[two_third]
Sweet! I found a bunch of Chinese riddles. Read the Chinese and try to guess the word!  This is VERY short, lower-intermediate reading. <!--more-->

<img src="http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/20120327-INLINE.jpg" alt="Learn to Read Chinese Online: Intermediate Chinese Character Simplified Riddles and Jokes" title="Learn to Read Chinese Online: Intermediate Chinese Character Simplified Riddles and Jokes" width="100" height="100" class="alignleft imgborder" />Some of the riddles I found are impossible, because not only is the riddle hard, the answer is a kind of fruit or plant or thing I've never heard of, so I'm skipping past all those and over the next few days I'll post a few riddles that are answerable for those of us who didn't group up in the southern Yao jungles or whatever.

I think the most interesting word in this text is 青. I see this word everywhere, and I've never been able to come up with an English equivalent. It's not green, and it's not blue... well, it's not actually a color. It means "the color that nature is". It can be used to describe a clear green pond. It can be used to talk about trees or grass. So it's not actually a specific hue, but the word is used as if it is. Someone feel free to dive in if you can think of a good translation for this. 

This particular riddle kinda rhymes in Chinese, so when you've sorted out the words, read it out loud.
[/two_third]
[one_third last=last]
<div class="postintro">
<h4>Click to Listen</h4>
青 - [pinyin]qing1[/pinyin] - Nature's color - green or blue
烤 - [pinyin]kao3[/pinyin] - Roast
晒 - [pinyin]shai4[/pinyin] - Dry in the sun
腾 - [pinyin]teng[/pinyin] - To soar
驾 - [pinyin]jia4[/pinyin] - To pilot a vehicle (to drive a car, sail a boat, ride a wave, etc.)
雾 - [pinyin]wu4[/pinyin] - Fog, mist
</div>
[/one_third]

<hr />

[one_half]
<div id="chinesetext">
<strong>青</strong>枝绿叶不是菜， 有的<strong>烤</strong>来有的<strong>晒</strong>，<strong>腾</strong>云<strong>驾</strong><strong>雾</strong>烧着吃，不能锅里煮熟卖。

Hint: this is a type of plant.
</div>

[/one_half]

[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink="SHOW ENGLISH AND ANSWER"]
Translation: Green branches green leaves but it's not a vegetable, some roast it and some dry it, soaring on clouds and sailing the mist it's consumed, it's not sold boiled in a pot.

<strong>Answer: 烟叶 (Tobacco) </strong>

[/hide-this-part][/one_half]