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<strong>Chinese Title: 夜郎自大</strong>

Here 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-->

<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. 

We've got:
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) 

通知 [pinyin1]tong1 zhi1[/pinyin] - To notify, give notice

And now, 统治 [pinyin]tong3 zhi4[/pinyin] - To rule over (a kingdom / country)

Let us hope there aren't any more configurations of that sound. 
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<h4>Click to Listen</h4>
汉朝 - [pinyin]han4 chao2[/pinyin] - Han Dynasty
部下 - [pinyin]bu4 xia4[/pinyin] - Troops or subordinates under one's command
巡视 - [pinyin]xun2 shi4[/pinyin] - Go on an inspection tour
国境 - [pinyin]guo2 jing4[/pinyin] - National Borders
迎合 - [pinyin]ying2 he2[/pinyin] - Serve one's own interests / to fawn or cater
异口同声 - [pinyin]yi4 kou3 tong2 sheng1[/pinyin] - To say in unison
派 - [pinyin]pai4[/pinyin] - To dispatch, send someone
使者 - [pinyin]shi3 zhe3[/pinyin] - Envoy
途中 - [pinyin]tu2 zhong1[/pinyin] - En route
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2012年12月28日 美国中文网
圣诞节期间美国遭遇暴风雪袭击，已至少造成15人死亡，2000次美国航班延误或取消。


据报道，因暴雪严寒造成人员死亡的州包括肯塔基州、俄亥俄州、印第安纳州、阿肯色州、俄克拉何马州、得克萨斯州、路易斯安那州、宾夕法尼亚州和弗吉尼亚州。


很多地区发出警告提醒人们不要外出，因为凛冽狂风、低温和充满危险的路况对行人构成威胁。气象部门说，位于美国东北部的新英格兰地区数州即将出现大雪天气，缅因州部分地区的降雪厚度达18英寸(约45厘米)。因此，很多人的圣诞节假期旅行计划受到影响。


目前，已有超过20万居民家中断电，成千上万出游的人们滞留在各处。nba推迟了原本于周三晚在印第安纳波利斯举行的印第安纳步行者对芝加哥公牛队的篮球赛。


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During the Han Dynasty, in the southwest there was a small country called Yelang, and although it was an independent nation, its territory was small, there weren't many citizens, and its products were pitifully few. Because it was the largest kingdom in the near area, the Yelang king who'd never left his own country thought the country he ruled was the biggest on earth. 

One 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.

Then 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?"  
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