\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\r\n\r\n像梦中飘过\r\n一枝丁香的，\r\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\r\n她静默地远了，远了，\r\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\r\n走尽这雨巷。\r\n\r\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\r\n消了她的颜色，\r\n散了她的芬芳\r\n消散了，甚至她的\r\n太息般的眼光，\r\n丁香般的惆怅。\r\n\r\n撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望飘过\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand solitary rainy alley.\r\nI hope to come upon\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\nShe has\r\nThe color of lilacs\r\nThe scent of lilacs\r\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\r\nGrudging in the rain,\r\nResentful and hesitating. \r\n\r\nShe paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\r\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\r\nAs I do,\r\nJust as I do, \r\nSoundlessly wending,\r\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\r\n\r\nShe walks quietly closer,\r\nWalks closer, casting\r\nA glance like a sigh,\r\nShe floats past,\r\nAs a dream does,\r\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\r\n\r\nFloats by as a dream does, \r\nA single lilac,\r\nThe girl who floats past me, \r\nShe is getting farther, farther,\r\nReaches the toppled fence,\r\nWalks out of this drizzling alley.\r\n\r\nIn the rain\'s plaintive song,\r\nHer color is washed away\r\nHer scent dissipates\r\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\r\nSighing eyes\r\nHer lilac melancholy.\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand desolate rainy alley.\r\nI hope to float by\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Modern Chinese Poetry: Rainy Alley 《雨巷》 by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-30 22:03:31', '2016-10-31 02:03:31', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1587-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(1636, 1, '2016-10-31 02:10:40', '2016-10-31 06:10:40', 'Hey hey, lookie here, an excellent guest post submitted by native Chinese speaker Yang from <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com\" target=\"_blank\">Learn Mandarin Now</a>. This story tells us a bit about the Chinese <em>chengyu</em> (idiom),塞翁失马, which can mean \"a blessing in disguise\", or can conversely mean \"bad luck disguised as good\". It\'s used to point out the hidden positives or negatives in a situation, so you might say it means \"there are two sides to every circumstance\". <!--more-->\n\nI\'m loving this post for the fable-y language: \"servant\", \"steed\", etc. Plus, I learned a new favorite word in this one: 塞外 [pinyin]sai4 wai4[/pinyin], meaning \"Beyond the Great Wall\". In other words, a remote place near the outskirts or borders of China. Also, don\'t forget, 匹 [pinyin]pi3[/pinyin] is the measure word for Horses, so you\'re gonna see that a few times. \n\nThere\'s one phrase we should probably get into in greater detail, because I don\'t think it\'s immediately clear what it means: 全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗. Let\'s take a look at this, word by word:\n\n全国 - The whole country\n上下的 - Everywhere\n年轻男子 - young men\n都 - all\n被 - grammar word usually indicating that the subject of the sentence has had something unfortunate happen to them\n抓 - grabbed\n去 - go out\n打仗 - fight \n\nThe key word here is 抓 [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin], which usually means to \"catch\" or \"grab\". In this case, the word means \"drafted\", so it still means to \"grab\", but in this case, it\'s the ruling power (probably the king) doing the grabbing up (of potential soldiers). The 被 in this case functions as \"were\", with a negative overtone. So this can be translated as \"All the young men everywhere in the country <strong>were drafted</strong> to go fight a war.\"\n\nLearn Mandarin Now\'s \"<a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-read-chinese/\" target=\"_blank\">How to Read Chinese</a>\" page for a basic overview on getting started with Simplified characters, and look at <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/blog/\" target=\"_blank\">their new blog</a> for some learning tips. \n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\n<strong>1)</strong> 从前，一位<strong>老翁</strong>和他的儿子住在<strong>塞外</strong>的边境上。他们都非常喜欢骑马。有一天，他们家的<strong>仆人</strong>给老先生报告：\"我们家的一匹骏马走丢了，好像跑去<strong>邻国</strong>了。\"\n\n<strong>2)</strong> 老翁的朋友<strong>闻讯</strong>都过来安慰他。但老先生说：“呵呵，这也许不是坏事，谁知道呢！＂\n\n<strong>3)</strong> 几个月之后，奇妙的事情发生了，那匹走失了的骏马意外地跑回来了，并且从邻国带来了一匹新的<strong>骏马</strong>。老翁的好友纷纷过来祝贺他。老翁说：“唉，这也许不是什么好事情呢！”\n\n<strong>4)</strong> 一天，老翁的儿子正在骑那匹新的骏马，突然不小心从马上掉了下来并摔断了腿。他从今以后都不能正常走路了。老翁的朋友都为老翁感到伤心，但老翁却说：“这个意外以后能为咱们带来好运也不一定。”\n\n<strong>5)</strong> 一年后，全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗，大部分去参军的年轻人都死在了<strong>战场</strong>。老翁的儿子因为腿受伤了所以避过了这一次劫难。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n<strong>1)</strong> Once upon a time, there was an old man who lived with his son on the borders of the country. They both very much enjoyed riding horses. One day, a servant reported to the old man, “One of our good horses has gone missing. It seems the horse ran across to the neighboring country.\"\n\n<strong>2)</strong> Old man\'s friends came and comforted him. However, the old man said: \"Well, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Who knows!\"\n\n<strong>3)</strong> Couple of months later, a strange thing happened. The missing horse came back, accompanied by a great steed from the neighboring country. When his friends congratulated him on this great news, the old man said: \"Well, this might bring us bad luck.\"\n\n<strong>4)</strong> One day, his son was having fun riding on the fine [new] steed. Suddenly, he fell from the hose and broke his leg. His son was never able to walk again. Again, the old man\'s friends came to comfort him. But the old man was not bothered and said: \"This accident might bring us good luck in the future.\"\n\n<strong>5)</strong> A year later, all young men in the country were drafted to join a war. Most young men who fought died on the battlefield. Luckily, his son avoided entering the war because of his broken leg.\n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idiom] 塞翁失马 - A Blessing in Disguise', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1551-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:10:40', '2016-10-31 06:10:40', '', 1551, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1551-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(1653, 1, '2016-10-31 00:59:27', '2016-10-31 04:59:27', '', 'Communist Kitch', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'communist-kitch', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:57:03', '2016-10-31 14:57:03', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1653', 4, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1652, 1, '2016-10-31 00:59:27', '2016-10-31 04:59:27', '', 'Chinese Idioms (成语)', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'chinese-idioms-%e6%88%90%e8%af%ad', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:57:03', '2016-10-31 14:57:03', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1652', 3, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1651, 1, '2016-10-31 00:59:27', '2016-10-31 04:59:27', '', 'Chinese Holidays', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'chinese-holidays', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:57:03', '2016-10-31 14:57:03', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1651', 2, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1650, 1, '2016-10-31 00:59:27', '2016-10-31 04:59:27', '', 'Children\'s Stories', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'childrens-stories', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:57:03', '2016-10-31 14:57:03', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1650', 1, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1649, 1, '2016-10-31 00:39:01', '2016-10-31 04:39:01', ' ', '', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1649', '', '', '2017-01-21 02:15:20', '2017-01-21 07:15:20', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1649', 1, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1659, 1, '2013-01-26 00:40:31', '2013-01-26 05:40:31', '[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: \"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', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1329-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-01-26 00:40:31', '2013-01-26 05:40:31', '', 1329, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/01/1329-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1661, 1, '2016-10-31 01:16:13', '2016-10-31 05:16:13', '', 'Books', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'books', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:46:59', '2016-10-31 14:46:59', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1661', 1, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1662, 1, '2016-10-31 01:16:13', '2016-10-31 05:16:13', '', 'Essays', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'essays', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:46:59', '2016-10-31 14:46:59', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1662', 2, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1663, 1, '2016-10-31 01:16:13', '2016-10-31 05:16:13', '', 'Fables', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'fables', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:46:59', '2016-10-31 14:46:59', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1663', 3, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1664, 1, '2016-10-31 01:16:14', '2016-10-31 05:16:14', '', 'Facts', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'facts', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:46:59', '2016-10-31 14:46:59', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1664', 4, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1665, 1, '2016-10-31 01:16:14', '2016-10-31 05:16:14', '', 'Jokes & Riddles', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'jokes-riddles', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:46:59', '2016-10-31 14:46:59', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1665', 5, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1666, 1, '2016-10-31 01:16:14', '2016-10-31 05:16:14', '', 'News', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'news', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:46:59', '2016-10-31 14:46:59', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1666', 6, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1667, 1, '2016-10-31 01:16:14', '2016-10-31 05:16:14', '', 'Poetry', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'poetry', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:46:59', '2016-10-31 14:46:59', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1667', 7, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1668, 1, '2016-10-31 01:16:14', '2016-10-31 05:16:14', '', 'Short Stories', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'short-stories', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:46:59', '2016-10-31 14:46:59', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1668', 8, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0),
(1669, 1, '2016-10-31 01:16:14', '2016-10-31 05:16:14', '', 'Songs', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'songs', '', '', '2016-10-31 10:46:59', '2016-10-31 14:46:59', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1669', 9, 'nav_menu_item', '', 0);
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(1671, 1, '2016-10-31 01:27:28', '2016-10-31 05:27:28', 'Yayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>A few notable points:</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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\nLittle Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] Little Horse Crosses the River 小马过河', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:27:28', '2016-10-31 05:27:28', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1596-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1672, 1, '2016-10-31 01:32:30', '2016-10-31 05:32:30', 'Yayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>A few notable points:</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n➊小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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\n➊Little Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] Little Horse Crosses the River 小马过河', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:32:30', '2016-10-31 05:32:30', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1596-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1673, 1, '2016-10-31 02:04:16', '2016-10-31 06:04:16', 'Yayzors, horsies. \n\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\n\n<h3>Using 过</h3>\n\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\n\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\n\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \n\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \n\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\n\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \n\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\n\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \n\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \n\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\n\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\n\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \n\n<h3>Not you, stoopid: 咱们 vs. 我们</h3>\n\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\n\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\n\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\n\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\n<strong>1)</strong> 小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\n\n<strong>2)</strong> 小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\n\n<strong>3)</strong> 牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\n\n<strong>4)</strong> 小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\n\n<strong>5)</strong> 小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\n\n<strong>6)</strong> 小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\n \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n<strong>1)</strong> Little Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \n\n<strong>2)</strong> Little Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \n\n<strong>3)</strong> Uncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \n\n<strong>4)</strong> Little Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \n\nLittle Horse didn\'t know what to think. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \n\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] 小马过河 - Little Horse Crosses the River', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:04:16', '2016-10-31 06:04:16', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1596-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1674, 1, '2016-10-31 01:34:42', '2016-10-31 05:34:42', 'Yayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>A few notable points:</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\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> 小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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\n➊Little Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was. While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] Little Horse Crosses the River 小马过河', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:34:42', '2016-10-31 05:34:42', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1596-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1692, 1, '2016-10-31 01:52:58', '2016-10-31 05:52:58', 'Yayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>A few notable points:</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n➊小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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\n➊Little Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] 小马过河 - Little Horse Crosses the River', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:52:58', '2016-10-31 05:52:58', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1596-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1675, 1, '2016-10-31 01:35:43', '2016-10-31 05:35:43', 'Yayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>A few notable points:</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>One more thing:</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\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> 小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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>Little Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong>Little Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was. While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong>Uncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong>Little Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong>Little Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong>Little Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] Little Horse Crosses the River 小马过河', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:35:43', '2016-10-31 05:35:43', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1596-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1676, 1, '2016-10-31 01:36:34', '2016-10-31 05:36:34', 'Kinda kills me how little information is available on the modern Chinese writers, you know? A few of the most famous works have been translated, but most have only cursory mentions. Even the Wikipedia pages don\'t have nearly the amount of content that the Chinese encyclopedias offer. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dai_Wangshu\" target=\"_blank\">Dai Wangshu</a>, for example, is relatively unknown in the west. So who is this guy?\r\n\r\nDai Wangshu (戴望舒) was a famously-depressed modern Chinese symbolist poet, born in 1905, died from an accidental overdose of asthma medication in 1950 - asthma which he contracted when he was thrown in jail by the Japanese for advocating revolution. Seriously, this guy spent his entire life having the sadz. He threatened to kill himself a couple of times, once to force his girlfriend to marry him (she agreed, but then ran off with a refrigerator salesman, cuz I guess refrigerators were a big deal at the time), and once when his first wife fell in love with another man and asked for a divorce.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160428-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Advanced Chinese Poetry, Modern Chinese Poetry\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />《雨巷》, Dai Wangshu\'s representative work was written in 1927 when he was 22. He\'d just broken it off with his girlfriend and was spending much of his time in seclusion at a friend\'s house. This was also written soon after the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927\" target=\"_blank\">April 12 Incident</a>, during which the KMT (Guomindang) slaughtered a bunch of Communists in Shanghai, where Dai Wangshu was living, so we\'re talking a period of political uncertainty and upheaval. Because of this, there\'s been speculation that the poem has political overtones, but I don\'t think so. \r\n\r\nLike most of Dai Wangshu\'s work, 《雨巷》 is wistful, lovely and sad, and also a bit misty and dreamlike. It describes a single scene in which a woman, dressed in purple and holding an oil paper umbrella, passes the author on a silent rainy road. You\'ll see the word 丁香 appear frequently - that\'s a \"lilac\". Lilacs come up a lot here. The language is difficult at first, but then gets repetitive, as he uses the same words again and again in different configurations, until in the last stanza, there\'s no new vocabulary. \r\n\r\nI don\'t love the <a href=\"http://www.zg-wh.com/2014/03/a-lane-in-rain-poem-by-dai-wangshu.html\" target=\"_blank\">translation that\'s available</a> for this, so I made own translation below - it\'s not perfect. Like most Chinese poetry, if you translate with exact faithfulness, it sounds crappy in English, so small liberties have been taken. You may like the other version better, go check it out. Regardless of the translation, I think this piece loses its beauty in the English version. If you read the poem out loud in Chinese, you\'ll notice it\'s got a lovely cadence, with some off-tempo rhymes that get lost in any other language, so try reciting it, if you can.\r\n\r\n彷徨 is interesting in that it has two meanings. One is to pace back and forth - a Chinese synonym for this might be 徘徊. But it also means \"to hesitate\". I personally used both definitions, one in the first stanza, a different one a little later on, so don\'t let that trip you up. In fact, I do something similar in a couple of places, use different definitions of the same word to make it sound a bit better in English. \r\n\r\nLittle side note, these Chinese punctuation marks 《》 indicate the name of a book, movie, poem, or other written work - we use quotes or italics for this in English. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n<strong>彷徨</strong>在悠长，悠长\r\n又<strong>寂寥</strong>的雨巷，\r\n我希望逢着\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着<strong>愁怨</strong>的姑娘。\r\n\r\n她是有\r\n丁香一样的颜色，\r\n丁香一样的<strong>芬芳</strong>，\r\n丁香一样的忧愁，\r\n在雨中<strong>哀怨</strong>，\r\n哀怨又彷徨；\r\n\r\n她彷徨在这寂寥的雨巷，\r\n撑着油纸伞\r\n像我一样，\r\n像我一样地\r\n默默<strong>彳亍</strong>着，\r\n冷漠，<strong>凄清</strong>，又惆怅。\r\n\r\n她静默地走近\r\n走近，又投出\r\n<strong>太息</strong>一般的眼光，\r\n她飘过\r\n像梦一般的，\r\n像梦一般的<strong>凄婉</strong>迷茫。\r\n\r\n像梦中飘过\r\n一枝丁香的，\r\n我身旁飘过这女郎；\r\n她静默地远了，远了，\r\n到了<strong>颓圮</strong>的篱墙，\r\n走尽这雨巷。\r\n\r\n在雨的<strong>哀曲</strong>里，\r\n消了她的颜色，\r\n散了她的芬芳\r\n消散了，甚至她的\r\n太息般的眼光，\r\n丁香般的惆怅。\r\n\r\n撑着油纸伞，独自\r\n彷徨在悠长，悠长\r\n又寂寥的雨巷，\r\n我希望飘过\r\n一个<strong>丁香</strong>一样的\r\n结着愁怨的姑娘。\r\n \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand solitary rainy alley.\r\nI hope to come upon\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\nShe has\r\nThe color of lilacs\r\nThe scent of lilacs\r\nAnd a lilac\'s concerns,\r\nGrudging in the rain,\r\nResentful and hesitating. \r\n\r\nShe paces in the drizzling, desolate lane,\r\nHolding her oil paper umbrella,\r\nAs I do,\r\nJust as I do, \r\nSoundlessly wending,\r\nAloof, cheerless, and unhappy.\r\n\r\nShe walks quietly closer,\r\nWalks closer, casting\r\nA glance like a sigh,\r\nShe floats past,\r\nAs a dream does,\r\nAs a dream does, indistinctly bittersweet.\r\n\r\nFloats by as a dream does, \r\nA single lilac,\r\nThe girl who floats past me, \r\nShe is getting farther, farther,\r\nReaches the toppled fence,\r\nWalks out of this drizzling alley.\r\n\r\nIn the rain\'s plaintive song,\r\nHer color is washed away\r\nHer scent dissipates\r\nWashed out and dissipated, even her\r\nSighing eyes\r\nHer lilac melancholy.\r\n\r\nHolding an oil paper umbrella, I\r\npace through a long, long, \r\nand desolate rainy alley.\r\nI hope to float by\r\nA girl like lilacs, \r\nDistressed and grudging.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Modern Chinese Poetry] Rainy Alley 《雨巷》 by Dai Wangshu', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1587-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:36:34', '2016-10-31 05:36:34', '', 1587, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1587-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1677, 1, '2015-09-24 21:50:30', '2015-09-25 01:50:30', '[two_third]\r\nFeels like it\'s been a hundred years since I threw something up here. Rest assured I carry the shame of an un-updated blog around with me constantly, so - yay, guilt. I\'m actually taking intensive classes in Chinese (yet again) to push my reading level higher, hence the lack of posts. I\'m more active on here when I\'m not studying anywhere else. Anyhoo, this is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. The words are mostly OK, but there are one too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/20150925-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Stories for Kids in Mandarin Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />This is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you start reading and then one word trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. Uh, well, [pinyin]xiang1 cao3[/pinyin] means \"vanilla\" and [pinyin]wa2 wa2[/pinyin] is \"baby\", so... vanilla baby? Really? In the story, 香草娃娃 is used as a toy\'s name, so I thought, maybe there\'s a toy called a Vanilla Baby? Anyway, it turns out an out-of-use definition for 香草 is \"old and dependable\". Ah hah - \"old, dependable baby doll\". That makes sense. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one other very useful phrase here that\'s very commonly used in everyday language: 太过分了！Directly translated, this means \"Too excessive!\", but this phrase doesn\'t usually actually refer to a large amount of things. It\'s more often used to refer to a circumstance or someone\'s behavior, like, \"That is just too much to bear!\". If someone was very mean to you, you could say, \"太过分了!\" or if an interview process was super rough and you got raked over the coals, also \"太过分了!\" \r\n\r\nEnjoy this one, and consider it good practicing in very colloquial story building.\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非凡 - [pinyin]fei1 fan2[/pinyin] - Extraordinarily\r\n舞池 - [pinyin]wu3 chi2[/pinyin] - Dance floor\r\n气愤 - [pinyin]qi4 fen4[/pinyin] - Angry\r\n对待 - [pinyin]dui4 dai4[/pinyin] - To treat someone (a certain way)\r\n灿烂 - [pinyin]can4 lan4[/pinyin] - Brilliant (smile, light)\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新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹<strong>非凡</strong>。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着<strong>舞池</strong>，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这时，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很<strong>气愤</strong>，说：“他们怎么能这样<strong>对待</strong>你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了<strong>灿烂</strong>的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\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 new year had almost arrived, and the Toy Kingdom planned to invite everyone to a grand ball. The day of the dance, the toys were all dancing and laughing, and the whole ballroom was extraordinarily lively. But off in one corner, receiving no attention from anyone, there was an old purple doll silently gazing at the dance floor, her eyes were blank and she looked lonely. Just then, a white polar bear in front of her saw this, walked over and asked the dependable old doll, \"Doll, why don\'t you go dance?\" The dependable doll lowered her head sadly, saying in a small voice, \"The [other] toys all say I\'m too short, they\'re not willing to dance with me.\"  Saying this, she began to cry. Polar Bear was furious when he heard this, and said: \"How could they treat you this way? Don\'t they understand solidarity? That\'s just too much!\" Little Bear pulled on the baby doll\'s hand, and said: \"Doll, don\'t be sad. Come on, I\'m asking you to dance with me.\" The dependable doll heard these words, and a brilliant smile immediately lit up her face. She quickly wiped the tears off her face and said happily, \"Wonderful! Wonderful!\" On the dance floor, Doll and Bear danced and laughed, and passed a lovely evening together. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1566-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-09-24 21:50:30', '2015-09-25 01:50:30', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/09/1566-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1704, 1, '2016-10-31 02:39:03', '2016-10-31 06:39:03', 'This is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. The words are mostly OK, but there are one too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations.<!--more-->\r\n\r\nThis is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you start reading and then one word trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. Uh, well, [pinyin]xiang1 cao3[/pinyin] means \"vanilla\" and [pinyin]wa2 wa2[/pinyin] is \"baby\", so... vanilla baby? Really? In the story, 香草娃娃 is used as a toy\'s name, so I thought, maybe there\'s a toy called a Vanilla Baby? Anyway, it turns out an out-of-use definition for 香草 is \"old and dependable\". Ah hah - \"old, dependable baby doll\". That makes sense. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one other very useful phrase here that\'s very commonly used in everyday language: 太过分了！Directly translated, this means \"Too excessive!\", but this phrase doesn\'t usually actually refer to a large amount of things. It\'s more often used to refer to a circumstance or someone\'s behavior, like, \"That is just too much to bear!\". If someone was very mean to you, you could say, \"太过分了!\" or if an interview process was super rough and you got raked over the coals, also \"太过分了!\" \r\n\r\nEnjoy this one, and consider it good practicing in very colloquial story building.\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹<strong>非凡</strong>。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着<strong>舞池</strong>，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这时，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很<strong>气愤</strong>，说：“他们怎么能这样<strong>对待</strong>你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了<strong>灿烂</strong>的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\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 new year had almost arrived, and the Toy Kingdom planned to invite everyone to a grand ball. The day of the dance, the toys were all dancing and laughing, and the whole ballroom was extraordinarily lively. But off in one corner, receiving no attention from anyone, there was an old purple doll silently gazing at the dance floor, her eyes were blank and she looked lonely. Just then, a white polar bear in front of her saw this, walked over and asked the dependable old doll, \"Doll, why don\'t you go dance?\" The dependable doll lowered her head sadly, saying in a small voice, \"The [other] toys all say I\'m too short, they\'re not willing to dance with me.\"  Saying this, she began to cry. Polar Bear was furious when he heard this, and said: \"How could they treat you this way? Don\'t they understand solidarity? That\'s just too much!\" Little Bear pulled on the baby doll\'s hand, and said: \"Doll, don\'t be sad. Come on, I\'m asking you to dance with me.\" The dependable doll heard these words, and a brilliant smile immediately lit up her face. She quickly wiped the tears off her face and said happily, \"Wonderful! Wonderful!\" On the dance floor, Doll and Bear danced and laughed, and passed a lovely evening together. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Children\'s Story] The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1566-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:39:03', '2016-10-31 06:39:03', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1566-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1678, 1, '2016-10-31 01:37:05', '2016-10-31 05:37:05', '[two_third]\r\nFeels like it\'s been a hundred years since I threw something up here. Rest assured I carry the shame of an un-updated blog around with me constantly, so - yay, guilt. I\'m actually taking intensive classes in Chinese (yet again) to push my reading level higher, hence the lack of posts. I\'m more active on here when I\'m not studying anywhere else. Anyhoo, this is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. The words are mostly OK, but there are one too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/20150925-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Stories for Kids in Mandarin Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />This is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you start reading and then one word trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. Uh, well, [pinyin]xiang1 cao3[/pinyin] means \"vanilla\" and [pinyin]wa2 wa2[/pinyin] is \"baby\", so... vanilla baby? Really? In the story, 香草娃娃 is used as a toy\'s name, so I thought, maybe there\'s a toy called a Vanilla Baby? Anyway, it turns out an out-of-use definition for 香草 is \"old and dependable\". Ah hah - \"old, dependable baby doll\". That makes sense. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one other very useful phrase here that\'s very commonly used in everyday language: 太过分了！Directly translated, this means \"Too excessive!\", but this phrase doesn\'t usually actually refer to a large amount of things. It\'s more often used to refer to a circumstance or someone\'s behavior, like, \"That is just too much to bear!\". If someone was very mean to you, you could say, \"太过分了!\" or if an interview process was super rough and you got raked over the coals, also \"太过分了!\" \r\n\r\nEnjoy this one, and consider it good practicing in very colloquial story building.\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非凡 - [pinyin]fei1 fan2[/pinyin] - Extraordinarily\r\n舞池 - [pinyin]wu3 chi2[/pinyin] - Dance floor\r\n气愤 - [pinyin]qi4 fen4[/pinyin] - Angry\r\n对待 - [pinyin]dui4 dai4[/pinyin] - To treat someone (a certain way)\r\n灿烂 - [pinyin]can4 lan4[/pinyin] - Brilliant (smile, light)\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新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹<strong>非凡</strong>。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着<strong>舞池</strong>，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这时，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很<strong>气愤</strong>，说：“他们怎么能这样<strong>对待</strong>你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了<strong>灿烂</strong>的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\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 new year had almost arrived, and the Toy Kingdom planned to invite everyone to a grand ball. The day of the dance, the toys were all dancing and laughing, and the whole ballroom was extraordinarily lively. But off in one corner, receiving no attention from anyone, there was an old purple doll silently gazing at the dance floor, her eyes were blank and she looked lonely. Just then, a white polar bear in front of her saw this, walked over and asked the dependable old doll, \"Doll, why don\'t you go dance?\" The dependable doll lowered her head sadly, saying in a small voice, \"The [other] toys all say I\'m too short, they\'re not willing to dance with me.\"  Saying this, she began to cry. Polar Bear was furious when he heard this, and said: \"How could they treat you this way? Don\'t they understand solidarity? That\'s just too much!\" Little Bear pulled on the baby doll\'s hand, and said: \"Doll, don\'t be sad. Come on, I\'m asking you to dance with me.\" The dependable doll heard these words, and a brilliant smile immediately lit up her face. She quickly wiped the tears off her face and said happily, \"Wonderful! Wonderful!\" On the dance floor, Doll and Bear danced and laughed, and passed a lovely evening together. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Children\'s Story] The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1566-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:37:05', '2016-10-31 05:37:05', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1566-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1679, 1, '2015-02-27 22:26:04', '2015-02-28 03:26:04', '[two_third]\r\nA fairly simple read for newbies about a self-hating rabbit. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150305-INLINE.jpg\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Mandarin Readying Study\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Read Chinese Study\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In terms of plot, this is your basic \"it\'s what\'s on the inside that counts\", moral-of-the-story story. Frankly, it\'s a bit boring, but there are a couple of good words and phrases in here. One in particular is difficult, and I couldn\'t figure it out just by looking at the definition, I had to go hunt around a bit: 钻出来 [pinyin]zuan1 chu1 lai2[/pinyin]. We know that 出来 means to \"come out of\". But 钻? The first definition that came up when I looked was \"diamond\", but that wasn\'t the correct definition in this case. Secondly, it also means to \"drill\" or \"bore\", which makes sense as a second definition of \"diamond\" - lots of diamond drill bits out there. But that still doesn\'t work in context of the whole sentence. I finally ran a Baidu image search on the phrase, and there were lots of pictures of miners squeezing out of small spaces, children coming out of playground tunnels, workers coming out of manholes, and I realized that 钻出来 means to wiggle out of a space via a small opening. Imagine a secret agent crawling through an air duct; in Chinese, there\'s a word for that, and that word is 钻. \r\n\r\nI got this from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>, in a post where she lists a few different easy stories, so if you wanna read some more on your own, head on over. I\'ll probably translate another couple from there before too long. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n红宝石 - [pinyin]hong2 bao3 shi2[/pinyin] - Ruby\r\n灰炉 - [pinyin]hui1 lu2[/pinyin] - Furnace\r\n丑 - [pinyin]chou3[/pinyin] - Ugly\r\n不仅如此 - [pinyin]bu4 jin3 ru2 ci3[/pinyin] - Not only that, \r\n孤单 - [pinyin]gu1 dan1[/pinyin] - Alone\r\n外表 - [pinyin]wai4 biao3[/pinyin] - Appearance\r\n内在 - [pinyin]nei4 zai4[/pinyin] - Inherent / (abstract) interior \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森林里住着一只小兔子，它叫“丑丑”。它的眼睛红红的，像一对<strong>红宝石</strong>。可是它的毛灰灰的，像是从<strong>灰炉</strong>里钻出来似的，它觉得自己太<strong>丑</strong>了，常常一个人躲在家里。\r\n\r\n虽然它长得不好看，但是它有一颗无比善良的心。小猴子乐乐的家被大水<strong>冲垮</strong>了，无家可归。丑丑就让乐乐住在自己的家，还把自己最喜欢吃的巧克力分给乐乐吃。<strong>不仅如此</strong>，谁头痛、生病了，没钱买药，它都会尽其所能进行帮助。\r\n\r\n日子一天天过去了，丑丑还是很<strong>孤单</strong>。一次，森林里最好看的小兔子美美来找它玩，可丑丑觉得自己太丑了，没脸见它。美美告诉丑丑：“人的<strong>外表</strong>并不重要，重要的是<strong>内在</strong>美。”丑丑恍然大悟，它跑了出去，和伙伴们一起尽情地玩耍。\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 forest there lived a little rabbit whose name was \"Chouchou\". His eyes were red, like a pair of rubies. But his fur was grey, like he\'d wiggled out of a furnace, and he felt himself to be very ugly, often hiding in his house alone. \r\n\r\nAlthough he wasn\'t nice to look at, he had an incomparably kind heart. When Little Monkey Lele\'s home was burst apart by a flood, he had no house to return to. Chouchou let Lele live with him, and he divided up his favorite chocolate to give some to Lele to eat. Not only that, whoever had a headach, or got sick, with no money to buy medicine, he did everything he was able to do to help. \r\n\r\nThe days passed one by one, and Chouchou was still alone. One time, the forest\'s most beautiful rabbit Meimei came looking for Chouchou to play, but Chouchou thought of himself as just too ugly, he couldn\'t face seeing her. Meimei told Chouchou: \"It\'s not what\'s on the outside that counts, the important thing is what\'s on the inside.\" Chouchou suddenly saw the light, he ran outside, and played with his friends to his heart\'s content.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The \"Beautiful\" Rabbit', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1565-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-27 22:26:04', '2015-02-28 03:26:04', '', 1565, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/1565-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1707, 1, '2016-10-31 02:44:05', '2016-10-31 06:44:05', 'A fairly simple read for newbies about a self-hating rabbit. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn terms of plot, this is your basic \"it\'s what\'s on the inside that counts\", moral-of-the-story story. Frankly, it\'s a bit boring, but there are a couple of good words and phrases in here. One in particular is difficult, and I couldn\'t figure it out just by looking at the definition, I had to go hunt around a bit: 钻出来 [pinyin]zuan1 chu1 lai2[/pinyin]. We know that 出来 means to \"come out of\". But 钻? The first definition that came up when I looked was \"diamond\", but that wasn\'t the correct definition in this case. Secondly, it also means to \"drill\" or \"bore\", which makes sense as a second definition of \"diamond\" - lots of diamond drill bits out there. But that still doesn\'t work in context of the whole sentence. I finally ran a Baidu image search on the phrase, and there were lots of pictures of miners squeezing out of small spaces, children coming out of playground tunnels, workers coming out of manholes, and I realized that 钻出来 means to wiggle out of a space via a small opening. Imagine a secret agent crawling through an air duct; in Chinese, there\'s a word for that, and that word is 钻. \r\n\r\nI got this from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>, in a post where she lists a few different easy stories, so if you wanna read some more on your own, head on over. I\'ll probably translate another couple from there before too long. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n森林里住着一只小兔子，它叫“丑丑”。它的眼睛红红的，像一对<strong>红宝石</strong>。可是它的毛灰灰的，像是从<strong>灰炉</strong>里钻出来似的，它觉得自己太<strong>丑</strong>了，常常一个人躲在家里。\r\n\r\n虽然它长得不好看，但是它有一颗无比善良的心。小猴子乐乐的家被大水<strong>冲垮</strong>了，无家可归。丑丑就让乐乐住在自己的家，还把自己最喜欢吃的巧克力分给乐乐吃。<strong>不仅如此</strong>，谁头痛、生病了，没钱买药，它都会尽其所能进行帮助。\r\n\r\n日子一天天过去了，丑丑还是很<strong>孤单</strong>。一次，森林里最好看的小兔子美美来找它玩，可丑丑觉得自己太丑了，没脸见它。美美告诉丑丑：“人的<strong>外表</strong>并不重要，重要的是<strong>内在</strong>美。”丑丑恍然大悟，它跑了出去，和伙伴们一起尽情地玩耍。\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 forest there lived a little rabbit whose name was \"Chouchou\". His eyes were red, like a pair of rubies. But his fur was grey, like he\'d wiggled out of a furnace, and he felt himself to be very ugly, often hiding in his house alone. \r\n\r\nAlthough he wasn\'t nice to look at, he had an incomparably kind heart. When Little Monkey Lele\'s home was burst apart by a flood, he had no house to return to. Chouchou let Lele live with him, and he divided up his favorite chocolate to give some to Lele to eat. Not only that, whoever had a headach, or got sick, with no money to buy medicine, he did everything he was able to do to help. \r\n\r\nThe days passed one by one, and Chouchou was still alone. One time, the forest\'s most beautiful rabbit Meimei came looking for Chouchou to play, but Chouchou thought of himself as just too ugly, he couldn\'t face seeing her. Meimei told Chouchou: \"It\'s not what\'s on the outside that counts, the important thing is what\'s on the inside.\" Chouchou suddenly saw the light, he ran outside, and played with his friends to his heart\'s content.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] The \"Beautiful\" Rabbit', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1565-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:44:05', '2016-10-31 06:44:05', '', 1565, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1565-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1680, 1, '2016-10-31 01:37:14', '2016-10-31 05:37:14', '[two_third]\r\nA fairly simple read for newbies about a self-hating rabbit. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/20150305-INLINE.jpg\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Mandarin Readying Study\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Read Chinese Study\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In terms of plot, this is your basic \"it\'s what\'s on the inside that counts\", moral-of-the-story story. Frankly, it\'s a bit boring, but there are a couple of good words and phrases in here. One in particular is difficult, and I couldn\'t figure it out just by looking at the definition, I had to go hunt around a bit: 钻出来 [pinyin]zuan1 chu1 lai2[/pinyin]. We know that 出来 means to \"come out of\". But 钻? The first definition that came up when I looked was \"diamond\", but that wasn\'t the correct definition in this case. Secondly, it also means to \"drill\" or \"bore\", which makes sense as a second definition of \"diamond\" - lots of diamond drill bits out there. But that still doesn\'t work in context of the whole sentence. I finally ran a Baidu image search on the phrase, and there were lots of pictures of miners squeezing out of small spaces, children coming out of playground tunnels, workers coming out of manholes, and I realized that 钻出来 means to wiggle out of a space via a small opening. Imagine a secret agent crawling through an air duct; in Chinese, there\'s a word for that, and that word is 钻. \r\n\r\nI got this from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>, in a post where she lists a few different easy stories, so if you wanna read some more on your own, head on over. I\'ll probably translate another couple from there before too long. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n红宝石 - [pinyin]hong2 bao3 shi2[/pinyin] - Ruby\r\n灰炉 - [pinyin]hui1 lu2[/pinyin] - Furnace\r\n丑 - [pinyin]chou3[/pinyin] - Ugly\r\n不仅如此 - [pinyin]bu4 jin3 ru2 ci3[/pinyin] - Not only that, \r\n孤单 - [pinyin]gu1 dan1[/pinyin] - Alone\r\n外表 - [pinyin]wai4 biao3[/pinyin] - Appearance\r\n内在 - [pinyin]nei4 zai4[/pinyin] - Inherent / (abstract) interior \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森林里住着一只小兔子，它叫“丑丑”。它的眼睛红红的，像一对<strong>红宝石</strong>。可是它的毛灰灰的，像是从<strong>灰炉</strong>里钻出来似的，它觉得自己太<strong>丑</strong>了，常常一个人躲在家里。\r\n\r\n虽然它长得不好看，但是它有一颗无比善良的心。小猴子乐乐的家被大水<strong>冲垮</strong>了，无家可归。丑丑就让乐乐住在自己的家，还把自己最喜欢吃的巧克力分给乐乐吃。<strong>不仅如此</strong>，谁头痛、生病了，没钱买药，它都会尽其所能进行帮助。\r\n\r\n日子一天天过去了，丑丑还是很<strong>孤单</strong>。一次，森林里最好看的小兔子美美来找它玩，可丑丑觉得自己太丑了，没脸见它。美美告诉丑丑：“人的<strong>外表</strong>并不重要，重要的是<strong>内在</strong>美。”丑丑恍然大悟，它跑了出去，和伙伴们一起尽情地玩耍。\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 forest there lived a little rabbit whose name was \"Chouchou\". His eyes were red, like a pair of rubies. But his fur was grey, like he\'d wiggled out of a furnace, and he felt himself to be very ugly, often hiding in his house alone. \r\n\r\nAlthough he wasn\'t nice to look at, he had an incomparably kind heart. When Little Monkey Lele\'s home was burst apart by a flood, he had no house to return to. Chouchou let Lele live with him, and he divided up his favorite chocolate to give some to Lele to eat. Not only that, whoever had a headach, or got sick, with no money to buy medicine, he did everything he was able to do to help. \r\n\r\nThe days passed one by one, and Chouchou was still alone. One time, the forest\'s most beautiful rabbit Meimei came looking for Chouchou to play, but Chouchou thought of himself as just too ugly, he couldn\'t face seeing her. Meimei told Chouchou: \"It\'s not what\'s on the outside that counts, the important thing is what\'s on the inside.\" Chouchou suddenly saw the light, he ran outside, and played with his friends to his heart\'s content.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] The \"Beautiful\" Rabbit', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1565-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:37:14', '2016-10-31 05:37:14', '', 1565, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1565-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1681, 1, '2016-11-04 05:45:00', '2016-11-04 09:45:00', 'Yang over at <a href=\"http://learnmandarinnow.com\">Learn Mandarin Now</a> is spoiling me with all these guest posts. I\'ve been struggling to find something that suitable for beginners lately - everything I stumble across ends up being intermediate. But this is a very good place for beginners to start reading <em>[pinyin]cheng2yu3[/pinyin]</em> (成语 idiom) stories, because you\'ll get an introduction to a few words that you often see in this kind of \"long long ago, far far away\" fable. <!--more-->\n\nIn the very first sentence, we run across three words of interest. One, 从前 [pinyin]cong2qian2[/pinyin], means \"a long time ago\", your classic storybook beginning. \n\nThe second, 楚国人 [pinyin]chu3guo2ren2[/pinyin], means \"a man from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)\" target=\"_blank\">State of Chu</a>\". The State of Chu was a Chinese jurisdictional division during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC). In stories that reference pre-1900 China, you\'ll often see references to places that existed in ancient times.  <a href=\"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116528/Chu\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia Britannica</a> tells us: \"China itself was at the time divided into a series of small duke states, all of which theoretically owed allegiance to the Zhou dynasty, although the Zhou rulers had long since been unable to exercise control over more than their own fiefs.\"  Anyhoo, the third word is 宝剑 [pinyin]bao3jian4[/pinyin], which means \"a double-edged sword\". How fable-y is that, huh?\n \nI\'d also like to draw your attention to the word 移动 [pinyin]yi4dong4[/pinyin], meaning \"to be moving\" or \"mobile\". This word is quite common - it\'s used to refer to people who move often, and also to \"mobile\" phones (the cell provider \"China Mobile\" has this in their Chinese name: 中国移动).\n\n<h3>Usage Examples</h3>\n<ul>从事研究工作，眼界要宽，知所权变，切忌刻舟求剑。When undertaking scientific res\n\nOkay, let\'s do this. And thanks again to <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-learn-chinese-the-easiest-way/\" target=\"_blank\">Yang</a>! Lots of work for some paltry backlinks. \n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\n1) <strong>从前</strong>有一位楚国人, 他非常<strong>爱惜</strong>他的宝剑。有一天，他正坐在船上准备过河，<strong>一不小心</strong>他就把宝剑掉进了河里。他马上在宝剑掉落的地方作了<strong>记号</strong>。当他到达对岸的时候，他沿着记号跳进河里去找他的宝剑。当然，他已经找不到了。\n \n2) 宝剑已经不在原来掉落的地方因为船和水都在<strong>移动</strong>。这个故事形容只会刻板地遵守规则，不懂变通的人。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\n1) Long ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn\'t able to find it.  \n \n2) The sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances]. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 刻舟求剑 - Actions Made Pointless by Changing Circumstances', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1557-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:45:00', '2016-11-04 09:45:00', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1557-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2030, 1, '2016-11-04 05:46:22', '2016-11-04 09:46:22', 'Yang over at <a href=\"http://learnmandarinnow.com\">Learn Mandarin Now</a> is spoiling me with all these guest posts. I\'ve been struggling to find something that suitable for beginners lately - everything I stumble across ends up being intermediate. But this is a very good place for beginners to start reading <em>[pinyin]cheng2yu3[/pinyin]</em> (成语 idiom) stories, because you\'ll get an introduction to a few words that you often see in this kind of \"long long ago, far far away\" fable, though you may struggle a bit. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn the very first sentence, we run across three words of interest. One, 从前 [pinyin]cong2qian2[/pinyin], means \"a long time ago\", your classic storybook beginning. \r\n\r\nThe second, 楚国人 [pinyin]chu3guo2ren2[/pinyin], means \"a man from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)\" target=\"_blank\">State of Chu</a>\". The State of Chu was a Chinese jurisdictional division during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC). In stories that reference pre-1900 China, you\'ll often see references to places that existed in ancient times.  <a href=\"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116528/Chu\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia Britannica</a> tells us: \"China itself was at the time divided into a series of small duke states, all of which theoretically owed allegiance to the Zhou dynasty, although the Zhou rulers had long since been unable to exercise control over more than their own fiefs.\"  Anyhoo, the third word is 宝剑 [pinyin]bao3jian4[/pinyin], which means \"a double-edged sword\". How fable-y is that, huh?\r\n \r\nI\'d also like to draw your attention to the word 移动 [pinyin]yi4dong4[/pinyin], meaning \"to be moving\" or \"mobile\". This word is quite common - it\'s used to refer to people who move often, and also to \"mobile\" phones (the cell provider \"China Mobile\" has this in their Chinese name: 中国移动).\r\n\r\nOkay, let\'s do this. And thanks again to <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-learn-chinese-the-easiest-way/\" target=\"_blank\">Yang</a>! Lots of work for some paltry backlinks. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n1) <strong>从前</strong>有一位楚国人, 他非常<strong>爱惜</strong>他的宝剑。有一天，他正坐在船上准备过河，<strong>一不小心</strong>他就把宝剑掉进了河里。他马上在宝剑掉落的地方作了<strong>记号</strong>。当他到达对岸的时候，他沿着记号跳进河里去找他的宝剑。当然，他已经找不到了。\r\n \r\n2) 宝剑已经不在原来掉落的地方因为船和水都在<strong>移动</strong>。这个故事形容只会刻板地遵守规则，不懂变通的人。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) Long ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn\'t able to find it.  \r\n \r\n2) The sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances]. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 刻舟求剑 - Actions Made Pointless by Changing Circumstances', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1557-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:46:22', '2016-11-04 09:46:22', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1557-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1685, 1, '2016-10-31 01:43:32', '2016-10-31 05:43:32', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Free: Read Chinese Idioms', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'kezhouzhiquan-featured', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:43:53', '2016-10-31 05:43:53', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/kezhouzhiquan-featured.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1684, 1, '2016-10-31 01:38:27', '2016-10-31 05:38:27', 'Hey hey, lookie here, an excellent guest post submitted by native Chinese speaker Yang from <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com\" target=\"_blank\">Learn Mandarin Now</a>. This story tells us a bit about the Chinese <em>chengyu</em> (idiom),塞翁失马, which can mean \"a blessing in disguise\", or can conversely mean \"bad luck disguised as good\". It\'s used to point out the hidden positives or negatives in a situation, so you might say it means \"there are two sides to every circumstance\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150220-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Beginner Chinese Reading: Intermediate Chinese Fables and Idioms\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I\'m loving this post for the fable-y language: \"servant\", \"steed\", etc. Plus, I learned a new favorite word in this one: 塞外 [pinyin]sai4 wai4[/pinyin], meaning \"Beyond the Great Wall\". In other words, a remote place near the outskirts or borders of China. Also, don\'t forget, 匹 [pinyin]pi3[/pinyin] is the measure word for Horses, so you\'re gonna see that a few times. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one phrase we should probably get into in greater detail, because I don\'t think it\'s immediately clear what it means: 全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗. Let\'s take a look at this, word by word:\r\n\r\n全国 - The whole country\r\n上下的 - Everywhere\r\n年轻男子 - young men\r\n都 - all\r\n被 - grammar word usually indicating that the subject of the sentence has had something unfortunate happen to them\r\n抓 - grabbed\r\n去 - go out\r\n打仗 - fight \r\n\r\nThe key word here is 抓 [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin], which usually means to \"catch\" or \"grab\". In this case, the word means \"drafted\", so it still means to \"grab\", but in this case, it\'s the ruling power (probably the king) doing the grabbing up (of potential soldiers). The 被 in this case functions as \"were\", with a negative overtone. So this can be translated as \"All the young men everywhere in the country <strong>were drafted</strong> to go fight a war.\"\r\n\r\nLearn Mandarin Now\'s \"<a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-read-chinese/\" target=\"_blank\">How to Read Chinese</a>\" page for a basic overview on getting started with Simplified characters, and look at <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/blog/\" target=\"_blank\">their new blog</a> for some learning tips. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n从前，一位<strong>老翁</strong>和他的儿子住在<strong>塞外</strong>的边境上。他们都非常喜欢骑马。有一天，他们家的<strong>仆人</strong>给老先生报告：\"我们家的一匹骏马走丢了，好像跑去<strong>邻国</strong>了。\"\r\n\r\n老翁的朋友<strong>闻讯</strong>都过来安慰他。但老先生说：“呵呵，这也许不是坏事，谁知道呢！＂\r\n\r\n几个月之后，奇妙的事情发生了，那匹走失了的骏马意外地跑回来了，并且从邻国带来了一匹新的<strong>骏马</strong>。老翁的好友纷纷过来祝贺他。老翁说：“唉，这也许不是什么好事情呢！”\r\n\r\n一天，老翁的儿子正在骑那匹新的骏马，突然不小心从马上掉了下来并摔断了腿。他从今以后都不能正常走路了。老翁的朋友都为老翁感到伤心，但老翁却说：“这个意外以后能为咱们带来好运也不一定。”\r\n\r\n一年后，全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗，大部分去参军的年轻人都死在了<strong>战场</strong>。老翁的儿子因为腿受伤了所以避过了这一次劫难。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nOnce upon a time, there was an old man who lived with his son on the borders of the country. They both very much enjoyed riding horses. One day, a servant reported to the old man, “One of our good horses has gone missing. It seems the horse ran across to the neighboring country.\"\r\n\r\nOld man\'s friends came and comforted him. However, the old man said: \"Well, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Who knows!\"\r\n\r\nCouple of months later, a strange thing happened. The missing horse came back, accompanied by a great steed from the neighboring country. When his friends congratulated him on this great news, the old man said: \"Well, this might bring us bad luck.\"\r\n\r\nOne day, his son was having fun riding on the fine [new] steed. Suddenly, he fell from the hose and broke his leg. His son was never able to walk again. Again, his friends came to comfort the old man. But the old man was not bothered and said: \"This accident might bring us good luck in the future.\"\r\n\r\nA year later, all young men in the country were drafted to join a war. Most young men who fought died on the battlefield. Luckily, his son avoided entering the war because of his broken leg.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idiom] 塞翁失马 - A Blessing in Disguise', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1551-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:38:27', '2016-10-31 05:38:27', '', 1551, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1551-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1687, 1, '2015-03-04 20:10:38', '2015-03-05 01:10:38', '[two_third]\r\nHappy Year of the Sheep! Couple of days ago, I stumbled across the Book \"The Last Yin Yang Master\", aka \"The Last Onmyoji\" （最后一个阴阳师), a supernatural ghost story available for free online. It\'s incredibly rare to find full-length books that aren\'t impossibly difficult to get through, but this one is phenomenal for learners. I\'m gonna put part of the first chapter here, so you can dive on in. The rest can be grabbed on <a href=\"http://www.zhuaji.org/read/146/\" target=\"_blank\">Zhuaji.com</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150218-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Beginner Chinese Books with English Translations\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Intermediate Chinese Reading Exercises\"  width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft imgborder\" />I\'ve recently sort of discovered that ghost stories and detective novels are where it\'s at for practicing reading. The cliches in a Chinese murder mystery are exactly the same as they are anywhere: hard-boiled cop, confused rookie, seductive woman, shady business, and definitely a chase scene. It\'s easier to follow a story when you have a semi-expectation of what\'s supposed to happen. They get hard when people start talking about blood spatter and ballistics, but you can kind of get the gist. Ghost stories are the same way - a scene of normalcy is set, followed by some red-flag strangeness that everyone completely ignores because they don\'t believe in the supernatural, followed by some myths and legends, or maybe a mysterious old man, or maybe a body goes missing, and then things really freaky. Again, the read gets hard when characters start talking about the mystic books of old, or funeral customs, so you should probably be reading this with the help of Pleco (which I do), but The Last Onmyoji is accessible enough that those parts shouldn\'t totally derail you. Highly recommended.\r\n\r\nThis really is worth a go for readers at almost all levels. The read is late-intermediate, but using Pleco, late-stage beginners and early-intermediates will be able to understand large chunks of it, enough to motivate you to puzzle through the parts you don\'t get, more so because this is being told in first-person. Remember, now, that the beginning of a book is usually the hardest as you try to get a sense of the story. Once the story gets rolling, it\'s easier to flow with it. Advanced readers may just appreciate learning a bit of spooky vocab. \r\n\r\nThe segment that I\"m translating here doesn\'t have any ghostly bits in it, this is the first chapter to get you going on the story. It\'s packed full of Chinese village culture, and some parts at the end that would be considered extremely un-PC in the west: a little anti-Japanese talk, and a little bit about buying women, the rarities of college education in the countryside: the realities of village life in China, even these days. \r\n\r\nThere\'s a lot I could talk about in here, but I do like the word 投 [pinyin]tou2[/pinyin] - This word had a ton of meanings. Imagine slipping a piece of paper into a suggestion box. Got it? That\'s what this word embodies, that action, or anything related to a similar action of taking a flat object and dropping it into a slot, literally or figuratively. So it can mean to \"vote\", as in an election, because you\'re submitting a ballot. It can mean to \"slide\" an envelope into a letter box. In this case, it means to \"submit\" a resume while seeking a job offer. We don\'t have a word for that concept in English, I think. \r\n\r\nEnjoy!\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盘缠 - [pinyin]pan2 chan2[/pinyin] - Travel money\r\n肺痨 - [pinyin]fei4 lao2[/pinyin] - Tuberculosis\r\n张罗 - [pinyin]zhang1 luo5[/pinyin] - Gather together\r\n屁股 - [pinyin]pi4 gu5[/pinyin] - Butt, behind, rump\r\n浑浑噩噩 - [pinyin]hun2 hun2 e4 e4[/pinyin] - Muddleheaded\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我叫林小凡,今年23岁。大学刚毕业。一个三流的大学四流的成绩,大学是在杭州读,毕业之后最开始在一家房地产公司做销售员,底薪一千八。因为业绩太差,公司没说辞退我,我自己就不好意思待了。\r\n\r\n在杭州转了两个月,<strong>投</strong>了不知道多少份儿简历,面试了多少次,都没有通过。<strong>盘缠</strong>花光之后,就回了老家。\r\n\r\n我的老家是洛阳。洛阳的乡下,一个叫做十里铺儿的小村儿落。\r\n\r\n之所以回来,是因为村儿里小学唯一的教师得了<strong>肺痨</strong>,病的已经非常严重,我作为村里走出来唯一的大学生,村长愿意一月掏出一千块的巨资来请我去代课。\r\n\r\n所以我回来了。\r\n\r\n在外面活的不如一条狗的我,在老家得到了极大的尊严。\r\n\r\n在偏远的山村,大学生,还是一个极其厉害的存在,村民们在看到我父亲的时候,都会为他竖起大拇指,说:“老林家祖坟冒了青烟,竟然出了个大学生,以后你就走出了大山咯。”\r\n\r\n每当这个时候,我父亲都会憨厚的笑一笑,抹去他脸上的汗水。\r\n\r\n我回到村子之后,方圆几里的媒婆都争着抢着给我介绍对象,几乎踏破我家的门槛儿,这不是吹牛。你不在那个环境里,不知道大学生三个字的分量。\r\n\r\n父亲也极力的给我<strong>张罗</strong>,在他们眼里,23岁,甚至已经过了结婚的年纪。跟我同龄的人,现在儿子已经可以光着<strong>屁股</strong>到处跑了。\r\n\r\n为了不让他们操心,我也去一次次的应付相亲。\r\n\r\n对,是应付。\r\n\r\n大学,说白了就是一个区分性与理性的地方,虽然是山村出来的,可是我的相貌并不算丑,甚至可以说英俊。也谈过一个女朋友,我没钱,她也不是非常的富裕,可是就算这样,我们还在在一起了三年,我尽我所能的打零工,来做一个男朋友该做的。大三那年,我们分手。\r\n\r\n那一天,我在我们学校的后山喝了一瓶2块钱的二锅头。醒来之后,不再悲伤,继续<strong>浑浑噩噩</strong>的过日子。\r\n\r\n关于相貌这一点,我继承了我母亲。\r\n\r\n 一个不知道故乡在哪里的美貌女人。\r\n\r\n她有痴呆症。\r\n\r\n在几十年前,我父亲进城,用了三百块钱把她买了回来。\r\n\r\n我父亲说,他那一天花了两元钱给母亲买了一身衣服,回来的时候母亲的美貌,让村里的人哈喇子都流到了地上。\r\n\r\n可惜,她是个傻子。\r\n\r\n如果不是傻子,我父亲也买不起。\r\n\r\n后来有了我,母亲的痴傻一直都是那样,可是她的傻,并不是像街头的疯子一样,她非常安静。\r\n\r\n不说话,不动。只是安静的坐着。\r\n\r\n我就在这样的一个环境下长大,可是我并不想文艺的说,我有孤僻的性格,因为就算是这样,我还是有完整的童年。\r\n\r\n我父亲非常的勤劳,他尽一个农民的极限,利用手中的农具,养活一个家。我没有什么怪他的地方。\r\n\r\n没钱,这是命。\r\n\r\n我爷爷,是一个退伍的老军人,他不识字,没有农民典型的精明,反倒是实诚的可怕。有人说他是gmd,有人说他是gcd,可是他自己都不知道自己到底是哪个党,他唯一知道的,就是他拿枪打日本鬼子,鬼子打跑之后,他就回到了家。\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\nMy name is Lin Xiaofan, I\'m 23 years old this year. I just graduated from college. A third-rate school with fourth-tier grades, my college was in Hangzhou, and after I graduated I first went to work as sales staff at a real estate agency with a salary of 1,800 [translator\'s note: this is a very low salary, about $300 USD / month]. My sales performance was poor, and the company never fired me, but I was so embarrassed that I left. \r\n\r\nI wandered around Hangzhou for two months, submitted I don\'t even know how many resumes, or went to how many interviews, but nothing came through. After I\'d spent all my travel money, I went back to my home town.\r\n\r\nMy home town is Luoyang. In the Luoyang countryside falls a little village called Shilipu\'er. \r\n\r\nThe reason I went home is because the village\'s only teacher got tuberculosis, and he was very seriously ill, so as the village\'s only person who\'d ever gone off to college, the village chief dug up a thousand-dollar [translator\'s note: \"1000 kuai\" is \"1000 Chinese Renminbi\"] investment and asked me to substitute teach. \r\n\r\nSo I went home. \r\n\r\nMy life away from home wasn\'t even as good as a dog\'s, but I get plenty of respect in my home town. \r\n\r\nIn such a remote village, being a college graduate is still an extremely awesome thing to be, and every time the villagers see my father, they all give him a thumbs-up and say, \"Your family\'s ancestral grave is emitting green smoke, unexpectedly out popped a college student! You\'ll be walking off this mountain after a while!\" [translator\'s note: this is a compliment regarding the family\'s lineage.]\r\n\r\nOf course at these times, my father would smile in a simple and honest way, wiping the sweat off his brow. \r\n\r\nAfter I came back to the village, all the local matchmakers tried to set me up with someone, almost trampling down my door, no exaggeration. If you\'ve never been in that [village] environment, you don\'t know the power of those three words, \"College Degree Holder\".\r\n\r\nMy dad also made a supreme effort to settle me, because in his eyes, at 23 years old I\'d already passed marrying age. Everyone my age already had kids running around with their bare butts hanging out. \r\n\r\nSo as not to make him worry, I\'d already coped with my first blind date. \r\n\r\nYes, it was definitely \"coping\". \r\n\r\nCollege, speaking frankly, was a place with completely different place with different rationales, but although I came from a farm village, I wasn\'t considered ugly, you might even say I\'m handsome. I had a girlfriend, but I had no money, and she wasn\'t very rich either, but that\'s just the way it was, we were together three years, and I used up all my part-time work money trying to do all the things a boyfriend is supposed to do. In the third year, we broke up. \r\n\r\nOn that day, on the hill behind our school, I drank a bottle of 2-dollar liquor. After I woke up, I wasn\'t sad anymore, and I just continued muddle-headedly passing the days. \r\n\r\nAbout my looks, those I inherited from my mother. \r\n\r\nA good-looking woman from who-knows-where.  \r\n\r\nShe had dementia.\r\n\r\nA few decades ago, my father went to the city, and spent three hundred dollars to buy her and bring her home.\r\n\r\nMy dad said, that day he spent two bucks to buy mom some clothes, and when he returned, mom\'s good looks made everyone in the village drool all over the ground. \r\n\r\nPity, she was an idiot.\r\n\r\nIf she hadn\'t been an idiot, my dad could never have afforded her. \r\n\r\nThen I came along, and mom\'s dementia continued as before, but her brand of dementia wasn\'t like a crazy street person\'s, she was very quiet. \r\n\r\nShe didn\'t speak, didn\'t move. Just quietly sat there.\r\n\r\nThis is the environment I grew up in, but I don\'t want to make it sound literary, I had an antisocial nature, but even so, I still had a full childhood. \r\n\r\nMy father is very industrious, he has a farmer\'s strength, using the farm tools in his hands, he nurtured a household. I don\'t have anything to blame him for. \r\n\r\nNo money, that\'s just life. \r\n\r\nMy grandfather is a retired soldier, he\'s illiterate, and he doesn\'t have any of a villager\'s typical shrewdness, on the contrary he\'s terrifyingly honest. Some people said he was GMD [translator\'s note: GMD = guo min dang, the fascist party in the Chinese civil war, who lost], some people said he was GCD [GCD = gong chang dang, the communist party that won the war and remains in power today], but he doesn\'t even know himself which \"dang\" [translator\'s note - this \"dang\" means \"political party\"] he was in, the only thing he knows is that he grabbed a gun and fought the Japanese devils [the Japanese invaded while the GMD and the GCD were fighting each other], and after the devils ran away, he went home.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Great book: The Last Yin Yang Master', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1539-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-03-04 20:10:38', '2015-03-05 01:10:38', '', 1539, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/03/1539-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1688, 1, '2016-10-31 01:45:04', '2016-10-31 05:45:04', '[two_third]\r\nHappy Year of the Sheep! Couple of days ago, I stumbled across the Book \"The Last Yin Yang Master\", aka \"The Last Onmyoji\" （最后一个阴阳师), a supernatural ghost story available for free online. It\'s incredibly rare to find full-length books that aren\'t impossibly difficult to get through, but this one is phenomenal for learners. I\'m gonna put part of the first chapter here, so you can dive on in. The rest can be grabbed on <a href=\"http://www.zhuaji.org/read/146/\" target=\"_blank\">Zhuaji.com</a>. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150218-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Beginner Chinese Books with English Translations\" title=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Intermediate Chinese Reading Exercises\"  width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignleft imgborder\" />I\'ve recently sort of discovered that ghost stories and detective novels are where it\'s at for practicing reading. The cliches in a Chinese murder mystery are exactly the same as they are anywhere: hard-boiled cop, confused rookie, seductive woman, shady business, and definitely a chase scene. It\'s easier to follow a story when you have a semi-expectation of what\'s supposed to happen. They get hard when people start talking about blood spatter and ballistics, but you can kind of get the gist. Ghost stories are the same way - a scene of normalcy is set, followed by some red-flag strangeness that everyone completely ignores because they don\'t believe in the supernatural, followed by some myths and legends, or maybe a mysterious old man, or maybe a body goes missing, and then things really freaky. Again, the read gets hard when characters start talking about the mystic books of old, or funeral customs, so you should probably be reading this with the help of Pleco (which I do), but The Last Onmyoji is accessible enough that those parts shouldn\'t totally derail you. Highly recommended.\r\n\r\nThis really is worth a go for readers at almost all levels. The read is late-intermediate, but using Pleco, late-stage beginners and early-intermediates will be able to understand large chunks of it, enough to motivate you to puzzle through the parts you don\'t get, more so because this is being told in first-person. Remember, now, that the beginning of a book is usually the hardest as you try to get a sense of the story. Once the story gets rolling, it\'s easier to flow with it. Advanced readers may just appreciate learning a bit of spooky vocab. \r\n\r\nThe segment that I\"m translating here doesn\'t have any ghostly bits in it, this is the first chapter to get you going on the story. It\'s packed full of Chinese village culture, and some parts at the end that would be considered extremely un-PC in the west: a little anti-Japanese talk, and a little bit about buying women, the rarities of college education in the countryside: the realities of village life in China, even these days. \r\n\r\nThere\'s a lot I could talk about in here, but I do like the word 投 [pinyin]tou2[/pinyin] - This word had a ton of meanings. Imagine slipping a piece of paper into a suggestion box. Got it? That\'s what this word embodies, that action, or anything related to a similar action of taking a flat object and dropping it into a slot, literally or figuratively. So it can mean to \"vote\", as in an election, because you\'re submitting a ballot. It can mean to \"slide\" an envelope into a letter box. In this case, it means to \"submit\" a resume while seeking a job offer. We don\'t have a word for that concept in English, I think. \r\n\r\nEnjoy!\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盘缠 - [pinyin]pan2 chan2[/pinyin] - Travel money\r\n肺痨 - [pinyin]fei4 lao2[/pinyin] - Tuberculosis\r\n张罗 - [pinyin]zhang1 luo5[/pinyin] - Gather together\r\n屁股 - [pinyin]pi4 gu5[/pinyin] - Butt, behind, rump\r\n浑浑噩噩 - [pinyin]hun2 hun2 e4 e4[/pinyin] - Muddleheaded\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我叫林小凡,今年23岁。大学刚毕业。一个三流的大学四流的成绩,大学是在杭州读,毕业之后最开始在一家房地产公司做销售员,底薪一千八。因为业绩太差,公司没说辞退我,我自己就不好意思待了。\r\n\r\n在杭州转了两个月,<strong>投</strong>了不知道多少份儿简历,面试了多少次,都没有通过。<strong>盘缠</strong>花光之后,就回了老家。\r\n\r\n我的老家是洛阳。洛阳的乡下,一个叫做十里铺儿的小村儿落。\r\n\r\n之所以回来,是因为村儿里小学唯一的教师得了<strong>肺痨</strong>,病的已经非常严重,我作为村里走出来唯一的大学生,村长愿意一月掏出一千块的巨资来请我去代课。\r\n\r\n所以我回来了。\r\n\r\n在外面活的不如一条狗的我,在老家得到了极大的尊严。\r\n\r\n在偏远的山村,大学生,还是一个极其厉害的存在,村民们在看到我父亲的时候,都会为他竖起大拇指,说:“老林家祖坟冒了青烟,竟然出了个大学生,以后你就走出了大山咯。”\r\n\r\n每当这个时候,我父亲都会憨厚的笑一笑,抹去他脸上的汗水。\r\n\r\n我回到村子之后,方圆几里的媒婆都争着抢着给我介绍对象,几乎踏破我家的门槛儿,这不是吹牛。你不在那个环境里,不知道大学生三个字的分量。\r\n\r\n父亲也极力的给我<strong>张罗</strong>,在他们眼里,23岁,甚至已经过了结婚的年纪。跟我同龄的人,现在儿子已经可以光着<strong>屁股</strong>到处跑了。\r\n\r\n为了不让他们操心,我也去一次次的应付相亲。\r\n\r\n对,是应付。\r\n\r\n大学,说白了就是一个区分性与理性的地方,虽然是山村出来的,可是我的相貌并不算丑,甚至可以说英俊。也谈过一个女朋友,我没钱,她也不是非常的富裕,可是就算这样,我们还在在一起了三年,我尽我所能的打零工,来做一个男朋友该做的。大三那年,我们分手。\r\n\r\n那一天,我在我们学校的后山喝了一瓶2块钱的二锅头。醒来之后,不再悲伤,继续<strong>浑浑噩噩</strong>的过日子。\r\n\r\n关于相貌这一点,我继承了我母亲。\r\n\r\n 一个不知道故乡在哪里的美貌女人。\r\n\r\n她有痴呆症。\r\n\r\n在几十年前,我父亲进城,用了三百块钱把她买了回来。\r\n\r\n我父亲说,他那一天花了两元钱给母亲买了一身衣服,回来的时候母亲的美貌,让村里的人哈喇子都流到了地上。\r\n\r\n可惜,她是个傻子。\r\n\r\n如果不是傻子,我父亲也买不起。\r\n\r\n后来有了我,母亲的痴傻一直都是那样,可是她的傻,并不是像街头的疯子一样,她非常安静。\r\n\r\n不说话,不动。只是安静的坐着。\r\n\r\n我就在这样的一个环境下长大,可是我并不想文艺的说,我有孤僻的性格,因为就算是这样,我还是有完整的童年。\r\n\r\n我父亲非常的勤劳,他尽一个农民的极限,利用手中的农具,养活一个家。我没有什么怪他的地方。\r\n\r\n没钱,这是命。\r\n\r\n我爷爷,是一个退伍的老军人,他不识字,没有农民典型的精明,反倒是实诚的可怕。有人说他是gmd,有人说他是gcd,可是他自己都不知道自己到底是哪个党,他唯一知道的,就是他拿枪打日本鬼子,鬼子打跑之后,他就回到了家。\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\nMy name is Lin Xiaofan, I\'m 23 years old this year. I just graduated from college. A third-rate school with fourth-tier grades, my college was in Hangzhou, and after I graduated I first went to work as sales staff at a real estate agency with a salary of 1,800 [translator\'s note: this is a very low salary, about $300 USD / month]. My sales performance was poor, and the company never fired me, but I was so embarrassed that I left. \r\n\r\nI wandered around Hangzhou for two months, submitted I don\'t even know how many resumes, or went to how many interviews, but nothing came through. After I\'d spent all my travel money, I went back to my home town.\r\n\r\nMy home town is Luoyang. In the Luoyang countryside falls a little village called Shilipu\'er. \r\n\r\nThe reason I went home is because the village\'s only teacher got tuberculosis, and he was very seriously ill, so as the village\'s only person who\'d ever gone off to college, the village chief dug up a thousand-dollar [translator\'s note: \"1000 kuai\" is \"1000 Chinese Renminbi\"] investment and asked me to substitute teach. \r\n\r\nSo I went home. \r\n\r\nMy life away from home wasn\'t even as good as a dog\'s, but I get plenty of respect in my home town. \r\n\r\nIn such a remote village, being a college graduate is still an extremely awesome thing to be, and every time the villagers see my father, they all give him a thumbs-up and say, \"Your family\'s ancestral grave is emitting green smoke, unexpectedly out popped a college student! You\'ll be walking off this mountain after a while!\" [translator\'s note: this is a compliment regarding the family\'s lineage.]\r\n\r\nOf course at these times, my father would smile in a simple and honest way, wiping the sweat off his brow. \r\n\r\nAfter I came back to the village, all the local matchmakers tried to set me up with someone, almost trampling down my door, no exaggeration. If you\'ve never been in that [village] environment, you don\'t know the power of those three words, \"College Degree Holder\".\r\n\r\nMy dad also made a supreme effort to settle me, because in his eyes, at 23 years old I\'d already passed marrying age. Everyone my age already had kids running around with their bare butts hanging out. \r\n\r\nSo as not to make him worry, I\'d already coped with my first blind date. \r\n\r\nYes, it was definitely \"coping\". \r\n\r\nCollege, speaking frankly, was a place with completely different place with different rationales, but although I came from a farm village, I wasn\'t considered ugly, you might even say I\'m handsome. I had a girlfriend, but I had no money, and she wasn\'t very rich either, but that\'s just the way it was, we were together three years, and I used up all my part-time work money trying to do all the things a boyfriend is supposed to do. In the third year, we broke up. \r\n\r\nOn that day, on the hill behind our school, I drank a bottle of 2-dollar liquor. After I woke up, I wasn\'t sad anymore, and I just continued muddle-headedly passing the days. \r\n\r\nAbout my looks, those I inherited from my mother. \r\n\r\nA good-looking woman from who-knows-where.  \r\n\r\nShe had dementia.\r\n\r\nA few decades ago, my father went to the city, and spent three hundred dollars to buy her and bring her home.\r\n\r\nMy dad said, that day he spent two bucks to buy mom some clothes, and when he returned, mom\'s good looks made everyone in the village drool all over the ground. \r\n\r\nPity, she was an idiot.\r\n\r\nIf she hadn\'t been an idiot, my dad could never have afforded her. \r\n\r\nThen I came along, and mom\'s dementia continued as before, but her brand of dementia wasn\'t like a crazy street person\'s, she was very quiet. \r\n\r\nShe didn\'t speak, didn\'t move. Just quietly sat there.\r\n\r\nThis is the environment I grew up in, but I don\'t want to make it sound literary, I had an antisocial nature, but even so, I still had a full childhood. \r\n\r\nMy father is very industrious, he has a farmer\'s strength, using the farm tools in his hands, he nurtured a household. I don\'t have anything to blame him for. \r\n\r\nNo money, that\'s just life. \r\n\r\nMy grandfather is a retired soldier, he\'s illiterate, and he doesn\'t have any of a villager\'s typical shrewdness, on the contrary he\'s terrifyingly honest. Some people said he was GMD [translator\'s note: GMD = guo min dang, the fascist party in the Chinese civil war, who lost], some people said he was GCD [GCD = gong chang dang, the communist party that won the war and remains in power today], but he doesn\'t even know himself which \"dang\" [translator\'s note - this \"dang\" means \"political party\"] he was in, the only thing he knows is that he grabbed a gun and fought the Japanese devils [the Japanese invaded while the GMD and the GCD were fighting each other], and after the devils ran away, he went home.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Books] The Last Yin Yang Master', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1539-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:45:04', '2016-10-31 05:45:04', '', 1539, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1539-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1690, 1, '2016-10-31 01:46:00', '2016-10-31 05:46:00', 'Yang over at <a href=\"http://learnmandarinnow.com\">Learn Mandarin Now</a> is spoiling me with all these guest posts. I\'ve been struggling to find something that suitable for beginners lately - everything I stumble across ends up being intermediate. But this is a very good place for beginners to start reading <em>[pinyin]cheng2yu3[/pinyin]</em> (成语 idiom) stories, because you\'ll get an introduction to a few words that you often see in this kind of \"long long ago, far far away\" fable. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn the very first sentence, we run across three words of interest. One, 从前 [pinyin]cong2qian2[/pinyin], means \"a long time ago\", your classic storybook beginning. \r\n\r\nThe second, 楚国人 [pinyin]chu3guo2ren2[/pinyin], means \"a man from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chu_(state)\" target=\"_blank\">State of Chu</a>\". The State of Chu was a Chinese jurisdictional division during the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 256 BC). In stories that reference pre-1900 China, you\'ll often see references to places that existed in ancient times.  <a href=\"http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/116528/Chu\" target=\"_blank\">Encyclopedia Britannica</a> tells us: \"China itself was at the time divided into a series of small duke states, all of which theoretically owed allegiance to the Zhou dynasty, although the Zhou rulers had long since been unable to exercise control over more than their own fiefs.\"  Anyhoo, the third word is 宝剑 [pinyin]bao3jian4[/pinyin], which means \"a double-edged sword\". How fable-y is that, huh?\r\n \r\nI\'d also like to draw your attention to the word 移动 [pinyin]yi4dong4[/pinyin], meaning \"to be moving\" or \"mobile\". This word is quite common - it\'s used to refer to people who move often, and also to \"mobile\" phones (the cell provider \"China Mobile\" has this in their Chinese name: 中国移动).\r\n\r\nOkay, let\'s do this. And thanks again to <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-learn-chinese-the-easiest-way/\" target=\"_blank\">Yang</a>! Lots of work for some paltry backlinks. \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>从前</strong>有一位楚国人, 他非常<strong>爱惜</strong>他的宝剑。有一天，他正坐在船上准备过河，<strong>一不小心</strong>他就把宝剑掉进了河里。他马上在宝剑掉落的地方作了<strong>记号</strong>。当他到达对岸的时候，他沿着记号跳进河里去找他的宝剑。当然，他已经找不到了。\r\n \r\n宝剑已经不在原来掉落的地方因为船和水都在<strong>移动</strong>。这个故事形容只会刻板地遵守规则，不懂变通的人。\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\nLong ago, there was a man from the State of Chu who loved his sword very much. One day, he was sitting in his boat preparing to cross a river, when he accidentally dropped his sword into the water. He immediately made a notch on the side of the boat at the place where his dear sword fell. When he returned close to shore, he re-entered the water just beneath the notch he made, looking for his sword. Naturally, he wasn\'t able to find it.  \r\n \r\nThe sword was already gone because the boat and the river were in motion. This idiom is used to describe a person who sticks to rigid rules without considering a changing environment [or describes an action made pointless by changing circumstances]. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 刻舟求剑 - Actions Made Pointless by Changing Circumstances', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1557-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:46:00', '2016-10-31 05:46:00', '', 1557, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1557-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1693, 1, '2016-10-31 02:00:52', '2016-10-31 06:00:52', '', 'learn-to-read-chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'learn-to-read-chinese', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:01:16', '2016-10-31 06:01:16', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/learn-to-read-chinese.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1694, 1, '2016-10-31 02:02:08', '2016-10-31 06:02:08', 'Yayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>Using 过</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>Not you, stoopid: 咱们 vs. 我们</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text:</h3>\r\n➊小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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\n➊Little Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\nUncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse had no idea. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\nLittle Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] 小马过河 - Little Horse Crosses the River', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:02:08', '2016-10-31 06:02:08', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1596-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1695, 1, '2016-10-31 02:04:27', '2016-10-31 06:04:27', 'Yayzors, horsies. \r\n\r\nI know that when you first start reading, it\'s hard to hold a narrative thread through a longer post, but give this one a try - 6 short paragraphs, all of them very straightforward. This one has mostly very beginner language, with a couple of intermediate or upper-intermediate words. The grammar, rather than the vocab, is probably the hard part of this post, which is an great survey of every basic Chinese sentence structure. If you can read this, your foundation in Chinese grammar is very solid. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>Using 过</h3>\r\n\r\n他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。\r\n\r\nI figure that might be confusing for new readers, since there are two different uses of the word 过 [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] here. I tend to find that the easiest way to remember what 过 means in every context is that it almost always means either \"past\" or \"pass\", or one of many variations thereon. Let\'s look a few usages of 过.\r\n\r\n1) In the most common usage, the one we see earliest in our learning, 过, when used after an action, means that the action has \"been done before\", or \"has been done in the past\", as in \"Have you ever been to Shanghai (in the past)?\" （你去过上海吗?), or \"Have you ever eaten this type of fish (in the past)?\" (你吃过这种鱼吗?). \r\n\r\n2) Usage two, 过去, means \"to pass by\", as in “The days passed one by one\" (一关一天就过去了). \r\n\r\n3) Usage three, also 过去, means \"The Past\", a noun, as in the opposite of the future. \"To forget the past is a betrayal.\" (忘记过去，就意味着背叛)\r\n\r\n4) The fourth usage is \"to pass (time)\", or \"to pass one\'s days\" (过日子), or to \"How were you [how did you pass] the last few days?\" (这些天过得怎么样？). \r\n\r\n5) Another 过去 - to \"pass across\", \"to cross\" (as in a river or street).\r\n\r\n6) 过去 \"to pass by\" (someone or something). \r\n\r\nAnd on and on. In our sentence here, we\'re using #4 first, and then #2. \r\n\r\n他<strong>过</strong>的很快乐，时光飞快地<strong>过</strong>去了。\r\n\r\n\"He <strong>passed</strong> [his days] very happily, time flew <strong>past</strong>.\"\r\n\r\nMake sense? Hope so, because several different usages of 过去 come up in this post, so keep an eye out. \r\n\r\n<h3>Not you, stoopid: 咱们 vs. 我们</h3>\r\n\r\n咱们 [pinyin]zan2 men5[/pinyin]. This means \"us\" or \"we\". I know, I know, you learned that 我们 means \"us\" and \"we\", and it does.  咱们 only refers to \"us\" and \"we\" when the speaker is including the person they\'re talking to. So 咱们 means really \"You and I\", not \"we\". Confusing, right? Here are some examples：\r\n\r\n我们： \"Sorry, you can\'t come with us, we\'re going to see a movie alone.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"Why don\'t we see a movie this afternoon?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"I\'ll call you as soon as we get back.\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"What should we do when we get back?” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\r\n\r\n我们： \"We\'re not home right now, leave a message!\" (The person being spoken to is not included in the \"we\".)\r\n咱们： \"We could go home right now and check the messages.” （The speaker is including the person spoken to in the \"we\".)\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> 小马和他的妈妈住在小河边。他过的很快乐，时光飞快地过去了。有一天，妈妈把小马叫到身边说：“小马，你已经长大了，可以帮妈妈做事了。今天你把这袋<strong>粮食</strong>送到河对<strong>岸</strong>的村子里去吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 小马非常高兴地答应了。他<strong>驮</strong>着粮食飞快地来到了小河边。可是河上没有桥，只能自己<strong>淌</strong>过去。可又不知道河水有多深呢？<strong>犹豫</strong>中的小马一抬头，看见了正在不远处吃草的牛伯伯。小马赶紧跑过去问到：“牛伯伯，您知道那河里的水深不深呀？”\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 牛伯伯挺起他那高大的身体笑着说：“不深，不深。才到我的小腿。”\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 小马高兴地跑回河边准备淌过河去。他刚一<strong>迈</strong>腿，忽然听见一个声音说：“小马，小马别下去，这河可深啦。”小马低头一看，原来是小松鼠。小松鼠<strong>翘</strong>着她漂亮的尾巴，睁着圆圆的眼睛，很认真地说：“前两天我的一个伙伴不小心掉进了河里，河水就把他<strong>卷</strong>走了。”\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 小马一听没主意了。牛伯伯说河水浅，小松鼠说河水深，这可怎么办呀？只好回去问妈妈。马妈妈老远地就看见小马低着头驮着粮食又回来了。心想他一定是遇到困难了，就迎过去问小马。小马哭着把牛伯伯和小松鼠的话告诉了妈妈。妈妈安慰小马说：“没关系，<strong>咱们</strong>一起去看看吧。”\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 小马和妈妈又一次来到河边，妈妈让小马自己去试探一下河水有多深。小马小心地试探着，一步一步地淌过了河。噢，他明白了，河水既没有牛伯伯说的那么浅，也没有小松鼠说的那么深。只有自己亲自试过才知道。\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> Little Horse and his mother lived by the river. He passed his days happily, and time flew by. One day, Mother called little horse to her side and said: \"Little Horse, you\'re all grown up, you can help mother with a few things. Today, take that sack of grain and take it to the village on the opposite riverbank.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> Little Horse happily agreed. Carrying the grain on his back he flew to the river. But there was no bridge over the river, he could only wade across. But he didn\'t know how deep the river was.(?) While he was hesitating he lifted his head, and saw Uncle Ox eating grass not far away. Little horse hurriedly ran over and asked: \"Uncle Ox, do you know if the river is deep or not?\" \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> Uncle Ox straightened his big, tall body and laughing, said: \"Not deep, not deep. It only comes up to my calf.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> Little Horse happily ran back to the riverside and prepared to wade across. He\'d just taken one step, when suddenly he heard a voice say: \"Little Horse, Little Horse, don\'t go in, this river is so deep!\" Little Horse lowered his head and looked down, and saw it was Little Squirrel. Little Squirrel raised her pretty tail, round eyes opened wide, and spoke earnestly: \"Two days ago my companion accidentally fell into the river, and the water swept him away.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> Little Horse didn\'t know what to think. Uncle Ox said the water was shallow, Little Squirrel said the water was deep, what was he to do? He had to go back and ask Mother. From a distance, Mother Horse saw Little Horse returning with a lowered head and carrying the sack of grain. She knew in her heart that he must have run into trouble, so she went to welcome Little Horse and ask. Little horse, crying, told Mother what Uncle Ox and Little Squirrel had said. Mother consoled Little Horse, saying: \"Don\'t worry, let\'s go together and have a look.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> Little Horse and Mother went back to the riverbank again, and Mother let little horse test out how deep the water was. Little Horse carefully tried it out, and step by step waded across the river. Hey, he understood, the river on the one hand wasn\'t as shallow as Uncle Ox said, and also wasn\'t as deep as Little Squirrel said. You only know if you find out for yourself. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] 小马过河 - Little Horse Crosses the River', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1596-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:04:27', '2016-10-31 06:04:27', '', 1596, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1596-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1697, 1, '2016-10-31 02:09:33', '2016-10-31 06:09:33', 'Hey hey, lookie here, an excellent guest post submitted by native Chinese speaker Yang from <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com\" target=\"_blank\">Learn Mandarin Now</a>. This story tells us a bit about the Chinese <em>chengyu</em> (idiom),塞翁失马, which can mean \"a blessing in disguise\", or can conversely mean \"bad luck disguised as good\". It\'s used to point out the hidden positives or negatives in a situation, so you might say it means \"there are two sides to every circumstance\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI\'m loving this post for the fable-y language: \"servant\", \"steed\", etc. Plus, I learned a new favorite word in this one: 塞外 [pinyin]sai4 wai4[/pinyin], meaning \"Beyond the Great Wall\". In other words, a remote place near the outskirts or borders of China. Also, don\'t forget, 匹 [pinyin]pi3[/pinyin] is the measure word for Horses, so you\'re gonna see that a few times. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one phrase we should probably get into in greater detail, because I don\'t think it\'s immediately clear what it means: 全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗. Let\'s take a look at this, word by word:\r\n\r\n全国 - The whole country\r\n上下的 - Everywhere\r\n年轻男子 - young men\r\n都 - all\r\n被 - grammar word usually indicating that the subject of the sentence has had something unfortunate happen to them\r\n抓 - grabbed\r\n去 - go out\r\n打仗 - fight \r\n\r\nThe key word here is 抓 [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin], which usually means to \"catch\" or \"grab\". In this case, the word means \"drafted\", so it still means to \"grab\", but in this case, it\'s the ruling power (probably the king) doing the grabbing up (of potential soldiers). The 被 in this case functions as \"were\", with a negative overtone. So this can be translated as \"All the young men everywhere in the country <strong>were drafted</strong> to go fight a war.\"\r\n\r\nLearn Mandarin Now\'s \"<a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-read-chinese/\" target=\"_blank\">How to Read Chinese</a>\" page for a basic overview on getting started with Simplified characters, and look at <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/blog/\" target=\"_blank\">their new blog</a> for some learning tips. \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> 从前，一位<strong>老翁</strong>和他的儿子住在<strong>塞外</strong>的边境上。他们都非常喜欢骑马。有一天，他们家的<strong>仆人</strong>给老先生报告：\"我们家的一匹骏马走丢了，好像跑去<strong>邻国</strong>了。\"\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 老翁的朋友<strong>闻讯</strong>都过来安慰他。但老先生说：“呵呵，这也许不是坏事，谁知道呢！＂\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 几个月之后，奇妙的事情发生了，那匹走失了的骏马意外地跑回来了，并且从邻国带来了一匹新的<strong>骏马</strong>。老翁的好友纷纷过来祝贺他。老翁说：“唉，这也许不是什么好事情呢！”\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 一天，老翁的儿子正在骑那匹新的骏马，突然不小心从马上掉了下来并摔断了腿。他从今以后都不能正常走路了。老翁的朋友都为老翁感到伤心，但老翁却说：“这个意外以后能为咱们带来好运也不一定。”\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 一年后，全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗，大部分去参军的年轻人都死在了<strong>战场</strong>。老翁的儿子因为腿受伤了所以避过了这一次劫难。\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> Once upon a time, there was an old man who lived with his son on the borders of the country. They both very much enjoyed riding horses. One day, a servant reported to the old man, “One of our good horses has gone missing. It seems the horse ran across to the neighboring country.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> Old man\'s friends came and comforted him. However, the old man said: \"Well, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Who knows!\"\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> Couple of months later, a strange thing happened. The missing horse came back, accompanied by a great steed from the neighboring country. When his friends congratulated him on this great news, the old man said: \"Well, this might bring us bad luck.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> One day, his son was having fun riding on the fine [new] steed. Suddenly, he fell from the hose and broke his leg. His son was never able to walk again. Again, his friends came to comfort the old man. But the old man was not bothered and said: \"This accident might bring us good luck in the future.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> A year later, all young men in the country were drafted to join a war. Most young men who fought died on the battlefield. Luckily, his son avoided entering the war because of his broken leg.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idiom] 塞翁失马 - A Blessing in Disguise', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1551-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:09:33', '2016-10-31 06:09:33', '', 1551, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1551-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1698, 1, '2016-10-31 02:11:12', '2016-10-31 06:11:12', 'Hey hey, lookie here, an excellent guest post submitted by native Chinese speaker Yang from <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com\" target=\"_blank\">Learn Mandarin Now</a>. This story tells us a bit about the Chinese <em>chengyu</em> (idiom),塞翁失马, which can mean \"a blessing in disguise\", or can conversely mean \"bad luck disguised as good\". It\'s used to point out the hidden positives or negatives in a situation, so you might say it means \"there are two sides to every circumstance\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\nI\'m loving this post for the fable-y language: \"servant\", \"steed\", etc. Plus, I learned a new favorite word in this one: 塞外 [pinyin]sai4 wai4[/pinyin], meaning \"Beyond the Great Wall\". In other words, a remote place near the outskirts or borders of China. Also, don\'t forget, 匹 [pinyin]pi3[/pinyin] is the measure word for Horses, so you\'re gonna see that a few times. \r\n\r\nThere\'s one phrase we should probably get into in greater detail, because I don\'t think it\'s immediately clear what it means: 全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗. Let\'s take a look at this, word by word:\r\n\r\n全国 - The whole country\r\n上下的 - Everywhere\r\n年轻男子 - young men\r\n都 - all\r\n被 - grammar word usually indicating that the subject of the sentence has had something unfortunate happen to them\r\n抓 - grabbed\r\n去 - go out\r\n打仗 - fight \r\n\r\nThe key word here is 抓 [pinyin]zhua1[/pinyin], which usually means to \"catch\" or \"grab\". In this case, the word means \"drafted\", so it still means to \"grab\", but in this case, it\'s the ruling power (probably the king) doing the grabbing up (of potential soldiers). The 被 in this case functions as \"were\", with a negative overtone. So this can be translated as \"All the young men everywhere in the country <strong>were drafted</strong> to go fight a war.\"\r\n\r\nLearn Mandarin Now\'s \"<a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/how-to-read-chinese/\" target=\"_blank\">How to Read Chinese</a>\" page for a basic overview on getting started with Simplified characters, and look at <a href=\"http://www.learnmandarinnow.com/blog/\" target=\"_blank\">their new blog</a> for some learning tips. \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> 从前，一位<strong>老翁</strong>和他的儿子住在<strong>塞外</strong>的边境上。他们都非常喜欢骑马。有一天，他们家的<strong>仆人</strong>给老先生报告：\"我们家的一匹骏马走丢了，好像跑去<strong>邻国</strong>了。\"\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 老翁的朋友<strong>闻讯</strong>都过来安慰他。但老先生说：“呵呵，这也许不是坏事，谁知道呢！＂\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 几个月之后，奇妙的事情发生了，那匹走失了的骏马意外地跑回来了，并且从邻国带来了一匹新的<strong>骏马</strong>。老翁的好友纷纷过来祝贺他。老翁说：“唉，这也许不是什么好事情呢！”\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 一天，老翁的儿子正在骑那匹新的骏马，突然不小心从马上掉了下来并摔断了腿。他从今以后都不能正常走路了。老翁的朋友都为老翁感到伤心，但老翁却说：“这个意外以后能为咱们带来好运也不一定。”\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 一年后，全国上下的年轻男子都被抓去打仗，大部分去参军的年轻人都死在了<strong>战场</strong>。老翁的儿子因为腿受伤了所以避过了这一次劫难。\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> Once upon a time, there was an old man who lived with his son on the borders of the country. They both very much enjoyed riding horses. One day, a servant reported to the old man, “One of our good horses has gone missing. It seems the horse ran across to the neighboring country.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> The old man\'s friends came and comforted him. However, the old man said: \"Well, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Who knows!\"\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> A couple of months later, a strange thing happened. The missing horse came back, accompanied by a great steed from the neighboring country. When his friends congratulated him on this great news, the old man said: \"Well, this might bring us bad luck.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> One day, his son was having fun riding on the fine [new] steed. Suddenly, he fell from the hose and broke his leg. His son was never able to walk again. Again, the old man\'s friends came to comfort him. But the old man was not bothered and said: \"This accident might bring us good luck in the future.\"\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> A year later, all young men in the country were drafted to join a war. Most young men who fought died on the battlefield. Luckily, his son avoided entering the war because of his broken leg.\r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idiom] 塞翁失马 - A Blessing in Disguise', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1551-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:11:12', '2016-10-31 06:11:12', '', 1551, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1551-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2038, 1, '2016-11-04 06:06:36', '2016-11-04 10:06:36', 'A quick and simple poem about morning dew. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThis isn\'t a famous poem, just a little somethin-somethin\' from around the net. The author used a turn of phrase here which might be slightly confusing: 打湿. Most commonly, we know the word 打 [pinyin]da3[/pinyin] as \"to hit\" or \"to strike\". 湿 [pinyin]shi1[/pinyin] means \"wet\" or \"moist\". Put these two words together, and 打湿 means \"to get something wet\" or to moisten. \r\n\r\nThough the title of the poem is \"Dewdrops\" - 露珠 - you\'ll notice that the actual word is never mentioned in the poem. \r\n\r\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20131223/52b840bf2572e.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20131223/52b840bf2572e.shtml</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昨天夜里，\r\n谁从草地上走过？\r\n丢了那么多的珍珠。\r\n今天早上，\r\n谁在草丛中看着我？\r\n还打湿了我的衣裤。\r\n太阳升高了，\r\n谁收走了珍珠？\r\n留下了湿湿的气息，\r\n湿湿的泥土。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nLast night,\r\nWho walked up from the meadow?\r\n[They] lost so many pearls.\r\nThis morning, \r\nWho was watching me from the underbrush? \r\n[They] made damp my trousers.\r\nThe sun is high,\r\nwho left with the pearls?\r\n[They] left behind them dewy breath,\r\nand wet soil.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Modern Chinese Poetry] 露珠 - Dewdrops', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1484-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:06:36', '2016-11-04 10:06:36', '', 1484, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1484-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1701, 1, '2016-10-31 02:34:20', '2016-10-31 06:34:20', 'A quick and simple poem about morning dew. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThis isn\'t a famous poem, just a little somethin-somethin\' from around the net. The author used a turn of phrase here which might be slightly confusing: 打湿. Most commonly, we know the word 打 [pinyin]da3[/pinyin] as \"to hit\" or \"to strike\". 湿 [pinyin]shi1[/pinyin] means \"wet\" or \"moist\". Put these two words together, and 打湿 means \"to get something wet\" or to moisten. \r\n\r\nThough the title of the poem is \"Dewdrops\" - 露珠 - you\'ll notice that the actual word is never mentioned in the poem. \r\n\r\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20131223/52b840bf2572e.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20131223/52b840bf2572e.shtml</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昨天夜里，\r\n谁从<strong>草地</strong>上走过？\r\n丢了那么多的<strong>珍珠</strong>。\r\n今天早上，\r\n谁在<strong>草丛</strong>中看着我？\r\n还打<strong>湿</strong>了我的衣裤。\r\n太阳升高了，\r\n谁收走了珍珠？\r\n留下了湿湿的气息，\r\n湿湿的泥土。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nLast night,\r\nWho walked up from the meadow?\r\n[They] lost so many pearls.\r\nThis morning, \r\nWho was watching me from the underbrush? \r\n[They] made damp my trousers.\r\nThe sun is high,\r\nwho left with the pearls?\r\n[They] left behind them dewy breath,\r\nand wet soil.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Poetry] 露珠 - Dewdrops', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1484-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:34:20', '2016-10-31 06:34:20', '', 1484, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1484-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1702, 1, '2016-11-04 05:31:46', '2016-11-04 09:31:46', 'This is another one I nabbed from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>. I tried to convince myself that this was beginner, but I just couldn\'t. The words are mostly OK, but there are one too many wibble-wobbly sentence configurations.<!--more-->\n\nThis is also a perfect example of a fairly easy story that had one phrase I spent an hour trying to sort out, and a perfect example of the reason I started this blog in the first damn place - you start reading and then one word trips you up and you can\'t get past it. 99% sure I figured it out, but don\'t hesitate to correct me in the comments if you have intelligence to the contrary. The word was 香草娃娃 [pinyin]xiang1 cao3 wa2 wa2[/pinyin]. Uh, well, [pinyin]xiang1 cao3[/pinyin] means \"vanilla\" and [pinyin]wa2 wa2[/pinyin] is \"baby\", so... vanilla baby? Really? In the story, 香草娃娃 is used as a toy\'s name, so I thought, maybe there\'s a toy called a Vanilla Baby? Anyway, it turns out an out-of-use definition for 香草 is \"old and dependable\". Ah hah - \"old, dependable baby doll\". That makes sense. \n\nThere\'s one other very useful phrase here that\'s very commonly used in everyday language: 太过分了！Directly translated, this means \"Too excessive!\", but this phrase doesn\'t usually actually refer to a large amount of things. It\'s more often used to refer to a circumstance or someone\'s behavior, like, \"That is just too much to bear!\". If someone was very mean to you, you could say, \"太过分了!\" or if an interview process was super rough and you got raked over the coals, also \"太过分了!\" \n\nEnjoy this one, and consider it good practicing in very colloquial story building.\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\n新年快到了，玩具王国决定举行一场盛大的舞会，准备邀请全国的玩具都来参加。舞会那天，玩具们都不停地跳着、笑着，整个舞场热闹非凡。可是在一个角落里，谁也没有注意到，有一只紫色的香草娃娃正一声不吭地望着舞池，她的眼神呆呆的，显得十分孤独。这时，一只小白熊正好从她面前经过，它看到了这一切，就走过去问香草娃娃：“娃娃，你为什么不去跳舞呢？”香草娃娃难过地低下了头，轻轻地说：“玩具们都嫌我个子小，不愿意请我跳舞。”说完流下了眼泪。小白熊听了很气愤，说：“他们怎么能这样对待你呢？难道他们不懂得要团结友爱吗！太过分了！”小白熊拉起香草娃娃的手，说，“娃娃，不要难过了。走，我请你跳舞。”香草娃娃听了这话，脸上顿时露出了灿烂的笑容，她连忙擦掉脸上的泪水，高兴地说：“太好了！太好了！”娃娃和小白熊在舞池里又跳又笑，一起度过了一个愉快的夜晚。\n \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe new year had almost arrived, and the Toy Kingdom planned to invite everyone to a grand ball. The day of the dance, the toys were all dancing and laughing, and the whole ballroom was extraordinarily lively. But off in one corner, receiving no attention from anyone, there was an old purple doll silently gazing at the dance floor, her eyes were blank and she looked lonely. Just then, a white polar bear in front of her saw this, walked over and asked the dependable old doll, \"Doll, why don\'t you go dance?\" The dependable doll lowered her head sadly, saying in a small voice, \"The [other] toys all say I\'m too short, they\'re not willing to dance with me.\"  Saying this, she began to cry. Polar Bear was furious when he heard this, and said: \"How could they treat you this way? Don\'t they understand solidarity? That\'s just too much!\" Little Bear pulled on the baby doll\'s hand, and said: \"Doll, don\'t be sad. Come on, I\'m asking you to dance with me.\" The dependable doll heard these words, and a brilliant smile immediately lit up her face. She quickly wiped the tears off her face and said happily, \"Wonderful! Wonderful!\" On the dance floor, Doll and Bear danced and laughed, and passed a lovely evening together. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Children\'s Stories] The Little Polar Bear and the Doll Dance Together', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1566-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:31:46', '2016-11-04 09:31:46', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1566-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1703, 1, '2016-10-31 02:37:25', '2016-10-31 06:37:25', '', 'Read Chinese Free: Chinese short stories', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'chinese-reading-exercises-intermediate-stories', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:37:44', '2016-10-31 06:37:44', '', 1566, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/chinese-reading-exercises-intermediate-stories.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1705, 1, '2016-11-04 05:39:52', '2016-11-04 09:39:52', 'Your basic \"it\'s what\'s on the inside that counts\", moral-of-the-story story about a rabbit filled with self-loathing. \n\nDifficult bits include the phrase 钻出来 [pinyin]zuan1 chu1 lai2[/pinyin]. We know that 出来 means to \"come out of\". But 钻? If you check the dictionary, the first definition that comes up for this word is \"diamond\", but that wasn\'t the correct definition in this case. Secondly, it also means to \"drill\" or \"bore\", which makes sense as a second definition of \"diamond\" - lots of diamond drill bits out there. But that still doesn\'t work in context of the whole sentence. But if you run a Baidu image search on the phrase, and you\'ll find lots of pictures of people squeezing out of small spaces, children coming out of playground tunnels, workers coming out of manholes, and you\'ll probably realize that 钻出来 means to wiggle out of a space via a small opening. Imagine a secret agent crawling through an air duct; in Chinese, there\'s a word for that, and that word is 钻. So it\'s really more like \"to burrow out of or in to\". I often hear it used in Beijing in reference to \"bur\n\nI got this from Sina user <a href=\"http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6ace1efa0100kltk.html\" target=\"_blank\">Zifengling\'s personal blog</a>, in a post where she lists a few different easy stories, so if you wanna read some more on your own, head on over. I\'ll probably translate another couple from there before too long. \n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\n森林里住着一只小兔子，它叫“丑丑”。它的眼睛红红的，像一对红宝石。可是它的毛灰灰的，像是从灰炉里钻出来似的，它觉得自己太丑了，常常一个人躲在家里。\n\n虽然它长得不好看，但是它有一颗无比善良的心。小猴子乐乐的家被大水冲垮了，无家可归。丑丑就让乐乐住在自己的家，还把自己最喜欢吃的巧克力分给乐乐吃。不仅如此，谁头痛、生病了，没钱买药，它都会尽其所能进行帮助。\n\n日子一天天过去了，丑丑还是很孤单。一次，森林里最好看的小兔子美美来找它玩，可丑丑觉得自己太丑了，没脸见它。美美告诉丑丑：“人的外表并不重要，重要的是内在美。”丑丑恍然大悟，它跑了出去，和伙伴们一起尽情地玩耍。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn the forest there lived a little rabbit whose name was \"Chouchou\". His eyes were red, like a pair of rubies. But his fur was grey, like he\'d wiggled out of a furnace, and he felt himself to be very ugly, often hiding in his house alone. \n\nAlthough he wasn\'t nice to look at, he had an incomparably kind heart. When Little Monkey Lele\'s home was burst apart by a flood, he had no house to return to. Chouchou let Lele live with him, and he divided up his favorite chocolate to give some to Lele to eat. Not only that, whoever had a headach, or got sick, with no money to buy medicine, he did everything he was able to do to help. \n\nThe days passed one by one, and Chouchou was still alone. One time, the forest\'s most beautiful rabbit Meimei came looking for Chouchou to play, but Chouchou thought of himself as just too ugly, he couldn\'t face seeing her. Meimei told Chouchou: \"It\'s not what\'s on the outside that counts, the important thing is what\'s on the inside.\" Chouchou suddenly saw the light, he ran outside, and played with his friends to his heart\'s content.  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Short Stories] “美丽”的小兔 - The \"Beautiful\" Rabbit', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1565-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:39:52', '2016-11-04 09:39:52', '', 1565, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1565-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1706, 1, '2016-10-31 02:43:38', '2016-10-31 06:43:38', '', 'Learn to Read Mandarin: Read Chinese Study', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'practice-chinese-reading-exercises', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:43:44', '2016-10-31 06:43:44', '', 1565, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/practice-chinese-reading-exercises.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0);
