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(1385, 1, '2013-06-03 10:54:13', '2013-06-03 14:54:13', 'In this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>Couple of grammar points</h3>\r\nFirst of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \r\n\r\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (east and west / left and right / in all directions) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\r\n\r\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \r\n\r\nSee the <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">source</a>. \r\n\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n1) 爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我悄悄地把您的烟盒偷走，又偷偷地扔进垃圾桶里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还狠狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不理你。\r\n\r\n2) 爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的肺已被尼古丁熏得千疮百孔。\r\n\r\n3) 爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在吐痰。我担心您会离我们而去。那时丢下我们，那该怎么办呀。\r\n\r\n4) 爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) Papa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who could have known, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\r\n\r\n2) Papa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I see you you\'re surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \r\n\r\n3) Papa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \r\n\r\n4) Papa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 爸爸请您别抽烟了 - Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke!', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'papa-please-dont-smoke', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:36:21', '2016-11-04 10:36:21', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1385', 0, 'post', '', 12),
(2055, 1, '2016-11-04 06:36:21', '2016-11-04 10:36:21', 'In this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>Couple of grammar points</h3>\r\nFirst of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \r\n\r\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (east and west / left and right / in all directions) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\r\n\r\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \r\n\r\nSee the <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">source</a>. \r\n\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n1) 爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我悄悄地把您的烟盒偷走，又偷偷地扔进垃圾桶里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还狠狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不理你。\r\n\r\n2) 爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的肺已被尼古丁熏得千疮百孔。\r\n\r\n3) 爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在吐痰。我担心您会离我们而去。那时丢下我们，那该怎么办呀。\r\n\r\n4) 爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n1) Papa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who could have known, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\r\n\r\n2) Papa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I see you you\'re surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \r\n\r\n3) Papa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \r\n\r\n4) Papa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 爸爸请您别抽烟了 - Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke!', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:36:21', '2016-11-04 10:36:21', '', 1385, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1385-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1386, 1, '2013-05-28 02:39:53', '2013-05-28 06:39:53', '[two_third]\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. \n\nCouple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \n\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (thing, stuff) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\n\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \n\nThe Chinese title is: 爸爸请您别抽烟了, and the original is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</a>. \n\n这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Erotic\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\n\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我悄悄地把您的烟盒偷走，又偷偷地扔进垃圾桶里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还狠狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不理你。\n\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的肺已被尼古丁熏得千疮百孔。\n\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在吐痰。我担心您会离我们而去。那时丢下我们，那该怎么办呀。\n\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\n\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I you surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \n\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \n\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke! ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-28 02:39:53', '2013-05-28 06:39:53', '', 1385, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/28/1385-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1387, 1, '2013-05-28 03:43:20', '2013-05-28 07:43:20', '[two_third]\r\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. \r\n\r\nCouple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \r\n\r\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (thing, stuff) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\r\n\r\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title is: 爸爸请您别抽烟了, and the original is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</a>. \r\n\r\n这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n荷兰 - [pinyin]he2 lan2[/pinyin] - Holland\r\n瓷器 - [pinyin]ci2 qi4[/pinyin] - Porcelain\r\n包装纸 - [pinyin]bao1 zhuang1 zhi3[/pinyin] - Wrapping paper\r\n肖像 - [pinyin]xiao4 xiang4[/pinyin] - Portrait\r\n姿态 - [pinyin]zi1 tai4[/pinyin] - Pose\r\n各异 - [pinyin]ge4 yi4[/pinyin] - All different\r\n版画 - [pinyin]ban3 hua4[/pinyin] - woodblock painting\r\n震撼 - [pinyin]zhen4 han4[/pinyin] - To shock, mind-blowing\r\n以至于 - [pinyin]yi3 zhi4 yu2[/pinyin] - To the extent that...\r\n色情 - [pinyin]se4 qing2[/pinyin] - Erotic\r\n梵高 - [pinyin]fan4 gao1[/pinyin] - Van Gogh\r\n印象派 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我悄悄地把您的烟盒偷走，又偷偷地扔进垃圾桶里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还狠狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不理你。\r\n\r\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的肺已被尼古丁熏得千疮百孔。\r\n\r\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在吐痰。我担心您会离我们而去。那时丢下我们，那该怎么办呀。\r\n\r\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I you surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \r\n\r\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke! ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-28 03:43:20', '2013-05-28 07:43:20', '', 1385, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/28/1385-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1388, 1, '2013-05-28 10:54:40', '2013-05-28 14:54:40', '', 'Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Character Reading Comprehension', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130603-inline', '', '', '2013-05-28 10:54:40', '2013-05-28 14:54:40', '', 1385, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130603-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1389, 1, '2013-05-28 10:54:42', '2013-05-28 14:54:42', '', 'Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese: Simplified Character Reading Comprehension', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130603', '', '', '2013-05-28 10:54:42', '2013-05-28 14:54:42', '', 1385, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130603.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1390, 1, '2013-05-28 11:02:17', '2013-05-28 15:02:17', '[two_third]\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130603-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Reading comprehension exercises: Essays and reading passages\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Couple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \n\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (thing, stuff) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\n\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \n\nThe Chinese title is: 爸爸请您别抽烟了, and the original is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</a>. \n\n这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n抽烟 - [pinyin]chou1 yan1[/pinyin] - Smoke cigarettes\n悄悄 - [pinyin]qiao1 qiao1[/pinyin] - Quietly, secretly\n偷走 - [pinyin]tou1 zou3[/pinyin] - Steal (away with something)\n垃圾桶 - [pinyin]la1 ji1 tong3[/pinyin] - Trash can\n狠 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Fierce\n莫大 - [pinyin]mo4 da4[/pinyin] - Great (as in \'a large amount\' rather than \'good\')\n理 - [pinyin]li3[/pinyin] - Pay attention to\n肺 - [pinyin]fei4[/pinyin] - Lungs\n尼古丁 - [pinyin]ni2 gu3 ding1[/pinyin] - Nicotine\n千疮百孔 - [pinyin]qian1 chuang1 bai3 kong3[/pinyin] - Riddled with wounds, afflicted with many illnesses\n吐痰 - [pinyin]tu3 tan2[/pinyin] - Hawk a lookie\n丢下 - [pinyin]yin4 xiang4 pai4[/pinyin] - Impressionism\n\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n爸爸，请您别<strong>抽烟</strong>了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我<strong>悄悄</strong>地把您的烟盒<strong>偷走</strong>，又偷偷地扔进<strong>垃圾桶</strong>里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还<strong>狠</strong>狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到<strong>莫大</strong>的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不<strong>理</strong>你。\n\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的<strong>肺</strong>已被<strong>尼古丁</strong>熏得<strong>千疮百孔</strong>。\n\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在<strong>吐痰</strong>。我担心您会离我们而去。那时<strong>丢下</strong>我们，那该怎么办呀。\n\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\n\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I you surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \n\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \n\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke! ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-28 11:02:17', '2013-05-28 15:02:17', '', 1385, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/28/1385-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1391, 1, '2013-05-28 11:02:42', '2013-05-28 15:02:42', '[two_third]\r\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130603-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Reading comprehension exercises: Essays and reading passages\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Couple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \r\n\r\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (thing, stuff) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\r\n\r\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title is: 爸爸请您别抽烟了, and the original is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</a>. \r\n\r\n这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。\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抽烟 - [pinyin]chou1 yan1[/pinyin] - Smoke cigarettes\r\n悄悄 - [pinyin]qiao1 qiao1[/pinyin] - Quietly, secretly\r\n偷走 - [pinyin]tou1 zou3[/pinyin] - Steal (away with something)\r\n垃圾桶 - [pinyin]la1 ji1 tong3[/pinyin] - Trash can\r\n狠 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Fierce\r\n莫大 - [pinyin]mo4 da4[/pinyin] - Great (as in \'a large amount\' rather than \'good\')\r\n理 - [pinyin]li3[/pinyin] - Pay attention to\r\n肺 - [pinyin]fei4[/pinyin] - Lungs\r\n尼古丁 - [pinyin]ni2 gu3 ding1[/pinyin] - Nicotine\r\n千疮百孔 - [pinyin]qian1 chuang1 bai3 kong3[/pinyin] - Riddled with wounds, afflicted with many illnesses\r\n吐痰 - [pinyin]tu3 tan2[/pinyin] - Hawk a loogie\r\n丢下 - [pinyin]diu1 xia4[/pinyin] - to abandon\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n爸爸，请您别<strong>抽烟</strong>了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我<strong>悄悄</strong>地把您的烟盒<strong>偷走</strong>，又偷偷地扔进<strong>垃圾桶</strong>里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还<strong>狠</strong>狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到<strong>莫大</strong>的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不<strong>理</strong>你。\r\n\r\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的<strong>肺</strong>已被<strong>尼古丁</strong>熏得<strong>千疮百孔</strong>。\r\n\r\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在<strong>吐痰</strong>。我担心您会离我们而去。那时<strong>丢下</strong>我们，那该怎么办呀。\r\n\r\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I you surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \r\n\r\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke! ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-28 11:02:42', '2013-05-28 15:02:42', '', 1385, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/28/1385-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1396, 1, '2013-06-11 00:28:08', '2013-06-11 04:28:08', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Beginners: Easy Beginner Chinese Characters Pasasges', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130611-inline', '', '', '2013-06-11 00:28:08', '2013-06-11 04:28:08', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130611-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1397, 1, '2013-06-11 00:28:10', '2013-06-11 04:28:10', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese Beginners: Easy Beginner Chinese Characters Pasasges', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130611', '', '', '2013-06-11 00:28:10', '2013-06-11 04:28:10', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130611.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1400, 1, '2013-05-28 11:03:14', '2013-05-28 15:03:14', '[two_third]\r\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130603-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Reading comprehension exercises: Learn to read mandarin chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Couple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \r\n\r\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (thing, stuff) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\r\n\r\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title is: 爸爸请您别抽烟了, and the original is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</a>. \r\n\r\n这句话，让当时的我感到莫大的痛苦。\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抽烟 - [pinyin]chou1 yan1[/pinyin] - Smoke cigarettes\r\n悄悄 - [pinyin]qiao1 qiao1[/pinyin] - Quietly, secretly\r\n偷走 - [pinyin]tou1 zou3[/pinyin] - Steal (away with something)\r\n垃圾桶 - [pinyin]la1 ji1 tong3[/pinyin] - Trash can\r\n狠 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Fierce\r\n莫大 - [pinyin]mo4 da4[/pinyin] - Great (as in \'a large amount\' rather than \'good\')\r\n理 - [pinyin]li3[/pinyin] - Pay attention to\r\n肺 - [pinyin]fei4[/pinyin] - Lungs\r\n尼古丁 - [pinyin]ni2 gu3 ding1[/pinyin] - Nicotine\r\n千疮百孔 - [pinyin]qian1 chuang1 bai3 kong3[/pinyin] - Riddled with wounds, afflicted with many illnesses\r\n吐痰 - [pinyin]tu3 tan2[/pinyin] - Hawk a loogie\r\n丢下 - [pinyin]diu1 xia4[/pinyin] - to abandon\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n爸爸，请您别<strong>抽烟</strong>了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我<strong>悄悄</strong>地把您的烟盒<strong>偷走</strong>，又偷偷地扔进<strong>垃圾桶</strong>里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还<strong>狠</strong>狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到<strong>莫大</strong>的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不<strong>理</strong>你。\r\n\r\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的<strong>肺</strong>已被<strong>尼古丁</strong>熏得<strong>千疮百孔</strong>。\r\n\r\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在<strong>吐痰</strong>。我担心您会离我们而去。那时<strong>丢下</strong>我们，那该怎么办呀。\r\n\r\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I you surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \r\n\r\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke! ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-28 11:03:14', '2013-05-28 15:03:14', '', 1385, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/28/1385-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1617, 1, '2016-10-30 22:35:23', '2016-10-31 02:35:23', '<a href=\"?add-to-cart=1966\">\r\n<div class=\"subscribe-box subscribe-monthly-box\">\r\n<h5>Join Monthly: $3.50 / mo</h5>\r\n<h6>(Beta rate!)</h6>\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/monthly-subscribe.jpg\" alt=\"monthly-subscribe\" width=\"500\" height=\"379\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2504\" />\r\n</div>\r\n</a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"?add-to-cart=1967\">\r\n<div class=\"subscribe-box subscribe-yearly-box\">\r\n<h5>Join Yearly: $35 / yr</h5>\r\n<h6>(Beta rate!)</h6>\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/yearly-subscribe.jpg\" alt=\"yearly-subscribe\" width=\"500\" height=\"379\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2503\" />\r\n</div>\r\n</a>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"clear: both;\">&nbsp;</div>\r\n\r\n<h3>Get new posts daily, save your favorites</h3>\r\nWhy, 您好 there. You\'ve stumbled upon the inter-webz\'s most popular blog of Simplified Chinese reading exercises. I\'m Kendra (more about the CRP origin story <a href=\"/about/\">here</a>), and this is my tiny little kingdom. I publish one freebie post a week, but members get a new post every day, Monday-Friday, and the ability to save favorite posts. \r\n\r\n<h4>Introductory Rates for Beta</h4>\r\nSeeing as how I only recently launched the pay-to-play membership section, and the CRP membership-only post library isn\'t yet very big, I\'m offering a special introductory subscription rate of $3.50 per month, or $35 per year, while the Member\'s Only library accumulates content. Introductory rates will be available until March 15, 2017, after which, my lovelies, subscriptions will go up to $5 bucks a month. Anyone who jumps on the early train will have their lower price locked in for life. Get while the gettin\'s good.  \r\n\r\n<h4>Post schedules</h4>\r\nNew posts are published daily between 8am and 11am, Eastern Standard Time. These include two \"super easy\" or \"beginner\" posts, two intermediate posts, and one advanced post or \"Deep Dive\" (exploration of a themed topic). That\'s five new posts a week (plus one freebie, so six total).\r\n\r\n<h4>Member\'s Only Li-bibbly</h4>\r\nYou\'ll also get access to the complete Member\'s Only post library, but as I said, as of December 2016, it\'s a meager collection. It is, however, growing daily. \r\n\r\n<h4>Billing</h4>\r\nAll subscriptions are set to auto-renew,  but you\'re welcome to cancel at any time via your My Account area. \r\n\r\n<h4>Questions?</h4>\r\nYou can get in touch with me <a href=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/contact-kendra/\">here</a>. ', 'Subscribe', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'subscribe', '', '', '2016-11-19 03:48:44', '2016-11-19 08:48:44', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?page_id=1617', 0, 'page', '', 0),
(2260, 1, '2016-11-10 23:05:22', '0000-00-00 00:00:00', 'Source: http://story.beva.com/23/content/bai-feng-chao-niao-5\r\n\r\n很久很久以前，凤凰和其它小鸟一样，羽毛也很平常，它很勤劳，不像别的鸟那样吃饱了就知道玩，而是从早到晚忙个不停，将别的鸟扔掉的果实都一颗一颗捡起来，收藏在洞里。\r\n这有什么意思呀？这不是财迷精，大傻瓜吗？可别小看了这种贮藏食物的行为，到了一定的时候，他可发挥大用处了！\r\n果然，有一年，森林大旱。鸟儿们找不到吃的，这时，凤凰急忙打开山洞，把自己多年积存下来的干果和草籽拿出来分给大家，和大家共渡难关。\r\n旱灾过后，为了感谢凤凰的救命之恩，鸟儿们都从自己身上选了一根最漂亮的羽毛拔下来，制成了一件光彩耀眼的百鸟衣献给凤凰，并一致推举它为鸟王。\r\n以后，每逢凤凰生日之时，四面八方的鸟儿都会飞来向凤凰表示祝贺，这就是百鸟朝凤。\r\n\r\n', '[Chinese Mythology] 《百鸟朝凤》All Birds Pay Homage to the Phoenix', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', '', '', '', '2016-11-10 23:05:22', '2016-11-11 04:05:22', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=2260', 0, 'post', '', 0),
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(2261, 1, '2016-11-08 05:30:48', '2016-11-08 10:30:48', 'Source: http://story.beva.com/23/content/bai-feng-chao-niao-5\r\n\r\n很久很久以前，凤凰和其它小鸟一样，羽毛也很平常，它很勤劳，不像别的鸟那样吃饱了就知道玩，而是从早到晚忙个不停，将别的鸟扔掉的果实都一颗一颗捡起来，收藏在洞里。\r\n这有什么意思呀？这不是财迷精，大傻瓜吗？可别小看了这种贮藏食物的行为，到了一定的时候，他可发挥大用处了！\r\n果然，有一年，森林大旱。鸟儿们找不到吃的，这时，凤凰急忙打开山洞，把自己多年积存下来的干果和草籽拿出来分给大家，和大家共渡难关。\r\n旱灾过后，为了感谢凤凰的救命之恩，鸟儿们都从自己身上选了一根最漂亮的羽毛拔下来，制成了一件光彩耀眼的百鸟衣献给凤凰，并一致推举它为鸟王。\r\n以后，每逢凤凰生日之时，四面八方的鸟儿都会飞来向凤凰表示祝贺，这就是百鸟朝凤。\r\n\r\n', '[Chinese Myths & Legends] All Birds Pay Homage to the Phoenix', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '2260-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-08 05:30:48', '2016-11-08 10:30:48', '', 2260, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/2260-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
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(1429, 1, '2013-06-13 00:46:20', '2013-06-13 04:46:20', '[two_third]\nEeps - bad medicine! In this story, the mischievous Monkey - always a trickster figure in Chinese stories - pulls the wool over Little Bear\'s eyes. If Little Bear was American, he\'d sue the hospital for negligence and rake in millions of baskets of peaches. <!--more-->\n\nThough the majority of this text is very basic reading, there are three phrases which jump out at me as being difficult, or words I couldn\'t find in basic dictionaries. \n\n理所应当 - [pinyin]li3 suo3 ying1 dang1[/pinyin] This phrase means to feel something is well-deserved, that something has been earned through hard work, usually when it actually hasn\'t. So I guess that roughly translates to \'taking a reward for granted\'? In this story, Monkey feels that his payment is well-earned or well-deserved. But as readers, we know Monkey doesn\'t deserve anything at all - he\'s taking that payment for granted when he didn\'t really earn it. Consider this phrase in another context:\n\n别人帮助你那是义气，你不能当作是理所应当的。 - \"When other people help you it\'s in the spirit of self-sacrifice, you shouldn\'t consider this something you deserve as a matter of course.\"  \n\n甜头 - Though this looks like two words, the first meaning \"sweet\" and the second meaning \"head\" or \"brain\", it\'s actually a colloquialism that just means \"sweet flavor\" or \"pleasant taste\".  \n\n贪念 - These two characters also seem separate, they don\'t appear together in my dictionary, but they\'re actually one word. According to <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/view/3187101.htm\">Baidu Bai Ke</a>, the Baidu dictionary (a Chinese-language resource for word meanings and derivations), 贪念 [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] just means \"greedy\" (I presume the \"念\" probably adds the meaning \"idea\" or \"thoughts\" here, so 贪念 could be read as \"greedy thoughts\"). \n\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/yuyangushi/2012-10-06/26930.html\">You can read the original here.</a> \n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n玩耍 - [pinyin]wan2 shua3[/pinyin] - Enjoy oneself, mess around\n白大褂子 - [pinyin]bai2 da4 gua4 zi5[/pinyin] - White lab coat [lit: Large white unlined upper garment]\n看病 - [pinyin]kan4 bing4[/pinyin] - See a doctor\n酬金 - [pinyin]chou2 jin1[/pinyin] - monetary remuneration, payment\n贪念 - [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] - Greedy\n装模作样 - [pinyin]zhuang1 mo2 zuo4 yang4[/pinyin] - To put on an act\n不得而知 - [pinyin]bu4 de2 er2 zhi1[/pinyin] - Can\'t be known, unknowable\n潜入 - [pinyin]qian2 ru4[/pinyin] - To sneak into\n干脆 - [pinyin]gan1 cui4[/pinyin] - Simply, straightbforward\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n猴子去医院<strong>玩耍</strong>,进了大夫的房间。正好大夫不在,衣服也落在了房间内。\n\n猴子觉得好玩,就穿上了大夫的衣服,也就是我们常见的那种<strong>白大褂子</strong>。这时候有一只小熊来医院<strong>看病</strong>。小熊是第一次上医院,并不了解医院的情况。它所知道的,就是大夫们都穿着白大褂子。\n\n小熊提着一篮桃子(这是它准备送给大夫的<strong>酬金</strong>)来到医院,正好走进猴子所在的房间。小熊不认识猴子,但是它认识那件白大褂子,于是就请猴子给它看病。\n\n猴子本来只是玩耍,并不会看病,但是它看到小熊的篮子后,就起了<strong>贪念</strong>。于是猴子便<strong>装模作样</strong>地给小熊看了病,并且<strong>理所应当地</strong>收下了那篮桃子。至于小熊的病是否给猴子看好了,这一点<strong>不得而知</strong>。\n\n但是猴子却尝到了甜头,以后常常<strong>潜入</strong>医院,趁大夫不在的时候,穿上大夫的衣服,给病人看病。到后来,猴子<strong>干脆</strong>给自己也做了一身那样的白大褂子。\n\n唉!我们不知道有多少人是在猴子那里看的病啊!\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nMonkey went to the hospital on a lark, and entered the doctor\'s room. At that moment, the doctor wasn\'t in, and he\'d left his [doctor\'s] clothes in the room.\n\nMonkey thought this would be fun, so he put on the doctor\'s clothes, that white lab coat we see so often. Just then a little bear came to the hospital to see the doctor. This was the little bear\'s first time at the hospital, and he didn\'t know what hospitals were like [lit: didn\'t know the hospital situation]. All he knew was that doctors wear white lab coats. \n\nThe little bear had shown up at the hospital carrying a basket of peaches (this was the payment he had prepared to give to the doctor), and he happened to walk into the room where Monkey was. Little Bear didn\'t know Monkey, but he recognized the white lab coat, so he asked Monkey to examine him.\n\nMonkey originally just [intended to] have a bit of fun, but when he saw Little Bear\'s basket, he coveted it fiercely. So Monkey put on a big show of examining Little Bear, and accepted his well-earned basket of peaches. As to whether or not Monkey actually cured Little Bear, we will never know. \n\nHowever, after Monkey tasted that sweetness, he often stole into the hospital, taking advantage of the doctor\'s absence, and examined patients. Later, Monkey simply made himself one of those kind of white lab coats. \n\nAi! We don\'t know how many people were examined by Monkey!\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Doctor and the Monkey', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1401-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-06-13 00:46:20', '2013-06-13 04:46:20', '', 1401, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/06/13/1401-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1431, 1, '2013-06-13 01:14:37', '2013-06-13 05:14:37', '[two_third]\r\nEeps - bad medicine! In this story, the mischievous Monkey - always a trickster figure in Chinese stories - pulls the wool over Little Bear\'s eyes. If Little Bear was American, he\'d sue the hospital for negligence and rake in millions of baskets of peaches. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130617-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Read Chinese: Bedtime Stories in Mandarin Chinese Characters\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Though the majority of this text is very basic reading, there are three phrases which jump out at me as being difficult, or words I couldn\'t find in basic dictionaries. \r\n\r\n理所应当 - [pinyin]li3 suo3 ying1 dang1[/pinyin] This phrase means to feel something is well-deserved, that something has been earned through hard work, usually when it actually hasn\'t. So I guess that roughly translates to \'taking a reward for granted\'? In this story, Monkey feels that his payment is well-earned or well-deserved. But as readers, we know Monkey doesn\'t deserve anything at all - he\'s taking that payment for granted when he didn\'t really earn it. Consider this phrase in another context:\r\n\r\n别人帮助你那是义气，你不能当作是理所应当的。 - \"When other people help you it\'s in the spirit of self-sacrifice, you shouldn\'t consider this something you deserve as a matter of course.\"  \r\n\r\n甜头 - Though this looks like two words, the first meaning \"sweet\" and the second meaning \"head\" or \"brain\", it\'s actually a colloquialism that just means \"sweet flavor\" or \"pleasant taste\".  \r\n\r\n贪念 - These two characters also seem separate, they don\'t appear together in my dictionary, but they\'re actually one word. According to <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/view/3187101.htm\">Baidu Bai Ke</a>, the Baidu dictionary (a Chinese-language resource for word meanings and derivations), 贪念 [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] just means \"greedy\" (I presume the \"念\" probably adds the meaning \"idea\" or \"thoughts\" here, so 贪念 could be read as \"greedy thoughts\"). \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/yuyangushi/2012-10-06/26930.html\">You can read the original here.</a> \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n玩耍 - [pinyin]wan2 shua3[/pinyin] - Enjoy oneself, mess around\r\n白大褂子 - [pinyin]bai2 da4 gua4 zi5[/pinyin] - White lab coat [lit: Large white unlined upper garment]\r\n看病 - [pinyin]kan4 bing4[/pinyin] - See a doctor\r\n酬金 - [pinyin]chou2 jin1[/pinyin] - monetary remuneration, payment\r\n贪念 - [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] - Greedy\r\n装模作样 - [pinyin]zhuang1 mo2 zuo4 yang4[/pinyin] - To put on an act\r\n不得而知 - [pinyin]bu4 de2 er2 zhi1[/pinyin] - Can\'t be known, unknowable\r\n潜入 - [pinyin]qian2 ru4[/pinyin] - To sneak into\r\n干脆 - [pinyin]gan1 cui4[/pinyin] - Simply, straightbforward\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猴子去医院<strong>玩耍</strong>,进了大夫的房间。正好大夫不在,衣服也落在了房间内。\r\n\r\n猴子觉得好玩,就穿上了大夫的衣服,也就是我们常见的那种<strong>白大褂子</strong>。这时候有一只小熊来医院<strong>看病</strong>。小熊是第一次上医院,并不了解医院的情况。它所知道的,就是大夫们都穿着白大褂子。\r\n\r\n小熊提着一篮桃子(这是它准备送给大夫的<strong>酬金</strong>)来到医院,正好走进猴子所在的房间。小熊不认识猴子,但是它认识那件白大褂子,于是就请猴子给它看病。\r\n\r\n猴子本来只是玩耍,并不会看病,但是它看到小熊的篮子后,就起了<strong>贪念</strong>。于是猴子便<strong>装模作样</strong>地给小熊看了病,并且<strong>理所应当地</strong>收下了那篮桃子。至于小熊的病是否给猴子看好了,这一点<strong>不得而知</strong>。\r\n\r\n但是猴子却尝到了甜头,以后常常<strong>潜入</strong>医院,趁大夫不在的时候,穿上大夫的衣服,给病人看病。到后来,猴子<strong>干脆</strong>给自己也做了一身那样的白大褂子。\r\n\r\n唉!我们不知道有多少人是在猴子那里看的病啊!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nMonkey went to the hospital on a lark, and entered the doctor\'s room. At that moment, the doctor wasn\'t in, and he\'d left his [doctor\'s] clothes in the room.\r\n\r\nMonkey thought this would be fun, so he put on the doctor\'s clothes, that white lab coat we see so often. Just then a little bear came to the hospital to see the doctor. This was the little bear\'s first time at the hospital, and he didn\'t know what hospitals were like [lit: didn\'t know the hospital situation]. All he knew was that doctors wear white lab coats. \r\n\r\nThe little bear had shown up at the hospital carrying a basket of peaches (this was the payment he had prepared to give to the doctor), and he happened to walk into the room where Monkey was. Little Bear didn\'t know Monkey, but he recognized the white lab coat, so he asked Monkey to examine him.\r\n\r\nMonkey originally just [intended to] have a bit of fun, but when he saw Little Bear\'s basket, he coveted it fiercely. So Monkey put on a big show of examining Little Bear, and accepted his well-earned basket of peaches. As to whether or not Monkey actually cured Little Bear, we will never know. \r\n\r\nHowever, after Monkey tasted that sweetness, he often stole into the hospital, taking advantage of the doctor\'s absence, and examined patients. Later, Monkey simply made himself one of those kind of white lab coats. \r\n\r\nAi! We don\'t know how many people were examined by Monkey!\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Doctor and the Monkey', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1401-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-06-13 01:14:37', '2013-06-13 05:14:37', '', 1401, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/06/13/1401-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1432, 1, '2013-06-23 02:43:24', '2013-06-23 06:43:24', 'Welp, I swore I would never do this again but I found this (and several other short stories) in Hainan Airlines\' in-flight magazine (I\'m in Prague!) and couldn\'t resist typing it up (as opposed to copy-pasting from an online source). I\'ve checked and checked for typos, but I\'m not always the best at that, so if you run across one, please comment.\r\n\r\nThis is one of those reads where the sentence structure is basic and in parts very repetitive, but quite a few advanced words are used - \"advanced\" only because they\'re not used often in casual conversation, like parts of an animal (hooves, horns, etc.) So beginners, you can give this a go if you\'re feeling very patient but you\'ll be looking up every other word in some paragraphs even though you will be able to predict generally what the next few sentences are about.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130624-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Simplified Chinese Characters: Intermediate Exercises for Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I wanted to post a quick comment about the words 一箭一般, because this looks like a typical four-character idiom, but it\'s actually two separate words, 一箭 (an arrow) and 一般 (like, as if). Together this means \"like an arrow\", or in context of this sentence \"to take off (running) like a shot\". \r\n\r\nThere\'s also the phrase 从草丛中闪出. We\'re talking here about a dog that is \"[darting] out in a flash\" (闪出) \"from the middle of a cluster of grasses\" (从草丛中). We can imagine a dog charging out of a field of tall grass and into a clearing. \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> 傍晚，一只羊独自在山坡上玩，突然从树木中窜出一只狼来，要吃羊，羊跳起来，拼命用角抵抗，并大声向朋友们救命。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 牛在树丛中向这个地方望了一眼，发现是狼，跑走了。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 马低头一看，发现是狼，一溜烟跑了。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 驴停下脚步，发现是狼，悄悄溜下山坡。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 猪经过这里，发现是狼，冲下山坡。\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 兔子一听，更是一箭一般离去。\r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> 山下的狗听见羊的呼喊，急忙奔上坡来，从草丛中闪出，一下咬住了狼的脖子，狼疼得直叫唤, 趁够换气时，怆惶挑走了。\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> 回到家，朋友都来了，\r\n牛说：你怎么不告诉我？我的角可以剜出狼的肠子。\r\n马说：你怎么不告诉我？我的蹄子能踢碎狼的脑袋。\r\n驴说：你怎么不告诉我？我一声吼叫，吓破狼的胆。\r\n猪说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我用嘴一拱，就让它摔下山去。\r\n兔子说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我跑得快，可以传信呀。\r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> 在这闹嚷嚷的一群中，唯独没有狗。\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> One nightfall, a sheep was playing alone on the mountainside, when suddenly a wolf emerged from among the trees, wanting to eat the sheep, so the sheep jumped up, using his horns to defend himself with all his might, and loudly called out for his friends to save his life.\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> The bull looked over from among a cluster of trees, saw there was a wolf, and ran away.\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> The horse lowered its head and looked, discovered there was a wolf, and slipped away in a puff of smoke.\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> The mule stopped walking for a moment, discovered there was a wolf, and quietly slipped down the mountain.\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> The pig passed through there, found out there was a wolf, and rushed down the mountainside.\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> The rabbit listened a moment, then took off like a shot.\r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> From the bottom of the mountain, the dog heard the sheep\'s cry, and ran quickly up the mountainside, came out of the grass in a flash, and in a moment had grabbed the wolf\'s neck in his teeth, the wolf cried out in pain, and taking advantage of the dog\'s intake of breath, ran away full of sorrow and fear. [When the sheep] returned home, his friends all came over.\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> The bull said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My horns could have gouged out the wolf\'s intestines.\r\nThe horse said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My hooves could have kicked the wolf\'s skull apart.\r\nDonkey said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could have brayed and startled the wolf so as to break his courage. \r\nPig said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could nuzzle him with my snout, and make him fall down the mountain.\r\nRabbit said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I run fast, I could have spread the word.\r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> In this noisy group, the only one who wasn\'t present was the dog.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Fables] 沉默的狗 - The Silent Dog', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'the-silent-dog', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:22:27', '2016-11-04 10:22:27', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1432', 0, 'post', '', 20),
(2049, 1, '2016-11-04 06:22:27', '2016-11-04 10:22:27', 'Welp, I swore I would never do this again but I found this (and several other short stories) in Hainan Airlines\' in-flight magazine (I\'m in Prague!) and couldn\'t resist typing it up (as opposed to copy-pasting from an online source). I\'ve checked and checked for typos, but I\'m not always the best at that, so if you run across one, please comment.\r\n\r\nThis is one of those reads where the sentence structure is basic and in parts very repetitive, but quite a few advanced words are used - \"advanced\" only because they\'re not used often in casual conversation, like parts of an animal (hooves, horns, etc.) So beginners, you can give this a go if you\'re feeling very patient but you\'ll be looking up every other word in some paragraphs even though you will be able to predict generally what the next few sentences are about.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130624-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Simplified Chinese Characters: Intermediate Exercises for Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I wanted to post a quick comment about the words 一箭一般, because this looks like a typical four-character idiom, but it\'s actually two separate words, 一箭 (an arrow) and 一般 (like, as if). Together this means \"like an arrow\", or in context of this sentence \"to take off (running) like a shot\". \r\n\r\nThere\'s also the phrase 从草丛中闪出. We\'re talking here about a dog that is \"[darting] out in a flash\" (闪出) \"from the middle of a cluster of grasses\" (从草丛中). We can imagine a dog charging out of a field of tall grass and into a clearing. \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> 傍晚，一只羊独自在山坡上玩，突然从树木中窜出一只狼来，要吃羊，羊跳起来，拼命用角抵抗，并大声向朋友们救命。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 牛在树丛中向这个地方望了一眼，发现是狼，跑走了。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 马低头一看，发现是狼，一溜烟跑了。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 驴停下脚步，发现是狼，悄悄溜下山坡。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 猪经过这里，发现是狼，冲下山坡。\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 兔子一听，更是一箭一般离去。\r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> 山下的狗听见羊的呼喊，急忙奔上坡来，从草丛中闪出，一下咬住了狼的脖子，狼疼得直叫唤, 趁够换气时，怆惶挑走了。\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> 回到家，朋友都来了，\r\n牛说：你怎么不告诉我？我的角可以剜出狼的肠子。\r\n马说：你怎么不告诉我？我的蹄子能踢碎狼的脑袋。\r\n驴说：你怎么不告诉我？我一声吼叫，吓破狼的胆。\r\n猪说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我用嘴一拱，就让它摔下山去。\r\n兔子说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我跑得快，可以传信呀。\r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> 在这闹嚷嚷的一群中，唯独没有狗。\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> One nightfall, a sheep was playing alone on the mountainside, when suddenly a wolf emerged from among the trees, wanting to eat the sheep, so the sheep jumped up, using his horns to defend himself with all his might, and loudly called out for his friends to save his life.\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> The bull looked over from among a cluster of trees, saw there was a wolf, and ran away.\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> The horse lowered its head and looked, discovered there was a wolf, and slipped away in a puff of smoke.\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> The mule stopped walking for a moment, discovered there was a wolf, and quietly slipped down the mountain.\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> The pig passed through there, found out there was a wolf, and rushed down the mountainside.\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> The rabbit listened a moment, then took off like a shot.\r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> From the bottom of the mountain, the dog heard the sheep\'s cry, and ran quickly up the mountainside, came out of the grass in a flash, and in a moment had grabbed the wolf\'s neck in his teeth, the wolf cried out in pain, and taking advantage of the dog\'s intake of breath, ran away full of sorrow and fear. [When the sheep] returned home, his friends all came over.\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> The bull said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My horns could have gouged out the wolf\'s intestines.\r\nThe horse said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My hooves could have kicked the wolf\'s skull apart.\r\nDonkey said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could have brayed and startled the wolf so as to break his courage. \r\nPig said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could nuzzle him with my snout, and make him fall down the mountain.\r\nRabbit said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I run fast, I could have spread the word.\r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> In this noisy group, the only one who wasn\'t present was the dog.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Fables] 沉默的狗 - The Silent Dog', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1432-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:22:27', '2016-11-04 10:22:27', '', 1432, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1432-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1774, 1, '2016-10-31 04:00:27', '2016-10-31 08:00:27', 'Welp, I swore I would never do this again but I found this (and several other short stories) in Hainan Airlines\' in-flight magazine (I\'m in Prague!) and couldn\'t resist typing it up (as opposed to copy-pasting from an online source). I\'ve checked and checked for typos, but I\'m not always the best at that, so if you run across one, please comment.\r\n\r\nThis is one of those reads where the sentence structure is basic and in parts very repetitive, but quite a few advanced words are used - \"advanced\" only because they\'re not used often in casual conversation, like parts of an animal (hooves, horns, etc.) So beginners, you can give this a go if you\'re feeling very patient but you\'ll be looking up every other word in some paragraphs even though you will be able to predict generally what the next few sentences are about.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130624-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Simplified Chinese Characters: Intermediate Exercises for Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I wanted to post a quick comment about the words 一箭一般, because this looks like a typical four-character idiom, but it\'s actually two separate words, 一箭 (an arrow) and 一般 (like, as if). Together this means \"like an arrow\", or in context of this sentence \"to take off (running) like a shot\". \r\n\r\nThere\'s also the phrase 从草丛中闪出. We\'re talking here about a dog that is \"[darting] out in a flash\" (闪出) \"from the middle of a cluster of grasses\" (从草丛中). We can imagine a dog charging out of a field of tall grass and into a clearing. \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> 傍晚，一只羊独自在<strong>山坡</strong>上玩，突然从树木中<strong>窜</strong>出一只狼来，要吃羊，羊跳起来，拼命用角<strong>抵抗</strong>，并大声向朋友们救命。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 牛在树丛中向这个地方望了一眼，发现是狼，跑走了。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 马低头一看，发现是狼，一<strong>溜烟</strong>跑了。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 驴停下脚步，发现是狼，悄悄溜下山坡。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 猪经过这里，发现是狼，冲下山坡。\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 兔子一听，更是<strong>一箭一般</strong>离去。\r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> 山下的狗听见羊的呼喊，急忙<strong>奔</strong>上坡来，<strong>从草丛中闪出</strong>，一下咬住了狼的脖子，狼疼得直叫唤, 趁够<strong>换气</strong>时，<strong>怆惶</strong>挑走了。\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> 回到家，朋友都来了，\r\n牛说：你怎么不告诉我？我的角可以<strong>剜出</strong>狼的肠子。\r\n马说：你怎么不告诉我？我的<strong>蹄子</strong>能踢碎狼的脑袋。\r\n驴说：你怎么不告诉我？我一声吼叫，吓破狼的胆。\r\n猪说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我用嘴<strong>一拱</strong>，就让它摔下山去。\r\n兔子说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我跑得快，可以传信呀。\r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> 在这闹嚷嚷的一群中，<strong>唯独</strong>没有狗。\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> One nightfall, a sheep was playing alone on the mountainside, when suddenly a wolf emerged from among the trees, wanting to eat the sheep, so the sheep jumped up, using his horns to defend himself with all his might, and loudly called out for his friends to save his life.\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> The bull looked over from among a cluster of trees, saw there was a wolf, and ran away.\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> The horse lowered its head and looked, discovered there was a wolf, and slipped away in a puff of smoke.\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> The mule stopped walking for a moment, discovered there was a wolf, and quietly slipped down the mountain.\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> The pig passed through there, found out there was a wolf, and rushed down the mountainside.\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> The rabbit listened a moment, then took off like a shot.\r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> From the bottom of the mountain, the dog heard the sheep\'s cry, and ran quickly up the mountainside, came out of the grass in a flash, and in a moment had grabbed the wolf\'s neck in his teeth, the wolf cried out in pain, and taking advantage of the dog\'s intake of breath, ran away full of sorrow and fear. [When the sheep] returned home, his friends all came over.\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> The bull said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My horns could have gouged out the wolf\'s intestines.\r\nThe horse said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My hooves could have kicked the wolf\'s skull apart.\r\nDonkey said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could have brayed and startled the wolf so as to break his courage. \r\nPig said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could nuzzle him with my snout, and make him fall down the mountain.\r\nRabbit said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I run fast, I could have spread the word.\r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> In this noisy group, the only one who wasn\'t present was the dog.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Fable] 沉默的狗 - The Silent Dog', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1432-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 04:00:27', '2016-10-31 08:00:27', '', 1432, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1432-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1434, 1, '2013-06-17 02:42:32', '2013-06-17 06:42:32', '[two_third]\nWelp, I swore I would never do this again but I found this (and several other short stories) in an in-flight magazine and couldn\'t resist typing it up. I\'ve checked and checked for typos, but they\'re had to scan for in Chinese, so if you run across one, please comment. \n\nThe Chinese title is 沉默的狗\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n玩耍 - [pinyin]wan2 shua3[/pinyin] - Enjoy oneself, mess around\n白大褂子 - [pinyin]bai2 da4 gua4 zi5[/pinyin] - White lab coat [lit: Large white unlined upper garment]\n看病 - [pinyin]kan4 bing4[/pinyin] - See a doctor\n酬金 - [pinyin]chou2 jin1[/pinyin] - monetary remuneration, payment\n贪念 - [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] - Greedy\n装模作样 - [pinyin]zhuang1 mo2 zuo4 yang4[/pinyin] - To put on an act\n不得而知 - [pinyin]bu4 de2 er2 zhi1[/pinyin] - Can\'t be known, unknowable\n潜入 - [pinyin]qian2 ru4[/pinyin] - To sneak into\n干脆 - [pinyin]gan1 cui4[/pinyin] - Simply, straightbforward\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n傍晚，一只羊独自在山坡上玩，突然从树木中窜出一只狼来，要吃羊，羊挑起来，拼命用角抵抗，并大声向朋友们救命。\n\n牛在树丛中向这个地方望了一眼，发现是狼，跑走了。\n\n马低头一看，发现是狼，一溜烟跑了。\n\n驴停下脚步，发现是狼，悄悄溜下山坡。\n\n猪经过这里，发现是狼，冲下山坡。\n\n兔子一听，更是一箭一般离去。\n\n山下的狗听见羊的呼喊，急忙奔上坡来，从草丛中闪出，一下咬住了狼的脖子，狼疼得直叫唤, 趁够换气时，怆惶挑走了。\n\n回到家，朋友都来了，\n牛说：你怎么不告诉我？我的角可以剜出狼的肠子。\n马说：你怎么不告诉我？我的蹄子能踢碎狼的脑袋。\n驴说：你怎么不告诉我？我一声吼叫，吓破狼的胆。\n猪说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我用嘴一拱，就让它摔下山去。\n兔子说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我跑得快，可以传心呀。\n\n在这闹嚷嚷的一群中，唯独没有狗。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nMonkey went to the hospital on a lark, and entered the doctor\'s room. At that moment, the doctor wasn\'t in, and he\'d left his [doctor\'s] clothes in the room.\n\nMonkey thought this would be fun, so he put on the doctor\'s clothes, that white lab coat we see so often. Just then a little bear came to the hospital to see the doctor. This was the little bear\'s first time at the hospital, and he didn\'t know what hospitals were like [lit: didn\'t know the hospital situation]. All he knew was that doctors wear white lab coats. \n\nThe little bear had shown up at the hospital carrying a basket of peaches (this was the payment he had prepared to give to the doctor), and he happened to walk into the room where Monkey was. Little Bear didn\'t know Monkey, but he recognized the white lab coat, so he asked Monkey to examine him.\n\nMonkey originally just [intended to] have a bit of fun, but when he saw Little Bear\'s basket, he coveted it fiercely. So Monkey put on a big show of examining Little Bear, and accepted his well-earned basket of peaches. As to whether or not Monkey actually cured Little Bear, we will never know. \n\nHowever, after Monkey tasted that sweetness, he often stole into the hospital, taking advantage of the doctor\'s absence, and examined patients. Later, Monkey simply made himself one of those kind of white lab coats. \n\nAi! We don\'t know how many people were examined by Monkey!\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Silent Dog', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1432-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-06-17 02:42:32', '2013-06-17 06:42:32', '', 1432, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/06/17/1432-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1433, 1, '2013-06-17 02:08:47', '2013-06-17 06:08:47', '[two_third]\r\nEeps - bad medicine! In this story, the mischievous Monkey - always a trickster figure in Chinese stories - pulls the wool over Little Bear\'s eyes. If Little Bear was American, he\'d sue the hospital for negligence and rake in millions of baskets of peaches. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130617-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Read Chinese: Bedtime Stories in Mandarin Chinese Characters\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Though the majority of this text is very basic reading, there are three phrases which jump out at me as being difficult, or words I couldn\'t find in basic dictionaries. \r\n\r\n理所应当 - [pinyin]li3 suo3 ying1 dang1[/pinyin] This phrase means to feel something is well-deserved, that something has been earned through hard work, usually when it actually hasn\'t. So I guess that roughly translates to \'taking a reward for granted\'? In this story, Monkey feels that his payment is well-earned or well-deserved. But as readers, we know Monkey doesn\'t deserve anything at all - he\'s taking that payment for granted when he didn\'t really earn it. Consider this phrase in another context:\r\n\r\n别人帮助你那是义气，你不能当作是理所应当的。 - \"When other people help you it\'s in the spirit of self-sacrifice, you shouldn\'t consider this something you deserve as a matter of course.\"  \r\n\r\n甜头 - Though this looks like two words, the first meaning \"sweet\" and the second meaning \"head\" or \"brain\", it\'s actually a colloquialism that just means \"sweet flavor\" or \"pleasant taste\".  \r\n\r\n贪念 - These two characters also seem separate, they don\'t appear together in my dictionary, but they\'re actually one word. According to <a href=\"http://baike.baidu.com/view/3187101.htm\">Baidu Bai Ke</a>, the Baidu dictionary (a Chinese-language resource for word meanings and derivations), 贪念 [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] just means \"greedy\" (I presume the \"念\" probably adds the meaning \"idea\" or \"thoughts\" here, so 贪念 could be read as \"greedy thoughts\"). \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/yuyangushi/2012-10-06/26930.html\">You can read the original here.</a> \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n玩耍 - [pinyin]wan2 shua3[/pinyin] - Enjoy oneself, mess around\r\n白大褂子 - [pinyin]bai2 da4 gua4 zi5[/pinyin] - White lab coat [lit: Large white unlined upper garment]\r\n看病 - [pinyin]kan4 bing4[/pinyin] - See a doctor\r\n酬金 - [pinyin]chou2 jin1[/pinyin] - monetary remuneration, payment\r\n贪念 - [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] - Greedy\r\n装模作样 - [pinyin]zhuang1 mo2 zuo4 yang4[/pinyin] - To put on an act\r\n不得而知 - [pinyin]bu4 de2 er2 zhi1[/pinyin] - Can\'t be known, unknowable\r\n潜入 - [pinyin]qian2 ru4[/pinyin] - To sneak into\r\n干脆 - [pinyin]gan1 cui4[/pinyin] - Simply, straightbforward\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猴子去医院<strong>玩耍</strong>,进了大夫的房间。正好大夫不在,衣服也落在了房间内。\r\n\r\n猴子觉得好玩,就穿上了大夫的衣服,也就是我们常见的那种<strong>白大褂子</strong>。这时候有一只小熊来医院<strong>看病</strong>。小熊是第一次上医院,并不了解医院的情况。它所知道的,就是大夫们都穿着白大褂子。\r\n\r\n小熊提着一篮桃子(这是它准备送给大夫的<strong>酬金</strong>)来到医院,正好走进猴子所在的房间。小熊不认识猴子,但是它认识那件白大褂子,于是就请猴子给它看病。\r\n\r\n猴子本来只是玩耍,并不会看病,但是它看到小熊的篮子后,就起了<strong>贪念</strong>。于是猴子便<strong>装模作样</strong>地给小熊看了病,并且<strong>理所应当地</strong>收下了那篮桃子。至于小熊的病是否给猴子看好了,这一点<strong>不得而知</strong>。\r\n\r\n但是猴子却尝到了甜头,以后常常<strong>潜入</strong>医院,趁大夫不在的时候,穿上大夫的衣服,给病人看病。到后来,猴子<strong>干脆</strong>给自己也做了一身那样的白大褂子。\r\n\r\n唉!我们不知道有多少人是在猴子那里看的病啊!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nMonkey went to the hospital on a lark, and entered the doctor\'s room. At that moment, the doctor wasn\'t in, and he\'d left his [doctor\'s] clothes in the room.\r\n\r\nMonkey thought this would be fun, so he put on the doctor\'s clothes, that white lab coat we see so often. Just then a little bear came to the hospital to see the doctor. This was the little bear\'s first time at the hospital, and he didn\'t know what hospitals were like [lit: didn\'t know the hospital situation]. All he knew was that doctors wear white lab coats. \r\n\r\nThe little bear had shown up at the hospital carrying a basket of peaches (this was the payment he had prepared to give to the doctor), and he happened to walk into the room where Monkey was. Little Bear didn\'t know Monkey, but he recognized the white lab coat, so he asked Monkey to examine him.\r\n\r\nMonkey originally just [intended to] have a bit of fun, but when he saw Little Bear\'s basket, he coveted it fiercely. So Monkey put on a big show of examining Little Bear, and accepted his well-earned basket of peaches. As to whether or not Monkey actually cured Little Bear, we will never know. \r\n\r\nHowever, after Monkey tasted that sweetness, he often stole into the hospital, taking advantage of the doctor\'s absence, and examined patients. Later, Monkey simply made himself one of those kind of white lab coats. \r\n\r\nAi! We don\'t know how many people were examined by Monkey!\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Doctor and the Monkey', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1401-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-06-17 02:08:47', '2013-06-17 06:08:47', '', 1401, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/06/17/1401-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1435, 1, '2013-06-17 03:12:07', '2013-06-17 07:12:07', '', 'Read Chinese: Intermediate Chinese Character Learning Exercises', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130624-inline', '', '', '2013-06-17 03:12:07', '2013-06-17 07:12:07', '', 1432, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130624-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1436, 1, '2013-06-17 03:12:09', '2013-06-17 07:12:09', '', '', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130624', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:21:47', '2016-11-04 10:21:47', '', 1432, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130624.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1437, 1, '2013-06-17 03:11:27', '2013-06-17 07:11:27', '[two_third]\nWelp, I swore I would never do this again but I found this (and several other short stories) in Hainan Airlines\' in-flight magazine (I\'m in Prague!) and couldn\'t resist typing it up (as opposed to copy-pasting from an online source). I\'ve checked and checked for typos, but I\'m not always the best at that, so if you run across one, please comment.\n\nThis is one of those reads where the sentence structure is basic and in parts very repetitive, but quite a few advanced words are used - \"advanced\" only because they\'re not used often in casual conversation, like parts of an animal (hooves, horns, etc.) So beginners, you can give this a go if you\'re feeling very patient but you\'ll be looking up every other word in some paragraphs even though you will be able to predict generally what the next few sentences are about.<!--more-->\n\nI wanted to post a quick comment about the words 一箭一般, because this looks like a typical four-character idiom, but it\'s actually two separate words, 一箭 (an arrow) and 一般 (like, as if). Together this means \"like an arrow\", or in context of this sentence \"to take off (running) like a shot\". \n\nThere\'s also the phrase 从草丛中闪出. We\'re talking here about a dog that is \"[darting] out in a flash\" (闪出) \"from the middle of a cluster of grasses\" (从草丛中). We can imagine a dog charging out of a field of tall grass and into a clearing. \n\nThe Chinese title is 沉默的狗\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n山坡 - [pinyin]wan2 shua3[/pinyin] - Enjoy oneself, mess around\n窜 - [pinyin]bai2 da4 gua4 zi5[/pinyin] - White lab coat [lit: Large white unlined upper garment]\n抵抗 - [pinyin]kan4 bing4[/pinyin] - See a doctor\n溜烟 - [pinyin]chou2 jin1[/pinyin] - monetary remuneration, payment\n奔 - [pinyin]tan1 nian4[/pinyin] - Greedy\n换气 - [pinyin]zhuang1 mo2 zuo4 yang4[/pinyin] - To put on an act\n怆惶 - [pinyin]bu4 de2 er2 zhi1[/pinyin] - Can\'t be known, unknowable\n剜出 - [pinyin]qian2 ru4[/pinyin] - To sneak into\n蹄子 - [pinyin]gan1 cui4[/pinyin] - Simply, straightbforward\n一拱 - [pinyin]gan1 cui4[/pinyin] - Simply, straightbforward\n唯独 - [pinyin]gan1 cui4[/pinyin] - Simply, straightbforward\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n傍晚，一只羊独自在<strong>山坡</strong>上玩，突然从树木中<strong>窜</strong>出一只狼来，要吃羊，羊挑起来，拼命用角<strong>抵抗</strong>，并大声向朋友们救命。\n\n牛在树丛中向这个地方望了一眼，发现是狼，跑走了。\n\n马低头一看，发现是狼，一<strong>溜烟</strong>跑了。\n\n驴停下脚步，发现是狼，悄悄溜下山坡。\n\n猪经过这里，发现是狼，冲下山坡。\n\n兔子一听，更是<strong>一箭一般</strong>离去。\n\n山下的狗听见羊的呼喊，急忙<strong>奔</strong>上坡来，<strong>从草丛中闪出</strong>，一下咬住了狼的脖子，狼疼得直叫唤, 趁够<strong>换气</strong>时，<strong>怆惶</strong>挑走了。\n\n回到家，朋友都来了，\n牛说：你怎么不告诉我？我的角可以<strong>剜出</strong>狼的肠子。\n马说：你怎么不告诉我？我的<strong>蹄子</strong>能踢碎狼的脑袋。\n驴说：你怎么不告诉我？我一声吼叫，吓破狼的胆。\n猪说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我用嘴<strong>一拱</strong>，就让它摔下山去。\n兔子说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我跑得快，可以传心呀。\n\n在这闹嚷嚷的一群中，<strong>唯独</strong>没有狗。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nOne nightfall, a sheep was playing alone on the mountainside, when suddenly a wolf emerged from among the trees, wanting to eat the sheep, so the sheep jumped up, using his horns to defend himself with all his might, and loudly called out for his friends to save his life.\n\nThe bull looked over from among a cluster of trees, saw there was a wolf, and ran away.\n\nThe horse lowered its head and looked, discovered there was a wolf, and ran away in a streak of smoke.\n\nThe mule stopped walking for a moment, discovered there was a wolf, and quietly streaked down the mountain.\n\nThe pig passed through there, found out there was a wolf, and rushed down the mountainside.\n\nThe rabbit listened a moment, then took off like a shot.\n\nFrom the bottom of the mountain, the dog heard the sheep\'s cry, and ran quickly up the mountainside, came out of the grass in a flash, and in a moment had grabbed the wolf\'s neck in his teeth, the wolf cried out in pain, and taking advantage of the dog\'s intake of breath, ran away full of sorrow and fear.\n\n[When the sheep] returned home, his friends all came over.\n\nThe bull said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My horns could have gouged out the wolf\'s intestines.\nThe horse said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My hooves could have kicked the wolf\'s skull apart.\nDonkey said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could have brayed and startled the wolf so as to break his courage. \nPig said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could nuzzle him with my snout, and make him fall down the mountain.\nRabbit said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I ran fast, I could have spread the word.\nIn this noisy group, the only one who wasn\'t present was the dog.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Silent Dog', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1432-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-06-17 03:11:27', '2013-06-17 07:11:27', '', 1432, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/06/17/1432-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1439, 1, '2013-06-17 03:29:37', '2013-06-17 07:29:37', '[two_third]\nWelp, I swore I would never do this again but I found this (and several other short stories) in Hainan Airlines\' in-flight magazine (I\'m in Prague!) and couldn\'t resist typing it up (as opposed to copy-pasting from an online source). I\'ve checked and checked for typos, but I\'m not always the best at that, so if you run across one, please comment.\n\nThis is one of those reads where the sentence structure is basic and in parts very repetitive, but quite a few advanced words are used - \"advanced\" only because they\'re not used often in casual conversation, like parts of an animal (hooves, horns, etc.) So beginners, you can give this a go if you\'re feeling very patient but you\'ll be looking up every other word in some paragraphs even though you will be able to predict generally what the next few sentences are about.<!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130624-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Simplified Chinese Characters: Intermediate Exercises for Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I wanted to post a quick comment about the words 一箭一般, because this looks like a typical four-character idiom, but it\'s actually two separate words, 一箭 (an arrow) and 一般 (like, as if). Together this means \"like an arrow\", or in context of this sentence \"to take off (running) like a shot\". \n\nThere\'s also the phrase 从草丛中闪出. We\'re talking here about a dog that is \"[darting] out in a flash\" (闪出) \"from the middle of a cluster of grasses\" (从草丛中). We can imagine a dog charging out of a field of tall grass and into a clearing. \n\nThe Chinese title is 沉默的狗\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n山坡 - [pinyin]shan1 po1[/pinyin] - Hillside, mountain side\n窜 - [pinyin]cuan4[/pinyin] - To be exiled from, to flee\n抵抗 - [pinyin]di3 kang4[/pinyin] - Resist\n溜烟 - [pinyin]liu1 yan1[/pinyin] - Slip away like smoke, disappear in a puff of smoke\n奔 - [pinyin]ben1[/pinyin] - To rush, to hurry\n换气 - [pinyin]huan4 qi4[/pinyin] - Take a breath (after holding your breath, as with swimming)\n怆惶 - [pinyin]chuang4 huang2[/pinyin] - Sad and scared\n剜出 - [pinyin]wan1 chu1[/pinyin] - To gouge out\n蹄子 - [pinyin]ti2 zi5[/pinyin] - Hoov\n一拱 - [pinyin]gan1 cui4[/pinyin] - Simply, straightbforward\n唯独 - [pinyin]gan1 cui4[/pinyin] - Simply, straightbforward\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n傍晚，一只羊独自在<strong>山坡</strong>上玩，突然从树木中<strong>窜</strong>出一只狼来，要吃羊，羊挑起来，拼命用角<strong>抵抗</strong>，并大声向朋友们救命。\n\n牛在树丛中向这个地方望了一眼，发现是狼，跑走了。\n\n马低头一看，发现是狼，一<strong>溜烟</strong>跑了。\n\n驴停下脚步，发现是狼，悄悄溜下山坡。\n\n猪经过这里，发现是狼，冲下山坡。\n\n兔子一听，更是<strong>一箭一般</strong>离去。\n\n山下的狗听见羊的呼喊，急忙<strong>奔</strong>上坡来，<strong>从草丛中闪出</strong>，一下咬住了狼的脖子，狼疼得直叫唤, 趁够<strong>换气</strong>时，<strong>怆惶</strong>挑走了。\n\n回到家，朋友都来了，\n牛说：你怎么不告诉我？我的角可以<strong>剜出</strong>狼的肠子。\n马说：你怎么不告诉我？我的<strong>蹄子</strong>能踢碎狼的脑袋。\n驴说：你怎么不告诉我？我一声吼叫，吓破狼的胆。\n猪说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我用嘴<strong>一拱</strong>，就让它摔下山去。\n兔子说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我跑得快，可以传心呀。\n\n在这闹嚷嚷的一群中，<strong>唯独</strong>没有狗。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nOne nightfall, a sheep was playing alone on the mountainside, when suddenly a wolf emerged from among the trees, wanting to eat the sheep, so the sheep jumped up, using his horns to defend himself with all his might, and loudly called out for his friends to save his life.\n\nThe bull looked over from among a cluster of trees, saw there was a wolf, and ran away.\n\nThe horse lowered its head and looked, discovered there was a wolf, and slipped away in a puff of smoke.\n\nThe mule stopped walking for a moment, discovered there was a wolf, and quietly slipped down the mountain.\n\nThe pig passed through there, found out there was a wolf, and rushed down the mountainside.\n\nThe rabbit listened a moment, then took off like a shot.\n\nFrom the bottom of the mountain, the dog heard the sheep\'s cry, and ran quickly up the mountainside, came out of the grass in a flash, and in a moment had grabbed the wolf\'s neck in his teeth, the wolf cried out in pain, and taking advantage of the dog\'s intake of breath, ran away full of sorrow and fear.\n\n[When the sheep] returned home, his friends all came over.\n\nThe bull said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My horns could have gouged out the wolf\'s intestines.\nThe horse said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My hooves could have kicked the wolf\'s skull apart.\nDonkey said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could have brayed and startled the wolf so as to break his courage. \nPig said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could nuzzle him with my snout, and make him fall down the mountain.\nRabbit said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I ran fast, I could have spread the word.\nIn this noisy group, the only one who wasn\'t present was the dog.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Silent Dog', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1432-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-06-17 03:29:37', '2013-06-17 07:29:37', '', 1432, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/06/17/1432-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1438, 1, '2011-02-23 09:37:58', '2011-02-23 14:37:58', '[two_third]\r\n\r\nThis very short husband and wife joke is courtesy of the March 2006 print issue of Youth Digest.  <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe vocabulary here is intermediate, but the story contains quite a few beginner words and short sentences that you may enjoy puzzling out.\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Interesting Vocabulary</h4>\r\n性感 - [pinyin]xing4 gan3[/pinyin] - Sexy\r\n期盼 -  [pinyin]qi1 pan4[/pinyin] - Look forward to, hope to expect\r\n袍 -  [pinyin]pao4[/pinyin] - Gown\r\n镂空 - [pinyin]lou4 kong4[/pinyin] - Lacy or mostly see-through. Lit: Pierced with holes\r\n睡褂 - [pinyin]shui4 gua4[/pinyin] - Sleep robe\r\n吓了一条 - [pinyin]xia4 le5 yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - Be startled\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n\r\n丈夫问我，40岁生日礼物想要什么东西，我告诉他想要一种能使我看上去更加<strong>性感</strong>和美丽的东西，也就是说，我心中<strong>期盼</strong>的是装有黑色丝<strong>袍</strong>和<strong>镂空睡褂</strong>的女内衣盒。 但是礼物送到时，我着实<strong>吓了一条</strong>。 丈夫拖回家一直巨大笨重的包装箱，里面是一辆健身自行车。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nMy husband asked me what I wanted for my 40th birthday. I told him that I wanted something that would make me look more sexy and beautiful. In other words, I was looking forward to getting some clothes, like a black silk gown and a lacy sleeping robe in a women\'s lingerie box. But when the gift arrived, I was startled. My husband dragged home a huge, heavy package, and inside was an exercise bike. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Birthday Present', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '270-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-02-23 09:37:58', '2011-02-23 14:37:58', '', 270, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/02/23/270-revision-12/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1440, 1, '2013-06-17 03:30:22', '2013-06-17 07:30:22', '[two_third]\r\nWelp, I swore I would never do this again but I found this (and several other short stories) in Hainan Airlines\' in-flight magazine (I\'m in Prague!) and couldn\'t resist typing it up (as opposed to copy-pasting from an online source). I\'ve checked and checked for typos, but I\'m not always the best at that, so if you run across one, please comment.\r\n\r\nThis is one of those reads where the sentence structure is basic and in parts very repetitive, but quite a few advanced words are used - \"advanced\" only because they\'re not used often in casual conversation, like parts of an animal (hooves, horns, etc.) So beginners, you can give this a go if you\'re feeling very patient but you\'ll be looking up every other word in some paragraphs even though you will be able to predict generally what the next few sentences are about.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130624-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Simplified Chinese Characters: Intermediate Exercises for Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I wanted to post a quick comment about the words 一箭一般, because this looks like a typical four-character idiom, but it\'s actually two separate words, 一箭 (an arrow) and 一般 (like, as if). Together this means \"like an arrow\", or in context of this sentence \"to take off (running) like a shot\". \r\n\r\nThere\'s also the phrase 从草丛中闪出. We\'re talking here about a dog that is \"[darting] out in a flash\" (闪出) \"from the middle of a cluster of grasses\" (从草丛中). We can imagine a dog charging out of a field of tall grass and into a clearing. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title is 沉默的狗\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n山坡 - [pinyin]shan1 po1[/pinyin] - Hillside, mountain side\r\n窜 - [pinyin]cuan4[/pinyin] - To be exiled from, to flee\r\n抵抗 - [pinyin]di3 kang4[/pinyin] - Resist\r\n溜烟 - [pinyin]liu1 yan1[/pinyin] - Slip away like smoke, disappear in a puff of smoke\r\n奔 - [pinyin]ben1[/pinyin] - To rush, to hurry\r\n换气 - [pinyin]huan4 qi4[/pinyin] - Take a breath (after holding your breath, as with swimming)\r\n怆惶 - [pinyin]chuang4 huang2[/pinyin] - Sad and scared\r\n剜出 - [pinyin]wan1 chu1[/pinyin] - To gouge out\r\n蹄子 - [pinyin]ti2 zi5[/pinyin] - Hooves\r\n一拱 - [pinyin]yi1 gong3[/pinyin] - Nuzzle with snout\r\n唯独 - [pinyin]wei2 du2[/pinyin] - Only\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傍晚，一只羊独自在<strong>山坡</strong>上玩，突然从树木中<strong>窜</strong>出一只狼来，要吃羊，羊挑起来，拼命用角<strong>抵抗</strong>，并大声向朋友们救命。\r\n\r\n牛在树丛中向这个地方望了一眼，发现是狼，跑走了。\r\n\r\n马低头一看，发现是狼，一<strong>溜烟</strong>跑了。\r\n\r\n驴停下脚步，发现是狼，悄悄溜下山坡。\r\n\r\n猪经过这里，发现是狼，冲下山坡。\r\n\r\n兔子一听，更是<strong>一箭一般</strong>离去。\r\n\r\n山下的狗听见羊的呼喊，急忙<strong>奔</strong>上坡来，<strong>从草丛中闪出</strong>，一下咬住了狼的脖子，狼疼得直叫唤, 趁够<strong>换气</strong>时，<strong>怆惶</strong>挑走了。\r\n\r\n回到家，朋友都来了，\r\n牛说：你怎么不告诉我？我的角可以<strong>剜出</strong>狼的肠子。\r\n马说：你怎么不告诉我？我的<strong>蹄子</strong>能踢碎狼的脑袋。\r\n驴说：你怎么不告诉我？我一声吼叫，吓破狼的胆。\r\n猪说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我用嘴<strong>一拱</strong>，就让它摔下山去。\r\n兔子说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我跑得快，可以传心呀。\r\n\r\n在这闹嚷嚷的一群中，<strong>唯独</strong>没有狗。\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\nOne nightfall, a sheep was playing alone on the mountainside, when suddenly a wolf emerged from among the trees, wanting to eat the sheep, so the sheep jumped up, using his horns to defend himself with all his might, and loudly called out for his friends to save his life.\r\n\r\nThe bull looked over from among a cluster of trees, saw there was a wolf, and ran away.\r\n\r\nThe horse lowered its head and looked, discovered there was a wolf, and slipped away in a puff of smoke.\r\n\r\nThe mule stopped walking for a moment, discovered there was a wolf, and quietly slipped down the mountain.\r\n\r\nThe pig passed through there, found out there was a wolf, and rushed down the mountainside.\r\n\r\nThe rabbit listened a moment, then took off like a shot.\r\n\r\nFrom the bottom of the mountain, the dog heard the sheep\'s cry, and ran quickly up the mountainside, came out of the grass in a flash, and in a moment had grabbed the wolf\'s neck in his teeth, the wolf cried out in pain, and taking advantage of the dog\'s intake of breath, ran away full of sorrow and fear.\r\n\r\n[When the sheep] returned home, his friends all came over.\r\n\r\nThe bull said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My horns could have gouged out the wolf\'s intestines.\r\nThe horse said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My hooves could have kicked the wolf\'s skull apart.\r\nDonkey said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could have brayed and startled the wolf so as to break his courage. \r\nPig said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could nuzzle him with my snout, and make him fall down the mountain.\r\nRabbit said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I ran fast, I could have spread the word.\r\nIn this noisy group, the only one who wasn\'t present was the dog.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Silent Dog', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1432-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-06-17 03:30:22', '2013-06-17 07:30:22', '', 1432, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/06/17/1432-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1441, 1, '2013-06-11 00:46:40', '2013-06-11 04:46:40', '[two_third]\r\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130603-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Reading comprehension exercises: Learn to read mandarin chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Couple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \r\n\r\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (thing, stuff) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\r\n\r\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title is: 爸爸请您别抽烟了, and the original is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</a>. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n抽烟 - [pinyin]chou1 yan1[/pinyin] - Smoke cigarettes\r\n悄悄 - [pinyin]qiao1 qiao1[/pinyin] - Quietly, secretly\r\n偷走 - [pinyin]tou1 zou3[/pinyin] - Steal (away with something)\r\n垃圾桶 - [pinyin]la1 ji1 tong3[/pinyin] - Trash can\r\n狠 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Fierce\r\n莫大 - [pinyin]mo4 da4[/pinyin] - Great (as in \'a large amount\' rather than \'good\')\r\n理 - [pinyin]li3[/pinyin] - Pay attention to\r\n肺 - [pinyin]fei4[/pinyin] - Lungs\r\n尼古丁 - [pinyin]ni2 gu3 ding1[/pinyin] - Nicotine\r\n千疮百孔 - [pinyin]qian1 chuang1 bai3 kong3[/pinyin] - Riddled with wounds, afflicted with many illnesses\r\n吐痰 - [pinyin]tu3 tan2[/pinyin] - Hawk a loogie\r\n丢下 - [pinyin]diu1 xia4[/pinyin] - to abandon\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n爸爸，请您别<strong>抽烟</strong>了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我<strong>悄悄</strong>地把您的烟盒<strong>偷走</strong>，又偷偷地扔进<strong>垃圾桶</strong>里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还<strong>狠</strong>狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到<strong>莫大</strong>的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不<strong>理</strong>你。\r\n\r\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的<strong>肺</strong>已被<strong>尼古丁</strong>熏得<strong>千疮百孔</strong>。\r\n\r\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在<strong>吐痰</strong>。我担心您会离我们而去。那时<strong>丢下</strong>我们，那该怎么办呀。\r\n\r\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I you surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \r\n\r\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke! ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-06-11 00:46:40', '2013-06-11 04:46:40', '', 1385, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/06/11/1385-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1445, 1, '2013-06-17 03:33:39', '2013-06-17 07:33:39', '[two_third]\r\nWelp, I swore I would never do this again but I found this (and several other short stories) in Hainan Airlines\' in-flight magazine (I\'m in Prague!) and couldn\'t resist typing it up (as opposed to copy-pasting from an online source). I\'ve checked and checked for typos, but I\'m not always the best at that, so if you run across one, please comment.\r\n\r\nThis is one of those reads where the sentence structure is basic and in parts very repetitive, but quite a few advanced words are used - \"advanced\" only because they\'re not used often in casual conversation, like parts of an animal (hooves, horns, etc.) So beginners, you can give this a go if you\'re feeling very patient but you\'ll be looking up every other word in some paragraphs even though you will be able to predict generally what the next few sentences are about.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130624-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Simplified Chinese Characters: Intermediate Exercises for Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I wanted to post a quick comment about the words 一箭一般, because this looks like a typical four-character idiom, but it\'s actually two separate words, 一箭 (an arrow) and 一般 (like, as if). Together this means \"like an arrow\", or in context of this sentence \"to take off (running) like a shot\". \r\n\r\nThere\'s also the phrase 从草丛中闪出. We\'re talking here about a dog that is \"[darting] out in a flash\" (闪出) \"from the middle of a cluster of grasses\" (从草丛中). We can imagine a dog charging out of a field of tall grass and into a clearing. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title is 沉默的狗\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n山坡 - [pinyin]shan1 po1[/pinyin] - Hillside, mountain side\r\n窜 - [pinyin]cuan4[/pinyin] - To be exiled from, to flee\r\n抵抗 - [pinyin]di3 kang4[/pinyin] - Resist\r\n溜烟 - [pinyin]liu1 yan1[/pinyin] - Slip away like smoke, disappear in a puff of smoke\r\n奔 - [pinyin]ben1[/pinyin] - To rush, to hurry\r\n换气 - [pinyin]huan4 qi4[/pinyin] - Take a breath (after holding your breath, as with swimming)\r\n怆惶 - [pinyin]chuang4 huang2[/pinyin] - Sad and scared\r\n剜出 - [pinyin]wan1 chu1[/pinyin] - To gouge out\r\n蹄子 - [pinyin]ti2 zi5[/pinyin] - Hooves\r\n一拱 - [pinyin]yi1 gong3[/pinyin] - Nuzzle with snout\r\n唯独 - [pinyin]wei2 du2[/pinyin] - Only\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傍晚，一只羊独自在<strong>山坡</strong>上玩，突然从树木中<strong>窜</strong>出一只狼来，要吃羊，羊挑起来，拼命用角<strong>抵抗</strong>，并大声向朋友们救命。\r\n\r\n牛在树丛中向这个地方望了一眼，发现是狼，跑走了。\r\n\r\n马低头一看，发现是狼，一<strong>溜烟</strong>跑了。\r\n\r\n驴停下脚步，发现是狼，悄悄溜下山坡。\r\n\r\n猪经过这里，发现是狼，冲下山坡。\r\n\r\n兔子一听，更是<strong>一箭一般</strong>离去。\r\n\r\n山下的狗听见羊的呼喊，急忙<strong>奔</strong>上坡来，<strong>从草丛中闪出</strong>，一下咬住了狼的脖子，狼疼得直叫唤, 趁够<strong>换气</strong>时，<strong>怆惶</strong>挑走了。\r\n\r\n回到家，朋友都来了，\r\n牛说：你怎么不告诉我？我的角可以<strong>剜出</strong>狼的肠子。\r\n马说：你怎么不告诉我？我的<strong>蹄子</strong>能踢碎狼的脑袋。\r\n驴说：你怎么不告诉我？我一声吼叫，吓破狼的胆。\r\n猪说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我用嘴<strong>一拱</strong>，就让它摔下山去。\r\n兔子说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我跑得快，可以传心呀。\r\n\r\n在这闹嚷嚷的一群中，<strong>唯独</strong>没有狗。\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\nOne nightfall, a sheep was playing alone on the mountainside, when suddenly a wolf emerged from among the trees, wanting to eat the sheep, so the sheep jumped up, using his horns to defend himself with all his might, and loudly called out for his friends to save his life.\r\n\r\nThe bull looked over from among a cluster of trees, saw there was a wolf, and ran away.\r\n\r\nThe horse lowered its head and looked, discovered there was a wolf, and slipped away in a puff of smoke.\r\n\r\nThe mule stopped walking for a moment, discovered there was a wolf, and quietly slipped down the mountain.\r\n\r\nThe pig passed through there, found out there was a wolf, and rushed down the mountainside.\r\n\r\nThe rabbit listened a moment, then took off like a shot.\r\n\r\nFrom the bottom of the mountain, the dog heard the sheep\'s cry, and ran quickly up the mountainside, came out of the grass in a flash, and in a moment had grabbed the wolf\'s neck in his teeth, the wolf cried out in pain, and taking advantage of the dog\'s intake of breath, ran away full of sorrow and fear.\r\n\r\n[When the sheep] returned home, his friends all came over.\r\n\r\nThe bull said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My horns could have gouged out the wolf\'s intestines.\r\nThe horse said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My hooves could have kicked the wolf\'s skull apart.\r\nDonkey said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could have brayed and startled the wolf so as to break his courage. \r\nPig said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could nuzzle him with my snout, and make him fall down the mountain.\r\nRabbit said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I run fast, I could have spread the word.\r\nIn this noisy group, the only one who wasn\'t present was the dog.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Silent Dog', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1432-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-06-17 03:33:39', '2013-06-17 07:33:39', '', 1432, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/06/17/1432-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1444, 1, '2011-03-26 21:54:42', '2011-03-27 01:54:42', '[two_third]\r\n\r\nA short story about an older cat teaching a younger cat a lesson as they fish together. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110328-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Easy Chinese Reading: Chinese Childrens Stories\" title=\"Easy Chinese Reading: Chinese Childrens Stories\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The most interesting thing you\'ll learn here is the contrast between the two phrases \"三心二意\" and \"一心一意\". The first, 三心二意, literally translates as \"three hearts two intentions\", and it means to be of two minds about something, or to be a bit scatterbrained while doing something. The second, 一心一意, translates into \"one heart one intention\", which means \"intently\", or to really concentrate on what you\'re doing. \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蜻蜓 - [pinyin]qing1 ting2[/pinyin] - Dragonfly\r\n蝴蝶- [pinyin]hu2 die2[/pinyin] - Butterfly\r\n不大一会儿 - [pinyin]bu4 da4 yi1 hui4 er5[/pinyin] - Not long after\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n老猫和小猫一块儿在河边钓鱼。\r\n\r\n一只<strong>蜻蜓</strong>飞来了。小猫看见了，放下钓鱼竿，就去捉蜻蜓。蜻蜓飞走了，小猫没捉着，空着手回到河边来。小猫一看，老猫钓着了一条大鱼。\r\n\r\n一只<strong>蝴蝶</strong>飞来了。小猫看见了，放下钓鱼竿，又去捉蝴蝶。蝴蝶飞走了，小猫又没捉着，空着手回到河边来。小猫一看，老猫又钓着了一条大鱼。\r\n\r\n小猫说: “真气人，我怎么一条小鱼也钓不着？”\r\n\r\n老猫看了看小猫，说: “钓鱼就钓鱼，不要这么<strong>三心二意</strong>的。一会儿捉蜻蜓，一会儿捉蝴蝶，怎么能钓着鱼呢？”\r\n\r\n小猫听了老猫的话，就<strong>一心一意</strong>地钓鱼。\r\n\r\n蜻蜓又飞来了，蝴蝶又飞来了，小猫就象没看见一样。<strong>不大一会儿</strong>，小猫也钓着了一条大鱼。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n\r\nOld Cat and Little Cat were fishing together on the riverbank.\r\n\r\nA dragonfly flew over. The little cat saw it, put down his fishing pole, and tried to grab the dragonfly. The dragonfly flew away, and the little cat, unable to grab it, stopped trying and went back to fishing on the riverbank. As soon as Little Cat was back [lit: as soon as little cat looked], Old Cat caught a big fish. \r\n\r\n[This time] a butterfly flew over. The little cat saw it, put down his fishing pole and again tried to catch it. The butterfly flew away without the little cat having caught it, and Little Cat again went back to the riverbank. As soon as he looked over at Old Cat, Old Cat had caught another big fish.\r\n\r\nLittle Cat said: \"How annoying, why is it that I haven\'t caught even one little fish?\" \r\n\r\nOld Cat looked him over and said: \"If you\'re fishing just fish, don\'t be in two minds about it. If you spend a while catching dragonflies, then you spend another while catching butterflies, how can you catch fish?\" \r\n\r\nLittle Cat listened to Old Fish\'s words and begin to fish intently. \r\n\r\nThe dragonfly flew over again, and the butterfly flew over also, but it was as if Little Cat didn\'t see them. Not long after that, Little Cat caught a big fish.  \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]\r\n', 'Cat Goes Fishing', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '607-revision-v1', '', '', '2011-03-26 21:54:42', '2011-03-27 01:54:42', '', 607, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2011/03/26/607-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1446, 1, '2013-06-23 03:28:40', '2013-06-23 07:28:40', '[two_third]\r\nIn this essay, a child desperately (and very angrily) pleads their father not to smoke. Though this is classified as \"Intermediate\", beginners should definitely try this read, leaning heavily on the hover word-list. The difficult parts are the mid-level turns of phrase, which are all explained below. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130603-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Reading comprehension exercises: Learn to read mandarin chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Couple of grammar points. First of all: 我本想让您别抽烟. Most of this sentence is quite simple, but the addition of the character 本 can be puzzling, especially since 本 has many meanings. In this case, the word 本 means \"originally\", as in \"I originally thought to let you not smoke.\" Or, in better English, \"My original intention was that this would make you stop smoking.\" \r\n\r\nAnother point: When the father learns that his cigarettes are gone, he 东翻西找. This phrase is actually a mixture of two words: 东西 (east and west / left and right / in all directions) and 翻找 (to rummage through things while searching, turn things over). We\'ve seen this kind of thing before in previous posts, as with the phrase \"仰起头来\" in the post <a href=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/01/02/little-dog-wears-shoes/\">Little Dog Wears Shoes</a>. If you let the mental picture kind of wash over you, you get an image of the father turning things over looking for his cigarettes.\r\n\r\nA word of interest: 大烟枪. Literally, this word means \"big opium pipe\" or in more contemporary times can actually mean \"big bong\". Colloquially in reference to a person, this means \"someone who smokes a lot\", a \"heavy smoker\". \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title is: 爸爸请您别抽烟了, and the original is <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2013-04-15/1365990844246971.html\">here</a>. \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n抽烟 - [pinyin]chou1 yan1[/pinyin] - Smoke cigarettes\r\n悄悄 - [pinyin]qiao1 qiao1[/pinyin] - Quietly, secretly\r\n偷走 - [pinyin]tou1 zou3[/pinyin] - Steal (away with something)\r\n垃圾桶 - [pinyin]la1 ji1 tong3[/pinyin] - Trash can\r\n狠 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Fierce\r\n莫大 - [pinyin]mo4 da4[/pinyin] - Great (as in \'a large amount\' rather than \'good\')\r\n理 - [pinyin]li3[/pinyin] - Pay attention to\r\n肺 - [pinyin]fei4[/pinyin] - Lungs\r\n尼古丁 - [pinyin]ni2 gu3 ding1[/pinyin] - Nicotine\r\n千疮百孔 - [pinyin]qian1 chuang1 bai3 kong3[/pinyin] - Riddled with wounds, afflicted with many illnesses\r\n吐痰 - [pinyin]tu3 tan2[/pinyin] - Hawk a loogie\r\n丢下 - [pinyin]diu1 xia4[/pinyin] - to abandon\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n爸爸，请您别<strong>抽烟</strong>了！我还清楚地记得，那天，我<strong>悄悄</strong>地把您的烟盒<strong>偷走</strong>，又偷偷地扔进<strong>垃圾桶</strong>里，我本想让您别抽烟。可谁知，您回来后，发现烟盒不见了，就东翻西找。当我告诉您，烟盒是我扔的，您十分生气，还<strong>狠</strong>狠的骂了一句话，你这个坏孩子！这句话，让当时的我感到<strong>莫大</strong>的痛苦。我把自己反锁在房间内，当时心里想着，你这个大烟枪！抽吧，抽吧，抽到死了我也不<strong>理</strong>你。\r\n\r\n爸爸，请您别抽烟了！我常常发现您上班时，烟盒的烟还是满满的，可下班回来时，烟盒里的香烟只剩下几根了。每当看见您身旁云雾缭绕，我的鼻子感觉酸酸的。我担心您的<strong>肺</strong>已被<strong>尼古丁</strong>熏得<strong>千疮百孔</strong>。\r\n\r\n爸爸请您别抽烟了！现在您每天都在咳嗽，每天都在<strong>吐痰</strong>。我担心您会离我们而去。那时<strong>丢下</strong>我们，那该怎么办呀。\r\n\r\n爸爸，为了您的健康，为了我们，请您别抽烟了!\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I still remember clearly, that day, I quietly stole your box of cigarettes, and secretly threw them in the trash can, because I was thinking that would stop you from smoking. But who knew, when you returned, and you found out your cigarettes were gone, you rummaged through everything looking for them. When I told you, that it was me who threw them away, you were quite angry, and you ruthlessly scolded me, <em>You bad child</em>! That sentence made me [lit: \'the me of that time\'] feel great pain. I locked myself in my room, and at that time in my heart I thought, You big opium pipe! [Then go ahead and] smoke, smoke, smoke until you die and I won\'t care [lit: I won\'t pay any attention to you].\r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! I always find that when you go to work, your box of cigarettes is still full of cigarettes, but when you get off work and come back, there are only a few cigarettes left in the box. Every time I you surrounded by a curling cloud [of smoke], there\'s a sour smell in my nose. I worry that your lungs have already been riddled with gaping wounds by the nicotine. \r\n\r\nPapa, please don\'t smoke! You cough every day, and every day you expectorate. I worry that you will leave us. When you abandon us, then what will we do? \r\n\r\nPapa, for your health, and for us, please don\'t smoke! \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Papa, Please Don\'t Smoke! ', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1385-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-06-23 03:28:40', '2013-06-23 07:28:40', '', 1385, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/06/23/1385-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1474, 1, '2014-02-15 06:12:53', '2014-02-15 11:12:53', 'I was away for a couple of months towards the end of last year, so I missed a few awesome comments until just recently. \r\n\r\nGrace, a commenter on this blog, brought her Chinese reading practice website to my attention, and it\'s the jam. She has a fabulous collections of translated materials for Elementary, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced readers, including my absolute fav genre, Chinese detective stories. Yay!\r\n\r\nDon\'t miss adding <a href=\"http://www.justlearnchinese.com\">Justlearnchinese.com</a>to your blogroll. \r\n\r\n', '[The CRP Blog] New Resource: Justlearnchinese.com', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'new-resource-justlearnchinese-com', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:09:45', '2016-11-04 10:09:45', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1474', 0, 'post', '', 1),
(1450, 1, '2013-08-05 07:13:59', '2013-08-05 11:13:59', 'I love it when I find a longer story that\'s suitable for beginning readers. This one, which is either a tale that reminds us what happens when you try to be something you\'re not, or a tale that reminds us that men should never be allowed to give each other fashion advice, definitely fits the bill. The first sentence isn\'t super simple, so push through that one if you can, it gets much easier in the following paragraphs. Four points of grammar: \r\n\r\n能有幸请 [pinyin]neng2 you3 xing4 qing3[/pinyin] - A politely formal phrase of invitation \"May have the pleasure of inviting you ...\" or more specifically, \"May I be so lucky as to...\" (have this dance?) (take you on a date?). \r\n\r\n看上去 [pinyin]kan4 shang4 qu4[/pinyin] - To look like. \r\n\r\n你要是再不走开 [pinyin]ni3 yao4 shi4 zai4 bu4 zou3 kai1[/pinyin] - This one might be a little confusing. Let\'s break it down: \r\n\r\n你 - You\r\n要是 - If\r\n再不 - Otherwise / If not\r\n走开 - Go away\r\n\r\nThe full phrase means \"If you don\'t go away....\"\r\n\r\n他会来收拾你的 [pinyin]ta1 hui4 lai2 shou1 shi5 ni3 de5[/pinyin]. In the story, Miss Pig says this to an unwelcome guest. The \"他\" in this case is Mr. Pig. The Beginners often learn the word \"收拾\", meaning \"to tidy up\". Usually, this means exactly what it sounds like, and applies to cleaning up a room or an apartment. In this case, it\'s being used in kind of an action movie way, meaning \"He\'ll come over and <strong>deal with</strong> you!\" or \"He\'ll come <strong>straighten you out</strong>!\". So Miss Pig is threatening the unwelcome guest, telling him that Mr. Pig will come over and beat him up. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 今天，真是个<strong>野餐</strong>的好日子。 猪先生精心打扮着自己，他<strong>期待</strong>着猪小姐能与他一起去野餐。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> “呵呵，真希望她会说‘我愿意’啊。 嗯，我再摘朵花送给她，一定能够打<strong>动她</strong>！”\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 路上，猪先生<strong>遇到</strong>了他的朋友狐狸。狐狸听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的尾巴<strong>借</strong>去吧。瞧，你<strong>看上去</strong>有多聪明啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> <strong>接着</strong>，他又遇到了他的朋友狮子。狮子听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的头发借去吧。 瞧，你看上去有多<strong>威猛</strong>啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 后来，他又遇到他的朋友斑马。斑马听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的条纹借去吧。 瞧，你看上去有多<strong>英俊</strong>啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。他觉得自己从来没有这样英俊过。\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 终于来到猪小姐家了，猪先生<strong>激动</strong>地敲了敲门。“能有幸请你一起去野餐吗？”他问。\r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> 猪小姐吓了一大跳：“噢，不行！你是哪儿来的<strong>妖怪</strong>呀？你要是<strong>再不走开</strong>，我就去叫猪先生了，他会来收拾你的！”\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> 猪先生连忙往回跑。一路上，他把条纹还给了斑马，把头发还给了狮子，把尾巴还给了狐狸。然后，他又赶回到猪小姐的家，再一次摁响了门铃。\r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> “能有幸请你一起去野餐吗？”他又问。\r\n\r\n<strong>10)</strong> “啊呀，猪先生！” 猪小姐叫道，“看到你我真是太高兴啦，我很愿意跟你一起去野餐。刚才来了个<strong>丑八怪</strong>，就站在我的院子里，可把我吓坏啦。”\r\n\r\n<strong>11)</strong> 一路上，猪小姐把那个丑八怪的故事仔细地讲给了猪先生。她英俊的朋友猪先生，则一直满怀同情地听着。这真是一个去野餐的好日子啊。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<strong>1)</strong> Today, it\'s a great day for a picnic. Mr. Pig dressed himself with care, looking forward to [the possibility of] Miss Pig and himself going on a picnic together.\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> \"Heh, I hope she says \'Yes\' [lit: I\'m willing]. Hm, I\'ll also pick some flowers to give her, that will certainly be enough to sway her!\"\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> On the road, Mr. Pig ran into his friend Fox. When fox heard about the picnic, he said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, let me lend you my beautiful tail. See, you look so clever, Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased. \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> Continuing on, he ran into his friend Lion. Lion heard about the picnic and said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, borrow my beautiful hair for when you go over there. See, you look so powerful, Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased.  \r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> After a while, he ran into his friend Zebra. Zebra heard about the picnic and said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, I\'ll lend you my beautiful stripes. See, you look so handsome. Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased. He felt that he\'d never before looked so handsome.\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> Finally arriving at Miss Pig\'s house, Mr. Pig excitedly knocked on the door. \"Would you do me the honor of going on a picnic with me?\" he asked. \r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> Miss Pig was terrified: \"Oh, no way! What kind of monster are you? If you don\'t go away, I\'ll go get Mr. Pig, he\'ll straighten you out!\"\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> Mr. Pig hurriedly ran away. On the road, he gave the stripes back to Zebra, the hair back to Lion, and the tail back to Fox. AFter that, he hurried back to Miss Pig\'s house, and again pressed the doorbell. \r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> \"Would you do me the honor of having a picnic with me?\" he asked again. \r\n\r\n<strong>10)</strong> \"Goodness, Mr. Pig!\" Miss Pig cried out. \"I\'m so happy to see you, I\'d love to go on a picnic with you. An ugly wretch just came by here, standing in my garden, and scared me so.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>11)</strong> On the way, Miss Pig told Mr. Pig the story of the \'ugly wretch\' in great detail. Her handsome friend Mr. Pig, though, listened with great sympathy. It really was a great day for a picnic.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Short Stories] 猪先生去野餐 - Mr. Pig\'s Picnic', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'mr-pigs-picnic', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:18:35', '2016-11-04 10:18:35', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1450', 0, 'post', '', 60),
(2047, 1, '2016-11-04 06:18:35', '2016-11-04 10:18:35', 'I love it when I find a longer story that\'s suitable for beginning readers. This one, which is either a tale that reminds us what happens when you try to be something you\'re not, or a tale that reminds us that men should never be allowed to give each other fashion advice, definitely fits the bill. The first sentence isn\'t super simple, so push through that one if you can, it gets much easier in the following paragraphs. Four points of grammar: \r\n\r\n能有幸请 [pinyin]neng2 you3 xing4 qing3[/pinyin] - A politely formal phrase of invitation \"May have the pleasure of inviting you ...\" or more specifically, \"May I be so lucky as to...\" (have this dance?) (take you on a date?). \r\n\r\n看上去 [pinyin]kan4 shang4 qu4[/pinyin] - To look like. \r\n\r\n你要是再不走开 [pinyin]ni3 yao4 shi4 zai4 bu4 zou3 kai1[/pinyin] - This one might be a little confusing. Let\'s break it down: \r\n\r\n你 - You\r\n要是 - If\r\n再不 - Otherwise / If not\r\n走开 - Go away\r\n\r\nThe full phrase means \"If you don\'t go away....\"\r\n\r\n他会来收拾你的 [pinyin]ta1 hui4 lai2 shou1 shi5 ni3 de5[/pinyin]. In the story, Miss Pig says this to an unwelcome guest. The \"他\" in this case is Mr. Pig. The Beginners often learn the word \"收拾\", meaning \"to tidy up\". Usually, this means exactly what it sounds like, and applies to cleaning up a room or an apartment. In this case, it\'s being used in kind of an action movie way, meaning \"He\'ll come over and <strong>deal with</strong> you!\" or \"He\'ll come <strong>straighten you out</strong>!\". So Miss Pig is threatening the unwelcome guest, telling him that Mr. Pig will come over and beat him up. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 今天，真是个<strong>野餐</strong>的好日子。 猪先生精心打扮着自己，他<strong>期待</strong>着猪小姐能与他一起去野餐。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> “呵呵，真希望她会说‘我愿意’啊。 嗯，我再摘朵花送给她，一定能够打<strong>动她</strong>！”\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 路上，猪先生<strong>遇到</strong>了他的朋友狐狸。狐狸听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的尾巴<strong>借</strong>去吧。瞧，你<strong>看上去</strong>有多聪明啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> <strong>接着</strong>，他又遇到了他的朋友狮子。狮子听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的头发借去吧。 瞧，你看上去有多<strong>威猛</strong>啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 后来，他又遇到他的朋友斑马。斑马听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的条纹借去吧。 瞧，你看上去有多<strong>英俊</strong>啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。他觉得自己从来没有这样英俊过。\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 终于来到猪小姐家了，猪先生<strong>激动</strong>地敲了敲门。“能有幸请你一起去野餐吗？”他问。\r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> 猪小姐吓了一大跳：“噢，不行！你是哪儿来的<strong>妖怪</strong>呀？你要是<strong>再不走开</strong>，我就去叫猪先生了，他会来收拾你的！”\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> 猪先生连忙往回跑。一路上，他把条纹还给了斑马，把头发还给了狮子，把尾巴还给了狐狸。然后，他又赶回到猪小姐的家，再一次摁响了门铃。\r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> “能有幸请你一起去野餐吗？”他又问。\r\n\r\n<strong>10)</strong> “啊呀，猪先生！” 猪小姐叫道，“看到你我真是太高兴啦，我很愿意跟你一起去野餐。刚才来了个<strong>丑八怪</strong>，就站在我的院子里，可把我吓坏啦。”\r\n\r\n<strong>11)</strong> 一路上，猪小姐把那个丑八怪的故事仔细地讲给了猪先生。她英俊的朋友猪先生，则一直满怀同情地听着。这真是一个去野餐的好日子啊。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<strong>1)</strong> Today, it\'s a great day for a picnic. Mr. Pig dressed himself with care, looking forward to [the possibility of] Miss Pig and himself going on a picnic together.\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> \"Heh, I hope she says \'Yes\' [lit: I\'m willing]. Hm, I\'ll also pick some flowers to give her, that will certainly be enough to sway her!\"\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> On the road, Mr. Pig ran into his friend Fox. When fox heard about the picnic, he said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, let me lend you my beautiful tail. See, you look so clever, Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased. \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> Continuing on, he ran into his friend Lion. Lion heard about the picnic and said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, borrow my beautiful hair for when you go over there. See, you look so powerful, Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased.  \r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> After a while, he ran into his friend Zebra. Zebra heard about the picnic and said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, I\'ll lend you my beautiful stripes. See, you look so handsome. Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased. He felt that he\'d never before looked so handsome.\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> Finally arriving at Miss Pig\'s house, Mr. Pig excitedly knocked on the door. \"Would you do me the honor of going on a picnic with me?\" he asked. \r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> Miss Pig was terrified: \"Oh, no way! What kind of monster are you? If you don\'t go away, I\'ll go get Mr. Pig, he\'ll straighten you out!\"\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> Mr. Pig hurriedly ran away. On the road, he gave the stripes back to Zebra, the hair back to Lion, and the tail back to Fox. AFter that, he hurried back to Miss Pig\'s house, and again pressed the doorbell. \r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> \"Would you do me the honor of having a picnic with me?\" he asked again. \r\n\r\n<strong>10)</strong> \"Goodness, Mr. Pig!\" Miss Pig cried out. \"I\'m so happy to see you, I\'d love to go on a picnic with you. An ugly wretch just came by here, standing in my garden, and scared me so.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>11)</strong> On the way, Miss Pig told Mr. Pig the story of the \'ugly wretch\' in great detail. Her handsome friend Mr. Pig, though, listened with great sympathy. It really was a great day for a picnic.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Short Stories] 猪先生去野餐 - Mr. Pig\'s Picnic', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1450-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:18:35', '2016-11-04 10:18:35', '', 1450, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1450-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1744, 1, '2016-10-31 03:31:56', '2016-10-31 07:31:56', 'I love it when I find a longer story that\'s suitable for beginning readers. This one, which is either a tale that reminds us what happens when you try to be something you\'re not, or a tale that reminds us that men should never be allowed to give each other fashion advice, definitely fits the bill. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130805-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Simplified Chinese: Basic Chinese Reader\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The first sentence isn\'t super simple, so push through that one if you can, it gets much easier in the following paragraphs. Four points of grammar: \r\n\r\n能有幸请 [pinyin]neng2 you3 xing4 qing3[/pinyin] - A politely formal phrase of invitation \"May have the pleasure of inviting you ...\" or more specifically, \"May I be so lucky as to...\" (have this dance?) (take you on a date?). \r\n\r\n看上去 [pinyin]kan4 shang4 qu4[/pinyin] - To look like. \r\n\r\n你要是再不走开 [pinyin]ni3 yao4 shi4 zai4 bu4 zou3 kai1[/pinyin] - This one might be a little confusing. Let\'s break it down: \r\n\r\n你 - You\r\n要是 - If\r\n再不 - Otherwise / If not\r\n走开 - Go away\r\n\r\nThe full phrase means \"If you don\'t go away....\"\r\n\r\n他会来收拾你的 [pinyin]ta1 hui4 lai2 shou1 shi5 ni3 de5[/pinyin]. In the story, Miss Pig says this to an unwelcome guest. The \"他\" in this case is Mr. Pig. The Beginners often learn the word \"收拾\", meaning \"to tidy up\". Usually, this means exactly what it sounds like, and applies to cleaning up a room or an apartment. In this case, it\'s being used in kind of an action movie way, meaning \"He\'ll come over and <strong>deal with</strong> you!\" or \"He\'ll come <strong>straighten you out</strong>!\". So Miss Pig is threatening the unwelcome guest, telling him that Mr. Pig will come over and beat him up. \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 今天，真是个<strong>野餐</strong>的好日子。 猪先生精心打扮着自己，他<strong>期待</strong>着猪小姐能与他一起去野餐。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> “呵呵，真希望她会说‘我愿意’啊。 嗯，我再摘朵花送给她，一定能够打<strong>动她</strong>！”\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 路上，猪先生<strong>遇到</strong>了他的朋友狐狸。狐狸听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的尾巴<strong>借</strong>去吧。瞧，你<strong>看上去</strong>有多聪明啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> <strong>接着</strong>，他又遇到了他的朋友狮子。狮子听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的头发借去吧。 瞧，你看上去有多<strong>威猛</strong>啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。\r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> 后来，他又遇到他的朋友斑马。斑马听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的条纹借去吧。 瞧，你看上去有多<strong>英俊</strong>啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。他觉得自己从来没有这样英俊过。\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 终于来到猪小姐家了，猪先生<strong>激动</strong>地敲了敲门。“能有幸请你一起去野餐吗？”他问。\r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> 猪小姐吓了一大跳：“噢，不行！你是哪儿来的<strong>妖怪</strong>呀？你要是<strong>再不走开</strong>，我就去叫猪先生了，他会来收拾你的！”\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> 猪先生连忙往回跑。一路上，他把条纹还给了斑马，把头发还给了狮子，把尾巴还给了狐狸。然后，他又赶回到猪小姐的家，再一次摁响了门铃。\r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> “能有幸请你一起去野餐吗？”他又问。\r\n\r\n<strong>10)</strong> “啊呀，猪先生！” 猪小姐叫道，“看到你我真是太高兴啦，我很愿意跟你一起去野餐。刚才来了个<strong>丑八怪</strong>，就站在我的院子里，可把我吓坏啦。”\r\n\r\n<strong>11)</strong> 一路上，猪小姐把那个丑八怪的故事仔细地讲给了猪先生。她英俊的朋友猪先生，则一直满怀同情地听着。这真是一个去野餐的好日子啊。\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<strong>1)</strong> Today, it\'s a great day for a picnic. Mr. Pig dressed himself with care, looking forward to [the possibility of] Miss Pig and himself going on a picnic together.\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> \"Heh, I hope she says \'Yes\' [lit: I\'m willing]. Hm, I\'ll also pick some flowers to give her, that will certainly be enough to sway her!\"\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> On the road, Mr. Pig ran into his friend Fox. When fox heard about the picnic, he said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, let me lend you my beautiful tail. See, you look so clever, Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased. \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> Continuing on, he ran into his friend Lion. Lion heard about the picnic and said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, borrow my beautiful hair for when you go over there. See, you look so powerful, Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased.  \r\n\r\n<strong>5)</strong> After a while, he ran into his friend Zebra. Zebra heard about the picnic and said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, I\'ll lend you my beautiful stripes. See, you look so handsome. Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased. He felt that he\'d never before looked so handsome.\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> Finally arriving at Miss Pig\'s house, Mr. Pig excitedly knocked on the door. \"Would you do me the honor of going on a picnic with me?\" he asked. \r\n\r\n<strong>7)</strong> Miss Pig was terrified: \"Oh, no way! What kind of monster are you? If you don\'t go away, I\'ll go get Mr. Pig, he\'ll straighten you out!\"\r\n\r\n<strong>8)</strong> Mr. Pig hurriedly ran away. On the road, he gave the stripes back to Zebra, the hair back to Lion, and the tail back to Fox. AFter that, he hurried back to Miss Pig\'s house, and again pressed the doorbell. \r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> \"Would you do me the honor of having a picnic with me?\" he asked again. \r\n\r\n<strong>10)</strong> \"Goodness, Mr. Pig!\" Miss Pig cried out. \"I\'m so happy to see you, I\'d love to go on a picnic with you. An ugly wretch just came by here, standing in my garden, and scared me so.\" \r\n\r\n<strong>11)</strong> On the way, Miss Pig told Mr. Pig the story of the \'ugly wretch\' in great detail. Her handsome friend Mr. Pig, though, listened with great sympathy. It really was a great day for a picnic.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Short Story] 猪先生去野餐 - Mr. Pig\'s Picnic', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1450-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:31:56', '2016-10-31 07:31:56', '', 1450, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1450-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1451, 1, '2013-08-05 07:12:01', '2013-08-05 11:12:01', '', 'Basic Chinese Reading Texts: Learn to Read in Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130805-inline', '', '', '2013-08-05 07:12:01', '2013-08-05 11:12:01', '', 1450, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130805-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1452, 1, '2013-08-05 07:12:03', '2013-08-05 11:12:03', '', 'Basic Chinese Reading Texts: Learn to Read in Chinese', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20130805', '', '', '2013-08-05 07:12:03', '2013-08-05 11:12:03', '', 1450, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130805.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1453, 1, '2013-08-05 07:07:51', '2013-08-05 11:07:51', '[two_third]\nI love it when I find a longer story that\'s suitable for beginning readers. This one, which is either a tale that reminds us what happens when you try to be something you\'re not, or a tale that reminds us that men should never be allowed to give each other fashion advice, definitely fits the bill. <!--more-->\n\nThe first sentence isn\'t super simple, so push through that one if you can, it gets much easier in the following paragraphs. Four points of grammar: \n\n能有幸请 [pinyin]neng2 you3 xing4 qing3[/pinyin] - A politely formal phrase of invitation \"May have the pleasure of inviting you ...\" or more specifically, \"May I be so lucky as to...\" (have this dance?) (take you on a date?). \n\n看上去 [pinyin]kan4 shang4 qu4[/pinyin] - To look like. \n\n你要是再不走开 [pinyin]ni3 yao4 shi4 zai4 bu4 zou3 kai1[/pinyin] - This one might be a little confusing. Let\'s break it down: \n\n你 - You\n要是 - If\n再不 - Otherwise / If not\n走开 - Go away\n\nThe full phrase means \"If you don\'t go away....\"\n\n他会来收拾你的 [pinyin]ta1 hui4 lai2 shou1 shi5 ni3 de5[/pinyin]. In the story, Miss Pig says this to an unwelcome guest. The \"他\" in this case is Mr. Pig. The Beginners often learn the word \"收拾\", meaning \"to tidy up\". Usually, this means exactly what it sounds like, and applies to cleaning up a room or an apartment. In this case, it\'s being used in kind of an action movie way, meaning \"He\'ll come over and <strong>deal with</strong> you!\" or \"He\'ll come <strong>straighten you out</strong>!\". So Miss Pig is threatening the unwelcome guest, telling him that Mr. Pig will come over and beat him up. \n\nThe Chinese title is 猪先生去野餐\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n野餐 - [pinyin]ye3 can1[/pinyin] - Picnic\n期待 - [pinyin]qi1 dai4[/pinyin] - To look forward to\n打动 - [pinyin]da3 dong4[/pinyin] - To move someone(emotionally)\n遇到 - [pinyin]yu4 dao4[/pinyin] - To run into\n借 - [pinyin]jie4[/pinyin] - Lend, borrow\n接着 - [pinyin]jie1 zhe5[/pinyin] - Continuing on\n威猛 - [pinyin]wei1 meng3[/pinyin] - Bold and powerful\n英俊 - [pinyin]ying1 jun4[/pinyin] - Handsome\n激动 - [pinyin]ji1 dong4[/pinyin] - Excite, agitate\n妖怪 - [pinyin]yao1 guai4[/pinyin] - Monster, devil\n丑八怪 - [pinyin]chou3 ba1 guai4[/pinyin] - Ugly person\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n今天，真是个<strong>野餐</strong>的好日子。 猪先生精心打扮着自己，他<strong>期待</strong>着猪小姐能与他一起去野餐。\n\n“呵呵，真希望她会说‘我愿意’啊。 嗯，我再摘朵花送给她，一定能够打<strong>动她</strong>！”\n\n路上，猪先生<strong>遇到</strong>了他的朋友狐狸。狐狸听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的尾巴<strong>借</strong>去吧。瞧，你<strong>看上去</strong>有多聪明啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。\n\n<strong>接着</strong>，他又遇到了他的朋友狮子。狮子听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的头发借去吧。 瞧，你看上去有多<strong>威猛</strong>啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。\n\n后来，他又遇到他的朋友斑马。斑马听说了野餐的事，就说：“让我给你一个建议，把我美丽的条纹借去吧。 瞧，你看上去有多<strong>英俊</strong>啊，猪小姐肯定会喜欢的。” 猪先生很满意。他觉得自己从来没有这样英俊过。\n\n终于来到猪小姐家了，猪先生<strong>激动</strong>地敲了敲门。“能有幸请你一起去野餐吗？”他问。\n\n猪小姐吓了一大跳：“噢，不行！你是哪儿来的<strong>妖怪</strong>呀？你要是<strong>再不走开</strong>，我就去叫猪先生了，他会来收拾你的！”\n\n猪先生连忙往回跑。一路上，他把条纹还给了斑马，把头发还给了狮子，把尾巴还给了狐狸。然后，他又赶回到猪小姐的家，再一次摁响了门铃。\n\n“能有幸请你一起去野餐吗？”他又问。\n\n“啊呀，猪先生！” 猪小姐叫道，“看到你我真是太高兴啦，我很愿意跟你一起去野餐。刚才来了个<strong>丑八怪</strong>，就站在我的院子里，可把我吓坏啦。”\n\n一路上，猪小姐把那个丑八怪的故事仔细地讲给了猪先生。她英俊的朋友猪先生，则一直满怀同情地听着。这真是一个去野餐的好日子啊。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nToday, it\'s a great day for a picnic. Mr. Pig dressed himself with care, looking forward to [the possibility of] Miss Pig and himself going on a picnic together.\n\n\"Heh, I hope she says \'Yes\' [lit: I\'m willing]. Hm, I\'ll also pick some flowers to give her, that will certainly be enough to sway her!\"\n\nOn the road, Mr. Pig ran into his friend Fox. When fox heard about the picnic, he said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, let me lend you my beautiful tail. See, you look so clever, Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased. \n\nContinuing on, he ran into his friend Lion. Lion heard about the picnic and said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, borrow my beautiful hair for when you go over there. See, you look so powerful, Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased.  \n\nAfter a while, he ran into his friend Zebra. Zebra heard about the picnic and said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, I\'ll lend you my beautiful stripes. See, you look so handsome. Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased. He felt that he\'d never before looked so handsome.\n\nFinally arriving at Miss Pig\'s house, Mr. Pig excitedly knocked on the door. \"Would you do me the honor of going on a picnic with me?\" he asked. \n\nMiss Pig was terrified: \"Oh, no way! What kind of monster are you? If you don\'t go away, I\'ll go get Mr. Pig, he\'ll straighten you out!\"\n\nMr. Pig hurriedly ran away. On the road, he gave the stripes back to Zebra, the hair back to Lion, and the tail back to Fox. AFter that, he hurried back to Miss Pig\'s house, and again pressed the doorbell. \n\n\"Would you do me the honor of having a picnic with me?\" he asked again. \n\n\"Goodness, Mr. Pig!\" Miss Pig cried out. \"I\'m so happy to see you, I\'d love to go on a picnic with you. An ugly wretch just came by here, standing in my garden, and scared me so.\" \n\nOn the way, Miss Pig told Mr. Pig the story of the \'ugly wretch\' in great detail. Her handsome friend Mr. Pig, though, listened with great sympathy. It really was a great day for a picnic.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Mr. Pig\'s Picnic', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1450-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-08-05 07:07:51', '2013-08-05 11:07:51', '', 1450, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/08/05/1450-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1454, 1, '2013-05-21 11:15:10', '2013-05-21 15:15:10', '[two_third]\r\nFather\'s Day\'s coming up in a few weeks, and we\'ll be looking at the lyrics of a beginner-level saccharine-cute song written for children to sing to their dads (or, for the children of the digital generation, to forward to their dads) on their special day. This post is accompanied by a Flash Father\'s Day video where you can listen to the song on an INFINITE LOOP. Lucky you. <!--more-->\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130521-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese: Drills for Learning to Read Mandarin Characters\" title=\"Reading in Simplified Chinese: Easy Exercises for Language Study\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />\r\nHere\'s the original video with the actual song. <a href=\"http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1\" target=\"_blank\">http://new.060s.com/flash/flashbrow.php?flash=70648ecb985590c987c8ffd9b0b5edb1</a>, have a listen if you dare. \r\n\r\nBecause this is a song, we have a couple of instances where a similar sentence structure is used with different words - these are probably the hardest sentences in the song. Example: 脏活累活他全包了. First, let me break down this sentence: \r\n\r\n脏 - Dirty\r\n活 - Activity, work\r\n累 - Tired\r\n活 - Activity, work\r\n他 - He\r\n全包 - All included\r\n了 - (grammar word)\r\n\r\nWhat? Dirty activity tired activity he all included?! What the heck does that mean? In proper English, we might translate that as \"Dirty work, Tired work, he does it all!\" We are, of course, talking about our amazing dads and all the thanklessly exhausting housework and job work they do. Thing is, there\'s nowhere in this sentence where the verb \"does\" as in \"to do work\" actually appears. We\'re just expected to infer the word from the context of 全包 - \"all included\". \r\n\r\nWe see the same sentence structure later in the song: 剩菜剩饭他全包了. The breakdown: \r\n\r\n剩 - Leftover\r\n菜 - Vegetables\r\n剩 - Leftover\r\n饭 - Rice\r\n他 - He \r\n全包 - All included\r\n了 (grammar word). \r\n\r\nOnce again, that strange \"all included\" - we are again expected to infer the verb here. Any guesses? The sentence means \"Leftover Vegetables, Leftover Rice, he eats it all!\" or \"He eats all the leftovers!\" So the missing word we kinda have to mentally fill in is \"eats\". \r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n力气 - [pinyin]li4 qi4[/pinyin] - Strength\r\n脏活 - [pinyin]zang4 huo2[/pinyin] - Dirty work\r\n累活 - [pinyin]lei4 huo2[/pinyin] - Exhausting work\r\n肚量 - [pinyin]du4 liang4[/pinyin] - Generosity\r\n挣 - [pinyin]zheng1[/pinyin] - Earn (usually money)\r\n花 - [pinyin]hua1[/pinyin] - Spend (money)\r\n剩 - [pinyin]sheng4[/pinyin] - Surplus, leftover\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\r\n爸爸的<strong>力气</strong>真不小\r\n做得多说得少\r\n<strong>脏活</strong><strong>累活</strong>他全包了\r\n爸爸好, 爸爸好, 爸爸好\r\n爸爸的<strong>肚量</strong>真不小\r\n<strong>挣</strong>得多<strong>花</strong>得少\r\n<strong>剩</strong>菜剩饭他全包了\r\n挣得多花得少\r\n剩菜剩饭他全包了\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDad\'s the best, Dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best!\r\nDad\'s really got not shortage of strength \r\nHe does a lot but speaks little\r\nHe does all the dirty and tired work.\r\nDad\'s the best, dad\'s the best, dad\'s the best! \r\nDad\'s really got no shortage of generosity\r\nHe earns a lot but spends little\r\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \r\nHe earns a lot but spends little \r\nAnd he eats all the leftovers! \r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Lyrics: Baba Hao, a Song for Father\'s Day', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1363-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-21 11:15:10', '2013-05-21 15:15:10', '', 1363, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/21/1363-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1455, 1, '2013-05-06 04:44:05', '2013-05-06 08:44:05', '[two_third]\r\nWell well well, lookie here. A guest post! Today we\'ll be reading Rebecca Chua\'s (Chinese name: 蔡幸彤) translation of an essay from her textbook. The post is about the rewards of honesty. I remember my own textbook being full of these types of essays, so thank you, Rebecca, for the traditional read. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img class=\"imgborder alignleft\" title=\"20130506-inline\" src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/20130506-inline.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Mandarin Chinese Characters: Practice Reading Simplified Chinese Character Essays\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" />Rebecca has this to say about the post: <em>This story talks about a school-going child\'s problems of getting his parents to sign his papers. It also talks about being honest, and that life\'s exam papers matter the most. This essay was from my tutoring centre\'s teaching materials. This was done with help. Thank you for those who helped me!</em>\r\n\r\n(And the same in Chinese:) 这个故事是讲述华文考试卷要签名所遇到的困难。这个故事教我们要诚实，也教我们，虽然考卷的真正分数低，但人生的考卷上有高分才是最重要的。\r\n\r\nOne of the interesting things about this post is the punctuation. In Chinese, they use a six-dot ellipses …… where we only use... three. (u c wat i did thar?). We also learn a little culture here: it\'s worth noting that in most Chinese highschools, parents actually have to sign your test results to prove you showed it to them. We also see that Rebecca\'s book spells \"A+\" as \"A*\".\r\n\r\nI\'m super loving this phrase - 从天堂降落到地狱 - though it might need a little breakdown:\r\n\r\n从 - From\r\n天堂 - Heaven\r\n降落 - descend\r\n到 - to\r\n地狱 - Hell\r\n\r\nThis phrase means to \"have a sinking heart\" or to \"fall from joy to misery\".\r\n\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n发下来 - [pinyin]fa1 xia4 lai5[/pinyin] - To pass out (papers), hand back (homework)\r\n考卷 - [pinyin]kao3 juan4[/pinyin] - Exam paper\r\n沉重 - [pinyin]chen2 zhong4[/pinyin] - Hard, serious\r\n羡慕 - [pinyin]xian4 mu4[/pinyin] - To envy\r\n竟然 - [pinyin]jing4 ran2[/pinyin] - Unexpectedly\r\n松了一口气 - [pinyin]song1 le yi1 kou3 qi4[/pinyin] - Let out a sigh (usually of relief) \r\n顿 - [pinyin]dun4[/pinyin] - Classifier for a period of time when a beating, scolding or critique takes place\r\n到底 - [pinyin]dao4 di3[/pinyin] - When all is said and done\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">我背着书包，手里拿着刚刚<strong>发下来</strong>的<strong>考卷</strong>，一边拖着<strong>沉重</strong>的脚步向家走着，一边紧张的思考怎样让爸爸在考卷上签名……前两天的考卷，今天老师发下来了。我拿了一个A*，考到了97分！同学们都很<strong>羡慕</strong>我，我也得到老师的肯定。在老师要我们做改正的时候，我就<strong>从天堂降落到地狱</strong>。天啊！我<strong>竟然</strong>忘了一整页试题，整整要被扣十分！但是老师却没发现，我还真不知该不该对她说。这时，我的头脑出现了两个“我”，一个说：“算了，不要告诉老师，我已经得了老师的肯定，同学们又那么羡慕我，如果我告诉老师，不就等于丢我的脸，还失去爸爸要給我的礼物。”另一个说：“不行，要做个诚实的人，一定要告诉老师。”于是，我对老师说：“我漏掉了这些题，应该是87 分！”老师帮我改分数的那一刻，我立刻<strong>松了一口气</strong>。\r\n\r\n在回家的路上，我真希望我没有对老师说这番话。现在，我不仅要丢掉爸爸的礼物，还得被他骂一<strong>顿</strong>。晚上，我把考卷交给爸爸，爸爸说：“你为什么那么不小心？为什么一整页的题目没做？为什么？” 如在平时，当他问我这些问题时，我会叫他一个“十万个为什么”的人。可现在，我不敢，应为他生气得好像要打我似的。突然，他看见97分改成87分，很奇怪地问我：\"<strong>到底</strong>怎么一回事？“我把情况如实地告诉了他。我低着头，准备继续挨训。\r\n\r\n爸爸沉默了一会儿，突然惊喜地看着我：“不，宝贝儿，虽然你考卷上的分数不尽人意，但是在人生考卷上你却得了高分。爸爸为你骄傲！你做得对......”说完他在考卷上签了名。\r\n\r\n第二天早上，我背起书包，手里拿着由爸爸签名的考卷，迈着轻快的脚步，迎着初升的朝阳，信心十足地向学校走去……\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nCarrying a heavy load on my back, holding the exam papers that were just handed back to us, I wondered how I could make my father sign this paper......\r\n\r\nThe exam, which was held just two days before, was handed back to us. I got an A+, a high score of 97 points! All the students in my class were envious of me, and I got the praise of my teacher. But when we were asked to do corrections, I found myself dropping all the way from heaven to hell. I actually forgot to do a whole page of questions, and had to be deducted of ten marks! But my teacher hadn\'t discovered yet, and I wasn\'t sure if I had to say it to her. I was in two minds. One said, \"Don\'t tell her, otherwise you would lose face and lose your father\'s present!\" The other said, \"No, you should be honest, just tell her!\" So, I said, \"I missed these questions, the actual points should be 87!\" When she helped me change my score, I heaved a sigh of relief.\r\n\r\nWhen I was going home, I wished I had not said all that. Now, not only was I going to lose my father\'s present, but I was also going to be scolded by him. At night, when I passed my paper to him, he said,\"Why were you so careless? Why did you miss out a whole page of questions?\" Usually, when he asks me all these questions, I call him a \"dad of ten-thousand questions\". But now, I daren\'t, because he seems so angry that he might hit me. Suddenly, when he saw that my 97 points became 87 points, he asked me,\"What happened?\" I told him the truth, and lowered my head, ready to continue being scolded.\r\n\r\nMy father silenced for a while. Then he suddenly said, \"No, darling, even though you results aren\'t satisfactory, in life\'s exam, you have gotten a high score. I am proud of you! You have done it right......\" after saying that he signed his name.\r\n\r\nThe next morning, carrying my schoolbag, with light steps, I was feeling happy. Welcoming the rising sun, I walked towards my school with confidence......\r\n[/hide-this-part]', 'Guest Post by Rebecca Chua: The difference between life\'s exam and exam papers', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1348-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-06 04:44:05', '2013-05-06 08:44:05', '', 1348, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/06/1348-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1456, 1, '2012-10-06 00:58:15', '2012-10-06 04:58:15', '[two_third]\r\n<strong>Chinese Title: 拿到压岁钱以后</strong>\r\nFor those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes containing some money - it\'s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is about what happened to one kid\'s Spring Festival haul. We\'ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/20120910-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"How to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Children\" title=\"Learning to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for Kids\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I should probably talk about a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word 玩. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can 玩得快活 - \"play happily\". The Chinese don\'t use \"play\" the way we do. While they do use it to mean \"to play with toys\" as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping - it\'s really more of a blanket term better translated as \"having fun\". So the kid is not saying they necessarily only play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents\' friends houses, or whatever. It\'s not specified.\r\n\r\nAnother interesting point comes in here: 心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴 - \"In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed\". Note the use of the words 特别 and 很 - meaning \"extremely\" / \"very\" respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can\'t use a word like \"happy\" or \"disappointed\" without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There\'s no way in general casual conversation to say \"I was happy\" - just regular ol\' happy. You can\'t, for example, say just \"我高兴“. Instead, say \"I was VERY happy\" 我很高兴, or \"extremely happy\" 我非常高兴 or \"exceedingly happy\" 高兴极了 or \"fairly happy\" 比较高兴 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually drop the \"very\"s and \"extremely\"s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn\'t <em>want</em> to say I was \"very happy\" - I wasn\'t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that \"very\" actually mattered. So bear that in mind. \r\n\r\nAnd another point: ...收到了700<strong>余</strong>元... This means \"received over 700 yuan\". Notice that the word 余, which means \"over\" / \"more than\" is written <strong>after </strong>the amount of money and <strong>before </strong>the actual word \"yuan\". In English, this would be like saying \"received 700-plus dollars\". You could also say 收到了700<strong>多</strong>元, which means the same thing. \r\n\r\nAnd finally: Beware the definition I give for the word 由 here. It\'s one of those grammar words that means a ton of different things in different contexts - kind of like how the English word \"to\" is hard to define and used often. In my definition list, I only ever show the definition relevant to this text, so you\'re going to see the word 由 in many contexts in many essays and it doesn\'t always mean what it means here. \r\n\r\nThe original is from my new favorite Chinese <a href=\"http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2012082085897.html\">essay composition site</a>. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n过 - [pinyin]guo4[/pinyin] - To celebrate\r\n不但...而且 - [pinyin]bu4 dan4...er2 qie3[/pinyin] - Not only [sthg], but also [sthg else]\r\n压岁钱 - [pinyin]ya1 sui4 qian2[/pinyin] - Money Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years\r\n以往 - [pinyin]yi3 wang3[/pinyin] - Before, previously\r\n上缴 - [pinyin]shang4 jiao3[/pinyin] - To give money up to higher authorities\r\n由 - [pinyin]you4[/pinyin] - To leave something to someone (to manage / handle)\r\n爽快 - [pinyin]shuang3 kuai5[/pinyin] - Straightforward\r\n肯德基 - [pinyin]ken3 de2 ji1[/pinyin] - Kentucky Fried Chicken\r\n苦思冥想 - [pinyin]ku3 si1 ming2 xiang3[/pinyin] - Rack one\'s brains\r\n订 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - To subscribe to (a newspaper / magazine)\r\n献 - [pinyin]xian4[/pinyin] - To donate\r\n勤俭节约 - [pinyin]qin2 jian3 jie2 jue1 [/pinyin] - Diligent and thrifty\r\n逐渐 - [pinyin]zhu2 jian4[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n我非常喜欢<strong>过</strong>新年，因为过年<strong>不但</strong>能穿新衣服，玩得快活，<strong>而且</strong>还能收到很多的<strong>压岁钱</strong>。今年我一下子就收到了700<strong>余</strong>元<strong>压岁钱</strong>，我拿着压岁钱，心里特别高兴，但是也很扫兴，怕妈妈给收走了，<strong>以往</strong>的压岁钱都要<strong>上缴</strong>的，我就给妈妈商量：今年我刚满十岁，我已经长大了，希望这些压岁钱<strong>由</strong>我来保管，没想到妈妈很<strong>爽快</strong>的答应了，我心里乐的开了花。我拿到这些压岁钱，我应该怎样来花这些钱呢？买我喜欢的玩具、还有我最喜欢吃的<strong>肯德基</strong>？我<strong>苦思冥想</strong>了好几天，我打算用这些钱来买我喜欢的书籍、买一些学习用品或者<strong>订</strong>报纸、<strong>献</strong>爱心捐款......除了这些,我是决不乱花的。\r\n\r\n我决得这样做，不但可以从小学会<strong>勤俭节约</strong>、不乱花钱的习惯，而且还可以使我学会管理、学会生活，这样才会使我<strong>逐渐</strong>成长起来。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not only wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year\'s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years\' money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year\'s money to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]:<em> this year I\'m fully 10 years old, I\'m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year\'s money can be left under my care,</em> but I never though she\'d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year\'s money, but what should I spend this money on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the money to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation... apart from these things, I figured I\'d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won\'t spend the rest at all].  \r\n\r\nI though that doing it this way, I not only could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study money management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'After I Got My New Years\' Money', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1241-revision-v1', '', '', '2012-10-06 00:58:15', '2012-10-06 04:58:15', '', 1241, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2012/10/06/1241-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1460, 1, '2014-02-04 03:49:05', '2014-02-04 08:49:05', 'The content of <a href=\"http://www.gushi365.com/info/9851.html\">this story</a> is for children, but the language is not beginner, and neither is the sentence structure - this is an intermediate read for sure. I say that because it feels very \"fairy-tale\" language-y, in the sense that sentences are formed in a more literary way, rather than in a chatty way, and there are some uncommonly-heard words, like \"footprint\" (脚印), etc. The tone of the story, on the other hand, is very tra-la-la, winter sparkly glitter magic.\r\n\r\nTwo quick notes on phrases here: 传来了 [pinyin]chuan4 lai2[/pinyin] is an intermediate phrase that can be a little hard to understand, but it is used in reference to things we hear that come to us from afar. This may include voices (like hearing someone\'s voice from outside your house), or noises, or smells, or a piece of news. You can use this to talk about sensations and things that come to you from no particular person or direction - from \"afar\" or \"all around\". \r\n\r\n掏出 [pinyin]tao1 chu1[/pinyin]: this means to fish something out of something else. For example, to fish your phone out of your pocket, or to fish your sweatshirt out of your backpack. \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> 下雪啦，下雪啦！一片片雪花像<strong>蒲公英</strong>一样在空中<strong>翩翩起舞</strong>，不一会儿，大地就穿上了一件洁白的衣裳。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 可爱的小熊不小心<strong>扭到脚了</strong>，只得孤零零地躺在小床上。忽然，从窗外<strong>传来了</strong>欢快的歌声。小熊朝窗外看去，原来是小老鼠和小白兔在雪地里<strong>载歌载舞</strong>呢！雪地上还留下了他们可爱的小脚印。小熊心里真羡慕呀！可是，他有什么办法呢？小熊深深地叹了一口气，<strong>自言自语</strong>：“还是睡一觉吧，<strong>说不定</strong>梦里会出现<strong>奇迹</strong>！”\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 小熊果然做了一个好梦。他梦见一位留着长胡子的老爷爷来到了他的小屋里。老爷爷从衣袋里<strong>掏出</strong>一个小瓶子，笑眯眯地喷了喷小熊受伤的脚。小熊马上就<strong>活蹦乱跳</strong>了，快活地在雪地上和小伙伴们玩耍……\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 小鸟们的欢声笑语把小熊<strong>吵醒</strong>了，原来这只是一场梦。可是小熊发现自己的手里竟然有一个小瓶子！小熊拿起小瓶子往脚上一喷，受伤的脚马上就好了。这真是一瓶神水啊！从此，小熊再也不怕摔伤了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\n<strong>1)</strong> It\'s snowing, it\'s snowing! Flakes of snow lightly danced like dandelions in the air, and after a while, the earth wore clothes of pure white. \r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> Cute Little Bear incautiously sprained his ankle, and had to lie in bed all alone. Suddenly, from outside the window came the sound of lighthearted singing. Little bear looked out the window, and [saw that it was] Little Mouse and Little White Rabbit dancing and singing! The snow still held [impressions of] their cute little footprints. Little Bear was truly envious! But what could he do? Little Bear gave a deep sigh, and said aloud to himself: \"Better get some more sleep, and maybe in my dream there will be a miracle!\" \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> Sure enough, Little bear had a good dream. In his dream, an old man with a long beard came into his room. The old man fished a little bottle out of his pocket, and smilingly sprayed [some liquid from the bottle] on Little Bear\'s wounded foot. Little Bear immediately leaped up and frisked about, playing cheerfully with his [two] buddies on the snowy ground.\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> The happy sounds of the small birds woke Little Bear up, and [found that] actually it was all just a dream. But then he discovered that there was a small bottle in his hand! Little Bear took up the small bottle and sprayed it on his foot, and the wounded foot was immediately better! This really was a bottle of magic water! After that, Little Bear never again feared bumps and bruises. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Short Stories] 小熊的美梦 - Little Bear\'s Beautiful Dream', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'little-bears-beautiful-dream', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:15:54', '2016-11-04 10:15:54', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1460', 0, 'post', '', 18),
(1751, 1, '2016-10-31 03:39:47', '2016-10-31 07:39:47', '[two_third]\r\nBeen a couple of months since I tossed a post out there - the latter half of 2013 was a bit of a shake-up, so please forgive the lapse. In other news, I can\'t get my favorite Chinese story website, tom61.com, to load anymore, #sadface. Fingers crossed that\'s a temporary glitch, but if not, I\'ll mourn the loss of a fantastic learner\'s website. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/20140204-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Practice Chinese Simplified Essays Stories for Beginners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />In the meantime, I\'ve pulled something off <a href=\"http://gushi365.com\">gushi365.com</a>. \r\n\r\nThe content of <a href=\"http://www.gushi365.com/info/9851.html\">this story</a> is for children, but the language is not beginner, and neither is the sentence structure - this is an intermediate read for sure. I say that because it feels very \"fairy-tale\" language-y, in the sense that sentences are formed in a more literary way, rather than in a chatty way, and there are some uncommonly-heard words, like \"footprint\" (脚印), etc. The tone of the story, on the other hand, is very tra-la-la, winter sparkly glitter magic.\r\n\r\nTwo quick notes on phrases here: 传来了 [pinyin]chuan4 lai2[/pinyin] is an intermediate phrase that can be a little hard to understand, but it is used in reference to things we hear that come to us from afar. This may include voices (like hearing someone\'s voice from outside your house), or noises, or smells, or a piece of news. You can use this to talk about sensations and things that come to you from no particular person or direction - from \"afar\" or \"all around\". \r\n\r\n掏出 [pinyin]tao1 chu1[/pinyin]: this means to fish something out of something else. For example, to fish your phone out of your pocket, or to fish your sweatshirt out of your backpack. \r\n\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n下雪啦，下雪啦！一片片雪花像<strong>蒲公英</strong>一样在空中<strong>翩翩起舞</strong>，不一会儿，大地就穿上了一件洁白的衣裳。\r\n\r\n可爱的小熊不小心<strong>扭到脚了</strong>，只得孤零零地躺在小床上。忽然，从窗外<strong>传来了</strong>欢快的歌声。小熊朝窗外看去，原来是小老鼠和小白兔在雪地里<strong>载歌载舞</strong>呢！雪地上还留下了他们可爱的小脚印。小熊心里真羡慕呀！可是，他有什么办法呢？小熊深深地叹了一口气，<strong>自言自语</strong>：“还是睡一觉吧，<strong>说不定</strong>梦里会出现<strong>奇迹</strong>！”\r\n\r\n小熊果然做了一个好梦。他梦见一位留着长胡子的老爷爷来到了他的小屋里。老爷爷从衣袋里<strong>掏出</strong>一个小瓶子，笑眯眯地喷了喷小熊受伤的脚。小熊马上就<strong>活蹦乱跳</strong>了，快活地在雪地上和小伙伴们玩耍……\r\n\r\n小鸟们的欢声笑语把小熊<strong>吵醒</strong>了，原来这只是一场梦。可是小熊发现自己的手里竟然有一个小瓶子！小熊拿起小瓶子往脚上一喷，受伤的脚马上就好了。这真是一瓶神水啊！从此，小熊再也不怕摔伤了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIt\'s snowing, it\'s snowing! Flakes of snow lightly danced like dandelions in the air, and after a while, the earth wore clothes of pure white. \r\n\r\nCute little bear incautiously sprained his ankle, and had to lie in bed all alone. Suddenly, from outside the window came the sound of lighthearted singing. Little bear looked out the window, and [saw that it was] Little Mouse and Little White Rabbit dancing and singing! The snow still held [impressions of] their cute little footprints. Little Bear was truly envious! But what could he do? Little Bear gave a deep sigh, and said aloud to himself: \"Better get some more sleep, and maybe in my dream there will be a miracle!\" \r\n\r\nSure enough, Little bear had a good dream. In his dream, an old man with a long beard came into his room. The old man fished a little bottle out of his pocket, and smilingly sprayed [some liquid from the bottle] on Little Bear\'s wounded foot. Little Bear immediately leaped up and frisked about, playing cheerfully with his [two] buddies on the snowy ground.\r\n\r\nThe happy sounds of the small birds woke Little Bear up, and [found that] actually it was all just a dream. But then he discovered that there was a small bottle in his hand! Little Bear took up the small bottle and sprayed it on his foot, and the wounded foot was immediately better! This really was a bottle of magic water! After that, Little Bear never again feared bumps and bruises. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Bear\'s Beautiful Dream', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1460-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:39:47', '2016-10-31 07:39:47', '', 1460, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1460-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1461, 1, '2014-02-04 03:42:37', '2014-02-04 08:42:37', '[two_third]\nBeen a couple of months since I tossed a post out there - the latter half of 2013 was a bit of a shake-up, so please forgive the lapse. In other news, I can\'t get my favorite Chinese story website, tom61.com, to load anymore, #sadface. Fingers crossed that\'s a temporary glitch, but if not, I\'ll mourn the loss of a fantastic learner\'s website. \n\nIn the meantime, I\'ve pulled something off <a href=\"http://gushi365.com\">gushi365.com</a>. \n\nThe content of <a href=\"http://www.gushi365.com/info/9851.html\">this story</a> is for children, but the language is not beginner, and neither is the sentence structure - this is an intermediate read for sure. I say that because it feels very \"fairy-tale\" language-y, in the sense that sentences are formed in a more literary way, rather than in a chatty way, and there are some uncommonly-heard words, like \"footprint\" (脚印), etc. The tone of the story, on the other hand, is very tra-la-la, winter sparkly glitter magic.\n\nTwo quick notes on phrases here: 传来了 [pinyin]chuan4 lai2[/pinyin] is an intermediate phrase that can be a little hard to understand, but it is used in reference to things we hear that come to us from afar. This may include voices (like hearing someone\'s voice from outside your house), or noises, or smells, or a piece of news. You can use this to talk about sensations and things that come to you from no particular person or direction - from \"afar\" or \"all around\". \n\n掏出 [pinyin]tao1 chu1[/pinyin]: this means to fish something out of something else. For example, to fish your phone out of your pocket, or to fish your sweatshirt out of your backpack. Quick Chinese internet culture cross-over: 掏 is the same character in <a\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n蒲公英 - [pinyin]pu2 gong1 ying1[/pinyin] - Dandelion\n翩翩起舞 - [pinyin]pian1 pian1 qi3 wu3[/pinyin] - Lightly dance about\n扭到脚了 - [pinyin]niu3 dao4 jiao3 le[/pinyin] - Sprain / twist one\'s foot / ankle\n载歌载舞 - [pinyin]zai4 ge1 zai4 wu3[/pinyin] - Singing and dancing\n自言自语- [pinyin]zi4 yan2 zi4 yu3[/pinyin] - Talk to yourself\n说不定 - [pinyin]shuo1 bu5 ding4[/pinyin] - Who can say... [that sthng won\'t happen]\n奇迹 - [pinyin]qi2 ji4[/pinyin] - Miracle\n活蹦乱跳 - [pinyin]huo2 beng4 luan4 tiao4[/pinyin] - Leap and frisk about\n吵醒 - [pinyin]chao2 xing3[/pinyin] - To be woken up by noise\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n下雪啦，下雪啦！一片片雪花像<strong>蒲公英</strong>一样在空中<strong>翩翩起舞</strong>，不一会儿，大地就穿上了一件洁白的衣裳。\n\n可爱的小熊不小心<strong>扭到脚了</strong>，只得孤零零地躺在小床上。忽然，从窗外<strong>传来了</strong>欢快的歌声。小熊朝窗外看去，原来是小老鼠和小白兔在雪地里<strong>载歌载舞</strong>呢！雪地上还留下了他们可爱的小脚印。小熊心里真羡慕呀！可是，他有什么办法呢？小熊深深地叹了一口气，<strong>自言自语</strong>：“还是睡一觉吧，<strong>说不定</strong>梦里会出现<strong>奇迹</strong>！”\n\n小熊果然做了一个好梦。他梦见一位留着长胡子的老爷爷来到了他的小屋里。老爷爷从衣袋里<strong>掏出</strong>一个小瓶子，笑眯眯地喷了喷小熊受伤的脚。小熊马上就<strong>活蹦乱跳</strong>了，快活地在雪地上和小伙伴们玩耍……\n\n小鸟们的欢声笑语把小熊<strong>吵醒</strong>了，原来这只是一场梦。可是小熊发现自己的手里竟然有一个小瓶子！小熊拿起小瓶子往脚上一喷，受伤的脚马上就好了。这真是一瓶神水啊！从此，小熊再也不怕摔伤了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIt\'s snowing, it\'s snowing! Flakes of snow lightly danced like dandelions in the air, and after a while, the earth wore clothes of pure white. \n\nCute little bear incautiously sprained his ankle, and had to lie in bed all alone. Suddenly, from outside the window came the sound of lighthearted singing. Little bear looked out the window, and [saw that it was] Little Mouse and Little White Rabbit dancing and singing! The snow still held [impressions of] their cute little footprints. Little Bear was truly envious! But what could he do? Little Bear gave a deep sigh, and said aloud to himself: \"Better get some more sleep, and maybe in my dream there will be a miracle!\" \n\nSure enough, Little bear had a good dream. In his dream, an old man with a long beard came into his room. The old man fished a little bottle out of his pocket, and smilingly sprayed [some liquid from the bottle] on Little Bear\'s wounded foot. Little Bear immediately leaped up and frisked about, playing cheerfully with his [two] buddies on the snowy ground.\n\nThe happy sounds of the small birds woke Little Bear up, and [found that] actually it was all just a dream. But then he discovered that there was a small bottle in his hand! Little Bear took up the small bottle and sprayed it on his foot, and the wounded foot was immediately better! This really was a bottle of magic water! After that, Little Bear never again feared bumps and bruises. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Bear\'s Beautiful Dream', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1460-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-02-04 03:42:37', '2014-02-04 08:42:37', '', 1460, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/02/04/1460-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1462, 1, '2014-02-04 03:47:54', '2014-02-04 08:47:54', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Learn Simplified Chinese character Reading', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140204-inline', '', '', '2014-02-04 03:47:54', '2014-02-04 08:47:54', '', 1460, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/20140204-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1463, 1, '2014-02-04 03:47:56', '2014-02-04 08:47:56', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: beginners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140204', '', '', '2014-02-04 03:47:56', '2014-02-04 08:47:56', '', 1460, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/20140204.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1464, 1, '2014-02-04 03:43:22', '2014-02-04 08:43:22', '[two_third]\r\nBeen a couple of months since I tossed a post out there - the latter half of 2013 was a bit of a shake-up, so please forgive the lapse. In other news, I can\'t get my favorite Chinese story website, tom61.com, to load anymore, #sadface. Fingers crossed that\'s a temporary glitch, but if not, I\'ll mourn the loss of a fantastic learner\'s website. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn the meantime, I\'ve pulled something off <a href=\"http://gushi365.com\">gushi365.com</a>. \r\n\r\nThe content of <a href=\"http://www.gushi365.com/info/9851.html\">this story</a> is for children, but the language is not beginner, and neither is the sentence structure - this is an intermediate read for sure. I say that because it feels very \"fairy-tale\" language-y, in the sense that sentences are formed in a more literary way, rather than in a chatty way, and there are some uncommonly-heard words, like \"footprint\" (脚印), etc. The tone of the story, on the other hand, is very tra-la-la, winter sparkly glitter magic.\r\n\r\nTwo quick notes on phrases here: 传来了 [pinyin]chuan4 lai2[/pinyin] is an intermediate phrase that can be a little hard to understand, but it is used in reference to things we hear that come to us from afar. This may include voices (like hearing someone\'s voice from outside your house), or noises, or smells, or a piece of news. You can use this to talk about sensations and things that come to you from no particular person or direction - from \"afar\" or \"all around\". \r\n\r\n掏出 [pinyin]tao1 chu1[/pinyin]: this means to fish something out of something else. For example, to fish your phone out of your pocket, or to fish your sweatshirt out of your backpack. \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蒲公英 - [pinyin]pu2 gong1 ying1[/pinyin] - Dandelion\r\n翩翩起舞 - [pinyin]pian1 pian1 qi3 wu3[/pinyin] - Lightly dance about\r\n扭到脚了 - [pinyin]niu3 dao4 jiao3 le[/pinyin] - Sprain / twist one\'s foot / ankle\r\n载歌载舞 - [pinyin]zai4 ge1 zai4 wu3[/pinyin] - Singing and dancing\r\n自言自语- [pinyin]zi4 yan2 zi4 yu3[/pinyin] - Talk to yourself\r\n说不定 - [pinyin]shuo1 bu5 ding4[/pinyin] - Who can say... [that sthng won\'t happen]\r\n奇迹 - [pinyin]qi2 ji4[/pinyin] - Miracle\r\n活蹦乱跳 - [pinyin]huo2 beng4 luan4 tiao4[/pinyin] - Leap and frisk about\r\n吵醒 - [pinyin]chao2 xing3[/pinyin] - To be woken up by noise\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下雪啦，下雪啦！一片片雪花像<strong>蒲公英</strong>一样在空中<strong>翩翩起舞</strong>，不一会儿，大地就穿上了一件洁白的衣裳。\r\n\r\n可爱的小熊不小心<strong>扭到脚了</strong>，只得孤零零地躺在小床上。忽然，从窗外<strong>传来了</strong>欢快的歌声。小熊朝窗外看去，原来是小老鼠和小白兔在雪地里<strong>载歌载舞</strong>呢！雪地上还留下了他们可爱的小脚印。小熊心里真羡慕呀！可是，他有什么办法呢？小熊深深地叹了一口气，<strong>自言自语</strong>：“还是睡一觉吧，<strong>说不定</strong>梦里会出现<strong>奇迹</strong>！”\r\n\r\n小熊果然做了一个好梦。他梦见一位留着长胡子的老爷爷来到了他的小屋里。老爷爷从衣袋里<strong>掏出</strong>一个小瓶子，笑眯眯地喷了喷小熊受伤的脚。小熊马上就<strong>活蹦乱跳</strong>了，快活地在雪地上和小伙伴们玩耍……\r\n\r\n小鸟们的欢声笑语把小熊<strong>吵醒</strong>了，原来这只是一场梦。可是小熊发现自己的手里竟然有一个小瓶子！小熊拿起小瓶子往脚上一喷，受伤的脚马上就好了。这真是一瓶神水啊！从此，小熊再也不怕摔伤了。 \r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nIt\'s snowing, it\'s snowing! Flakes of snow lightly danced like dandelions in the air, and after a while, the earth wore clothes of pure white. \r\n\r\nCute little bear incautiously sprained his ankle, and had to lie in bed all alone. Suddenly, from outside the window came the sound of lighthearted singing. Little bear looked out the window, and [saw that it was] Little Mouse and Little White Rabbit dancing and singing! The snow still held [impressions of] their cute little footprints. Little Bear was truly envious! But what could he do? Little Bear gave a deep sigh, and said aloud to himself: \"Better get some more sleep, and maybe in my dream there will be a miracle!\" \r\n\r\nSure enough, Little bear had a good dream. In his dream, an old man with a long beard came into his room. The old man fished a little bottle out of his pocket, and smilingly sprayed [some liquid from the bottle] on Little Bear\'s wounded foot. Little Bear immediately leaped up and frisked about, playing cheerfully with his [two] buddies on the snowy ground.\r\n\r\nThe happy sounds of the small birds woke Little Bear up, and [found that] actually it was all just a dream. But then he discovered that there was a small bottle in his hand! Little Bear took up the small bottle and sprayed it on his foot, and the wounded foot was immediately better! This really was a bottle of magic water! After that, Little Bear never again feared bumps and bruises. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Little Bear\'s Beautiful Dream', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1460-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-02-04 03:43:22', '2014-02-04 08:43:22', '', 1460, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/02/04/1460-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1465, 1, '2013-07-08 15:38:57', '2013-07-08 19:38:57', '[two_third]\r\nWelp, I swore I would never do this again but I found this (and several other short stories) in Hainan Airlines\' in-flight magazine (I\'m in Prague!) and couldn\'t resist typing it up (as opposed to copy-pasting from an online source). I\'ve checked and checked for typos, but I\'m not always the best at that, so if you run across one, please comment.\r\n\r\nThis is one of those reads where the sentence structure is basic and in parts very repetitive, but quite a few advanced words are used - \"advanced\" only because they\'re not used often in casual conversation, like parts of an animal (hooves, horns, etc.) So beginners, you can give this a go if you\'re feeling very patient but you\'ll be looking up every other word in some paragraphs even though you will be able to predict generally what the next few sentences are about.<!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130624-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Simplified Chinese Characters: Intermediate Exercises for Chinese Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />I wanted to post a quick comment about the words 一箭一般, because this looks like a typical four-character idiom, but it\'s actually two separate words, 一箭 (an arrow) and 一般 (like, as if). Together this means \"like an arrow\", or in context of this sentence \"to take off (running) like a shot\". \r\n\r\nThere\'s also the phrase 从草丛中闪出. We\'re talking here about a dog that is \"[darting] out in a flash\" (闪出) \"from the middle of a cluster of grasses\" (从草丛中). We can imagine a dog charging out of a field of tall grass and into a clearing. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title is 沉默的狗\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n山坡 - [pinyin]shan1 po1[/pinyin] - Hillside, mountain side\r\n窜 - [pinyin]cuan4[/pinyin] - To be exiled from, to flee\r\n抵抗 - [pinyin]di3 kang4[/pinyin] - Resist\r\n溜烟 - [pinyin]liu1 yan1[/pinyin] - Slip away like smoke, disappear in a puff of smoke\r\n奔 - [pinyin]ben1[/pinyin] - To rush, to hurry\r\n换气 - [pinyin]huan4 qi4[/pinyin] - Take a breath (after holding your breath, as with swimming)\r\n怆惶 - [pinyin]chuang4 huang2[/pinyin] - Sad and scared\r\n剜出 - [pinyin]wan1 chu1[/pinyin] - To gouge out\r\n蹄子 - [pinyin]ti2 zi5[/pinyin] - Hooves\r\n一拱 - [pinyin]yi1 gong3[/pinyin] - Nuzzle with snout\r\n唯独 - [pinyin]wei2 du2[/pinyin] - Only\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傍晚，一只羊独自在<strong>山坡</strong>上玩，突然从树木中<strong>窜</strong>出一只狼来，要吃羊，羊跳起来，拼命用角<strong>抵抗</strong>，并大声向朋友们救命。\r\n\r\n牛在树丛中向这个地方望了一眼，发现是狼，跑走了。\r\n\r\n马低头一看，发现是狼，一<strong>溜烟</strong>跑了。\r\n\r\n驴停下脚步，发现是狼，悄悄溜下山坡。\r\n\r\n猪经过这里，发现是狼，冲下山坡。\r\n\r\n兔子一听，更是<strong>一箭一般</strong>离去。\r\n\r\n山下的狗听见羊的呼喊，急忙<strong>奔</strong>上坡来，<strong>从草丛中闪出</strong>，一下咬住了狼的脖子，狼疼得直叫唤, 趁够<strong>换气</strong>时，<strong>怆惶</strong>挑走了。\r\n\r\n回到家，朋友都来了，\r\n牛说：你怎么不告诉我？我的角可以<strong>剜出</strong>狼的肠子。\r\n马说：你怎么不告诉我？我的<strong>蹄子</strong>能踢碎狼的脑袋。\r\n驴说：你怎么不告诉我？我一声吼叫，吓破狼的胆。\r\n猪说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我用嘴<strong>一拱</strong>，就让它摔下山去。\r\n兔子说：你怎么不告诉我？ 我跑得快，可以传心呀。\r\n\r\n在这闹嚷嚷的一群中，<strong>唯独</strong>没有狗。\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\nOne nightfall, a sheep was playing alone on the mountainside, when suddenly a wolf emerged from among the trees, wanting to eat the sheep, so the sheep jumped up, using his horns to defend himself with all his might, and loudly called out for his friends to save his life.\r\n\r\nThe bull looked over from among a cluster of trees, saw there was a wolf, and ran away.\r\n\r\nThe horse lowered its head and looked, discovered there was a wolf, and slipped away in a puff of smoke.\r\n\r\nThe mule stopped walking for a moment, discovered there was a wolf, and quietly slipped down the mountain.\r\n\r\nThe pig passed through there, found out there was a wolf, and rushed down the mountainside.\r\n\r\nThe rabbit listened a moment, then took off like a shot.\r\n\r\nFrom the bottom of the mountain, the dog heard the sheep\'s cry, and ran quickly up the mountainside, came out of the grass in a flash, and in a moment had grabbed the wolf\'s neck in his teeth, the wolf cried out in pain, and taking advantage of the dog\'s intake of breath, ran away full of sorrow and fear.\r\n\r\n[When the sheep] returned home, his friends all came over.\r\n\r\nThe bull said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My horns could have gouged out the wolf\'s intestines.\r\nThe horse said: Why didn\'t you tell me? My hooves could have kicked the wolf\'s skull apart.\r\nDonkey said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could have brayed and startled the wolf so as to break his courage. \r\nPig said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I could nuzzle him with my snout, and make him fall down the mountain.\r\nRabbit said: Why didn\'t you tell me? I run fast, I could have spread the word.\r\nIn this noisy group, the only one who wasn\'t present was the dog.\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The Silent Dog', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1432-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-07-08 15:38:57', '2013-07-08 19:38:57', '', 1432, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/07/08/1432-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1466, 1, '2014-02-05 05:21:12', '2014-02-05 10:21:12', 'I can\'t vouch for the accuracy of the history here, not being a pencil history expert myself, but this read has a lot of good words for larnin\'. I\'d put this in the lower-advanced spectrum, as the sentence structure isn\'t over-the-top literary, but there are a ton of specialized words and proper nouns. The tone is very encyclopedic, so, rather serious and not a lot of fun. \r\n\r\nA couple of proper names for you: \r\n<strong>巴罗代尔</strong> - Borrowdale, England\r\n<strong>乔治二世</strong> - George the Second (English King)\r\n<strong>法伯</strong> - Eberhard Faber, a German chemist\r\n<strong>孔德</strong> - Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French scientist\r\n\r\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.gushi365.com/info/9763.html\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.gushi365.com/info/9763.html</a>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 铅笔的历史非常悠久，它起源于2000多年前的古罗马时期。那时的铅笔很<strong>简陋</strong>，只不过是金属套里夹着的一根铅棒，甚至是铅块，倒真是<strong>名副其实</strong>的“铅”笔。而我们今天使用的铅笔是用石墨和黏土制成的，里面并不含铅。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 现代铅笔<strong>诞生</strong>于16世纪的英国。1564年，有人在巴罗代尔发现了一种名叫石墨的黑色<strong>矿物</strong>。石墨能像铅一样在纸上留下痕迹，而且比铅的痕迹要黑得多，因此，人们称石墨为“黑铅”。巴罗代尔一带的牧羊人常用石墨在羊身上做记号。后来，人们又将石墨块切成小条，用于写字、绘画。不久，英王乔治二世将巴罗代尔石墨矿收归<strong>皇室</strong>所有，把它定为皇家的专用品。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 不过，石墨条也有它的<strong>缺点</strong>：容易弄脏手，还容易折断。1761年，德国化学家法伯用石墨粉同<strong>硫磺</strong>、<strong>松香</strong>等混合起来，制成条，这比纯石墨条的韧性大得多，也不大容易弄脏手。18世纪末时，只有英、德两国能够生产铅笔。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 后来，法国也在自己的国土上找到了石墨矿，但矿的质量不高，储量也少。法国科学家孔德便在石墨中<strong>掺入</strong>黏土，放进窑里烧制，制成了既好用又耐用的铅笔<strong>芯</strong>。石墨中掺入的黏土的比例不同，铅笔芯的硬度也就不同。我们常看到铅笔头上标着B、HB一类的字母，表示的就是铅笔芯的硬度和颜色深浅。B表示黑度，H表示硬度，所以，HB就是软硬和颜色深浅都适中的铅笔芯，适合写字。 \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> The history of the pencil is very long, dating back 2000 years to ancient Roman times. The pencils of that time were very crude, being nothing more than a gold cover cripping a lead stick, or even a lead block, and it really was a \"lead\" pen (not just in name only). Whereas the pencils we use toady are manufactured from graphite and clay, the inside doesn\'t really contain lead.  \r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> Modern pencils were born in 16th Century England. In 1564, people in Borrowdale discovered a kind of black mineral called graphite. Like lead, graphite could leave marks on paper, and the marks it left were much darker than lead, thus, people called graphite \"black lead\". Shepherds in the Borrowdale region commonly used graphite to mark seals on the bodies of sheep. Later, people carved lead into little strips, using them for writing and drawing. After long, the English king George the Second brought Borrowdale graphite ore back to the imperial household for the royal family\'s particular use.   \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> However, graphite strips also had their weak point: they dirty the hands, and they break easily. In 1761, German chemist Faber mixed graphite powder together with sulfer, pine resin and other things, and manufactured them as strips, which was much tougher than simple graphite, and didn\'t dirty the hands as easily. At the end of the 18th century, only England and Germany were capable of producing pencils.    \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> Later, France discovered [deposits of] graphite ore in their earth, but the ore\'s quality wasn\'t high, and the quantities weren\'t great. French Scientist Conte mixed the ore with clay, fired it in a kiln, making a more easy to use and durable pencil core. The amount of clay mixed with the graphite wasn\'t always the same, and so the hardness of the lead [core] also changed accordingly. We often see \"B\" and \"HB\" letters marked out on the head of the pencil, indicating hardness and light or darkness of color. \"B\" indicates color, H indicates hardness, therefore, \"HB\" indicates that hardness and darkness  of the lead are both moderate, and are suitable for writing.   \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Facts in Chinese] 铅笔的历史 - The History of the Pencil', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'history-of-the-pencil', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:12:46', '2016-11-04 10:12:46', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1466', 0, 'post', '', 9),
(2042, 1, '2016-11-04 06:12:46', '2016-11-04 10:12:46', 'I can\'t vouch for the accuracy of the history here, not being a pencil history expert myself, but this read has a lot of good words for larnin\'. I\'d put this in the lower-advanced spectrum, as the sentence structure isn\'t over-the-top literary, but there are a ton of specialized words and proper nouns. The tone is very encyclopedic, so, rather serious and not a lot of fun. \r\n\r\nA couple of proper names for you: \r\n<strong>巴罗代尔</strong> - Borrowdale, England\r\n<strong>乔治二世</strong> - George the Second (English King)\r\n<strong>法伯</strong> - Eberhard Faber, a German chemist\r\n<strong>孔德</strong> - Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French scientist\r\n\r\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.gushi365.com/info/9763.html\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.gushi365.com/info/9763.html</a>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 铅笔的历史非常悠久，它起源于2000多年前的古罗马时期。那时的铅笔很<strong>简陋</strong>，只不过是金属套里夹着的一根铅棒，甚至是铅块，倒真是<strong>名副其实</strong>的“铅”笔。而我们今天使用的铅笔是用石墨和黏土制成的，里面并不含铅。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 现代铅笔<strong>诞生</strong>于16世纪的英国。1564年，有人在巴罗代尔发现了一种名叫石墨的黑色<strong>矿物</strong>。石墨能像铅一样在纸上留下痕迹，而且比铅的痕迹要黑得多，因此，人们称石墨为“黑铅”。巴罗代尔一带的牧羊人常用石墨在羊身上做记号。后来，人们又将石墨块切成小条，用于写字、绘画。不久，英王乔治二世将巴罗代尔石墨矿收归<strong>皇室</strong>所有，把它定为皇家的专用品。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 不过，石墨条也有它的<strong>缺点</strong>：容易弄脏手，还容易折断。1761年，德国化学家法伯用石墨粉同<strong>硫磺</strong>、<strong>松香</strong>等混合起来，制成条，这比纯石墨条的韧性大得多，也不大容易弄脏手。18世纪末时，只有英、德两国能够生产铅笔。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 后来，法国也在自己的国土上找到了石墨矿，但矿的质量不高，储量也少。法国科学家孔德便在石墨中<strong>掺入</strong>黏土，放进窑里烧制，制成了既好用又耐用的铅笔<strong>芯</strong>。石墨中掺入的黏土的比例不同，铅笔芯的硬度也就不同。我们常看到铅笔头上标着B、HB一类的字母，表示的就是铅笔芯的硬度和颜色深浅。B表示黑度，H表示硬度，所以，HB就是软硬和颜色深浅都适中的铅笔芯，适合写字。 \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> The history of the pencil is very long, dating back 2000 years to ancient Roman times. The pencils of that time were very crude, being nothing more than a gold cover cripping a lead stick, or even a lead block, and it really was a \"lead\" pen (not just in name only). Whereas the pencils we use toady are manufactured from graphite and clay, the inside doesn\'t really contain lead.  \r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> Modern pencils were born in 16th Century England. In 1564, people in Borrowdale discovered a kind of black mineral called graphite. Like lead, graphite could leave marks on paper, and the marks it left were much darker than lead, thus, people called graphite \"black lead\". Shepherds in the Borrowdale region commonly used graphite to mark seals on the bodies of sheep. Later, people carved lead into little strips, using them for writing and drawing. After long, the English king George the Second brought Borrowdale graphite ore back to the imperial household for the royal family\'s particular use.   \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> However, graphite strips also had their weak point: they dirty the hands, and they break easily. In 1761, German chemist Faber mixed graphite powder together with sulfer, pine resin and other things, and manufactured them as strips, which was much tougher than simple graphite, and didn\'t dirty the hands as easily. At the end of the 18th century, only England and Germany were capable of producing pencils.    \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> Later, France discovered [deposits of] graphite ore in their earth, but the ore\'s quality wasn\'t high, and the quantities weren\'t great. French Scientist Conte mixed the ore with clay, fired it in a kiln, making a more easy to use and durable pencil core. The amount of clay mixed with the graphite wasn\'t always the same, and so the hardness of the lead [core] also changed accordingly. We often see \"B\" and \"HB\" letters marked out on the head of the pencil, indicating hardness and light or darkness of color. \"B\" indicates color, H indicates hardness, therefore, \"HB\" indicates that hardness and darkness  of the lead are both moderate, and are suitable for writing.   \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Facts in Chinese] 铅笔的历史 - The History of the Pencil', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1466-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:12:46', '2016-11-04 10:12:46', '', 1466, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1466-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1753, 1, '2016-10-31 03:41:27', '2016-10-31 07:41:27', '[two_third]\r\nWoo, I\'m on a roll this week. I can\'t vouch for the accuracy of the history here, not being a pencil history expert myself, but this read has a lot of good words for larnin\'. I\'d put this in the lower-advanced spectrum, as the sentence structure isn\'t over-the-top literary, but there are a ton of specialized words and proper nouns. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/20140205-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese - Simplified Character Learning Short Stories\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The tone is very encyclopedic, so, rather serious and not a lot of fun. \r\n\r\nA couple of proper names for you: \r\n<strong>巴罗代尔</strong> - Borrowdale, England\r\n<strong>乔治二世</strong> - George the Second (English King)\r\n<strong>法伯</strong> - Eberhard Faber, a German chemist\r\n<strong>孔德</strong> - Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French scientist\r\n\r\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.gushi365.com/info/9763.html\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.gushi365.com/info/9763.html</a>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 铅笔的历史非常悠久，它起源于2000多年前的古罗马时期。那时的铅笔很<strong>简陋</strong>，只不过是金属套里夹着的一根铅棒，甚至是铅块，倒真是<strong>名副其实</strong>的“铅”笔。而我们今天使用的铅笔是用石墨和黏土制成的，里面并不含铅。\r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> 现代铅笔<strong>诞生</strong>于16世纪的英国。1564年，有人在巴罗代尔发现了一种名叫石墨的黑色<strong>矿物</strong>。石墨能像铅一样在纸上留下痕迹，而且比铅的痕迹要黑得多，因此，人们称石墨为“黑铅”。巴罗代尔一带的牧羊人常用石墨在羊身上做记号。后来，人们又将石墨块切成小条，用于写字、绘画。不久，英王乔治二世将巴罗代尔石墨矿收归<strong>皇室</strong>所有，把它定为皇家的专用品。\r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> 不过，石墨条也有它的<strong>缺点</strong>：容易弄脏手，还容易折断。1761年，德国化学家法伯用石墨粉同<strong>硫磺</strong>、<strong>松香</strong>等混合起来，制成条，这比纯石墨条的韧性大得多，也不大容易弄脏手。18世纪末时，只有英、德两国能够生产铅笔。\r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> 后来，法国也在自己的国土上找到了石墨矿，但矿的质量不高，储量也少。法国科学家孔德便在石墨中<strong>掺入</strong>黏土，放进窑里烧制，制成了既好用又耐用的铅笔<strong>芯</strong>。石墨中掺入的黏土的比例不同，铅笔芯的硬度也就不同。我们常看到铅笔头上标着B、HB一类的字母，表示的就是铅笔芯的硬度和颜色深浅。B表示黑度，H表示硬度，所以，HB就是软硬和颜色深浅都适中的铅笔芯，适合写字。 \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> The history of the pencil is very long, dating back 2000 years to ancient Roman times. The pencils of that time were very crude, being nothing more than a gold cover cripping a lead stick, or even a lead block, and it really was a \"lead\" pen (not just in name only). Whereas the pencils we use toady are manufactured from graphite and clay, the inside doesn\'t really contain lead.  \r\n\r\n<strong>2)</strong> Modern pencils were born in 16th Century England. In 1564, people in Borrowdale discovered a kind of black mineral called graphite. Like lead, graphite could leave marks on paper, and the marks it left were much darker than lead, thus, people called graphite \"black lead\". Shepherds in the Borrowdale region commonly used graphite to mark seals on the bodies of sheep. Later, people carved lead into little strips, using them for writing and drawing. After long, the English king George the Second brought Borrowdale graphite ore back to the imperial household for the royal family\'s particular use.   \r\n\r\n<strong>3)</strong> However, graphite strips also had their weak point: they dirty the hands, and they break easily. In 1761, German chemist Faber mixed graphite powder together with sulfer, pine resin and other things, and manufactured them as strips, which was much tougher than simple graphite, and didn\'t dirty the hands as easily. At the end of the 18th century, only England and Germany were capable of producing pencils.    \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> Later, France discovered [deposits of] graphite ore in their earth, but the ore\'s quality wasn\'t high, and the quantities weren\'t great. French Scientist Conte mixed the ore with clay, fired it in a kiln, making a more easy to use and durable pencil wick. The amount of clay mixed with the graphite wasn\'t always the same, and so the hardness of the lead [wick] also changed accordingly. We often see \"B\" and \"HB\" letters marked out on the head of the pencil, indicating hardness and light or darkness of color. \"B\" indicates color, H indicates hardness, therefore, \"HB\" indicates that hardness and darkness  of the lead are both moderate, and are suitable for writing.   \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Facts] 铅笔的历史 - The History of the Pencil', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1466-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:41:27', '2016-10-31 07:41:27', '', 1466, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1466-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1467, 1, '2014-02-04 22:32:04', '2014-02-05 03:32:04', '[two_third]\nhttp://ent.chinadaily.com.cn/2014-02/04/content_17268203.htm\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n蒲公英 - [pinyin]pu2 gong1 ying1[/pinyin] - Dandelion\n翩翩起舞 - [pinyin]pian1 pian1 qi3 wu3[/pinyin] - Lightly dance about\n扭到脚了 - [pinyin]niu3 dao4 jiao3 le[/pinyin] - Sprain / twist one\'s foot / ankle\n载歌载舞 - [pinyin]zai4 ge1 zai4 wu3[/pinyin] - Singing and dancing\n自言自语- [pinyin]zi4 yan2 zi4 yu3[/pinyin] - Talk to yourself\n说不定 - [pinyin]shuo1 bu5 ding4[/pinyin] - Who can say... [that sthng won\'t happen]\n奇迹 - [pinyin]qi2 ji4[/pinyin] - Miracle\n活蹦乱跳 - [pinyin]huo2 beng4 luan4 tiao4[/pinyin] - Leap and frisk about\n吵醒 - [pinyin]chao2 xing3[/pinyin] - To be woken up by noise\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n下雪啦，下雪啦！一片片雪花像<strong>蒲公英</strong>一样在空中<strong>翩翩起舞</strong>，不一会儿，大地就穿上了一件洁白的衣裳。\n\n可爱的小熊不小心<strong>扭到脚了</strong>，只得孤零零地躺在小床上。忽然，从窗外<strong>传来了</strong>欢快的歌声。小熊朝窗外看去，原来是小老鼠和小白兔在雪地里<strong>载歌载舞</strong>呢！雪地上还留下了他们可爱的小脚印。小熊心里真羡慕呀！可是，他有什么办法呢？小熊深深地叹了一口气，<strong>自言自语</strong>：“还是睡一觉吧，<strong>说不定</strong>梦里会出现<strong>奇迹</strong>！”\n\n小熊果然做了一个好梦。他梦见一位留着长胡子的老爷爷来到了他的小屋里。老爷爷从衣袋里<strong>掏出</strong>一个小瓶子，笑眯眯地喷了喷小熊受伤的脚。小熊马上就<strong>活蹦乱跳</strong>了，快活地在雪地上和小伙伴们玩耍……\n\n小鸟们的欢声笑语把小熊<strong>吵醒</strong>了，原来这只是一场梦。可是小熊发现自己的手里竟然有一个小瓶子！小熊拿起小瓶子往脚上一喷，受伤的脚马上就好了。这真是一瓶神水啊！从此，小熊再也不怕摔伤了。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIt\'s snowing, it\'s snowing! Flakes of snow lightly danced like dandelions in the air, and after a while, the earth wore clothes of pure white. \n\nCute little bear incautiously sprained his ankle, and had to lie in bed all alone. Suddenly, from outside the window came the sound of lighthearted singing. Little bear looked out the window, and [saw that it was] Little Mouse and Little White Rabbit dancing and singing! The snow still held [impressions of] their cute little footprints. Little Bear was truly envious! But what could he do? Little Bear gave a deep sigh, and said aloud to himself: \"Better get some more sleep, and maybe in my dream there will be a miracle!\" \n\nSure enough, Little bear had a good dream. In his dream, an old man with a long beard came into his room. The old man fished a little bottle out of his pocket, and smilingly sprayed [some liquid from the bottle] on Little Bear\'s wounded foot. Little Bear immediately leaped up and frisked about, playing cheerfully with his [two] buddies on the snowy ground.\n\nThe happy sounds of the small birds woke Little Bear up, and [found that] actually it was all just a dream. But then he discovered that there was a small bottle in his hand! Little Bear took up the small bottle and sprayed it on his foot, and the wounded foot was immediately better! This really was a bottle of magic water! After that, Little Bear never again feared bumps and bruises. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'News: Famous Hong Kong Actor Xu Ma Dies of Lung Cancer at 71', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1466-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-02-04 22:32:04', '2014-02-05 03:32:04', '', 1466, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/02/04/1466-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1468, 1, '2014-02-05 04:19:43', '2014-02-05 09:19:43', '[two_third]\nhttp://www.gushi365.com/info/9763.html\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n简陋 - [pinyin]pu2 gong1 ying1[/pinyin] - Dandelion\n名副其实 - [pinyin]pian1 pian1 qi3 wu3[/pinyin] - Lightly dance about\n扭到脚了 - [pinyin]niu3 dao4 jiao3 le[/pinyin] - Sprain / twist one\'s foot / ankle\n载歌载舞 - [pinyin]zai4 ge1 zai4 wu3[/pinyin] - Singing and dancing\n自言自语- [pinyin]zi4 yan2 zi4 yu3[/pinyin] - Talk to yourself\n说不定 - [pinyin]shuo1 bu5 ding4[/pinyin] - Who can say... [that sthng won\'t happen]\n奇迹 - [pinyin]qi2 ji4[/pinyin] - Miracle\n活蹦乱跳 - [pinyin]huo2 beng4 luan4 tiao4[/pinyin] - Leap and frisk about\n吵醒 - [pinyin]chao2 xing3[/pinyin] - To be woken up by noise\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n铅笔的历史非常悠久，它起源于2000多年前的古罗马时期。那时的铅笔很简陋（lòu），只不过是金属套里夹着的一根铅棒，甚至是铅块，倒真是名副其实的“铅”笔。而我们今天使用的铅笔是用石墨和黏（nián）土制成的，里面并不含铅。\n\n现代铅笔诞生于16世纪的英国。1564年，有人在巴罗代尔发现了一种名叫石墨的黑色矿物。石墨能像铅一样在纸上留下痕迹，而且比铅的痕迹要黑得多，因此，人们称石墨为“黑铅”。巴罗代尔一带的牧羊人常用石墨在羊身上做记号。后来，人们又将石墨块切成小条，用于写字、绘画。不久，英王乔治二世将巴罗代尔石墨矿收归皇室所有，把它定为皇家的专用品。\n\n不过，石墨条也有它的缺点：容易弄脏手，还容易折断。1761年，德国化学家法伯用石墨粉同硫磺（liú huánɡ）、松香等混合起来，制成条，这比纯石墨条的韧（rèn）性大得多，也不大容易弄脏手。18世纪末时，只有英、德两国能够生产铅笔。\n\n后来，法国也在自己的国土上找到了石墨矿，但矿的质量不高，储（chǔ）量也少。法国科学家孔德便在石墨中掺（chān）入黏土，放进窑（yáo）里烧制，制成了既好用又耐用的铅笔芯（xīn）。石墨中掺入的黏土的比例不同，铅笔芯的硬度也就不同。我们常看到铅笔头上标着B、HB一类的字母，表示的就是铅笔芯的硬度和颜色深浅。B表示黑度，H表示硬度，所以，HB就是软硬和颜色深浅都适中的铅笔芯，适合写字。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe history of the pencil is very long, dating back 2000 years to ancient Roman times. The pencils of that time were very crude, being nothing more than a gold cover cripping a lead stick, or even a lead block, and it really was a \"lead\" pen (not just in name only). Whereas the pencils we use toady are manufactured from graphite and clay, the inside doesn\'t really contain lead.  \n\nModern pencils were born in 16th Century England. In 1564, people in Borrowdale discovered a kind of black mineral called graphite. Like lead, graphite could leave marks on paper, and the marks it left were much darker than lead, thus, people called graphite \"black lead\". Shepherds in the Borrowdale region commonly used graphite to mark seals on the bodies of sheep. Later, people carved lead into little strips, using them for writing and drawing. After long, the English king George the Second brought Borrowdale graphite ore back to the imperial household,      。后来，人们又将石墨块切成小条，用于写字、绘画。不久，英王乔治二世将巴罗代尔石墨矿收归皇室所有，把它定为皇家的专用品。\n\n不过，石墨条也有它的缺点：容易弄脏手，还容易折断。1761年，德国化学家法伯用石墨粉同硫磺（liú huánɡ）、松香等混合起来，制成条，这比纯石墨条的韧（rèn）性大得多，也不大容易弄脏手。18世纪末时，只有英、德两国能够生产铅笔。\n\n后来，法国也在自己的国土上找到了石墨矿，但矿的质量不高，储（chǔ）量也少。法国科学家孔德便在石墨中掺（chān）入黏土，放进窑（yáo）里烧制，制成了既好用又耐用的铅笔芯（xīn）。石墨中掺入的黏土的比例不同，铅笔芯的硬度也就不同。我们常看到铅笔头上标着B、HB一类的字母，表示的就是铅笔芯的硬度和颜色深浅。B表示黑度，H表示硬度，所以，HB就是软硬和颜色深浅都适中的铅笔芯，适合写字。 \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The History of the Pencil', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1466-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-02-05 04:19:43', '2014-02-05 09:19:43', '', 1466, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/02/05/1466-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1469, 1, '2014-02-05 04:41:10', '2014-02-05 09:41:10', '[two_third]\nWoo, I\'m on a roll this week. I can\'t vouch for the accuracy of the history here, not being a pencil history expert myself, \nI can\'t vouch for the \nhttp://www.gushi365.com/info/9763.html\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n简陋 - [pinyin]pu2 gong1 ying1[/pinyin] - Dandelion\n名副其实 - [pinyin]pian1 pian1 qi3 wu3[/pinyin] - Lightly dance about\n扭到脚了 - [pinyin]niu3 dao4 jiao3 le[/pinyin] - Sprain / twist one\'s foot / ankle\n载歌载舞 - [pinyin]zai4 ge1 zai4 wu3[/pinyin] - Singing and dancing\n自言自语- [pinyin]zi4 yan2 zi4 yu3[/pinyin] - Talk to yourself\n说不定 - [pinyin]shuo1 bu5 ding4[/pinyin] - Who can say... [that sthng won\'t happen]\n奇迹 - [pinyin]qi2 ji4[/pinyin] - Miracle\n活蹦乱跳 - [pinyin]huo2 beng4 luan4 tiao4[/pinyin] - Leap and frisk about\n吵醒 - [pinyin]chao2 xing3[/pinyin] - To be woken up by noise\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n铅笔的历史非常悠久，它起源于2000多年前的古罗马时期。那时的铅笔很简陋（lòu），只不过是金属套里夹着的一根铅棒，甚至是铅块，倒真是名副其实的“铅”笔。而我们今天使用的铅笔是用石墨和黏（nián）土制成的，里面并不含铅。\n\n现代铅笔诞生于16世纪的英国。1564年，有人在巴罗代尔发现了一种名叫石墨的黑色矿物。石墨能像铅一样在纸上留下痕迹，而且比铅的痕迹要黑得多，因此，人们称石墨为“黑铅”。巴罗代尔一带的牧羊人常用石墨在羊身上做记号。后来，人们又将石墨块切成小条，用于写字、绘画。不久，英王乔治二世将巴罗代尔石墨矿收归皇室所有，把它定为皇家的专用品。\n\n不过，石墨条也有它的缺点：容易弄脏手，还容易折断。1761年，德国化学家法伯用石墨粉同硫磺（liú huánɡ）、松香等混合起来，制成条，这比纯石墨条的韧（rèn）性大得多，也不大容易弄脏手。18世纪末时，只有英、德两国能够生产铅笔。\n\n后来，法国也在自己的国土上找到了石墨矿，但矿的质量不高，储（chǔ）量也少。法国科学家孔德便在石墨中掺（chān）入黏土，放进窑（yáo）里烧制，制成了既好用又耐用的铅笔芯（xīn）。石墨中掺入的黏土的比例不同，铅笔芯的硬度也就不同。我们常看到铅笔头上标着B、HB一类的字母，表示的就是铅笔芯的硬度和颜色深浅。B表示黑度，H表示硬度，所以，HB就是软硬和颜色深浅都适中的铅笔芯，适合写字。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe history of the pencil is very long, dating back 2000 years to ancient Roman times. The pencils of that time were very crude, being nothing more than a gold cover cripping a lead stick, or even a lead block, and it really was a \"lead\" pen (not just in name only). Whereas the pencils we use toady are manufactured from graphite and clay, the inside doesn\'t really contain lead.  \n\nModern pencils were born in 16th Century England. In 1564, people in Borrowdale discovered a kind of black mineral called graphite. Like lead, graphite could leave marks on paper, and the marks it left were much darker than lead, thus, people called graphite \"black lead\". Shepherds in the Borrowdale region commonly used graphite to mark seals on the bodies of sheep. Later, people carved lead into little strips, using them for writing and drawing. After long, the English king George the Second brought Borrowdale graphite ore back to the imperial household for the royal family\'s particular use.   \n\nHowever, graphite strips also had their weak point: they dirty the hands, and they break easily. In 1761, German chemist Faber mixed graphite powder together with sulfer, pine resin and other things, and manufactured them as strips, which was much tougher than simple graphite, and didn\'t dirty the hands as easily. At the end of the 18th century, only England and Germany were capable of producing pencils.    \n\nLater, France discovered [deposits of] graphite ore in their earth, but the ore\'s quality wasn\'t high, and the quantities weren\'t great. French Scientist Conte mixed the ore with clay, fired it in a kiln, making a more easy to use and durable pencil wick. The amount of clay mixed with the graphite wasn\'t always the same, and so the hardness of the lead [wick] also changed accordingly. We often see \"B\" and \"HB\" letters marked out on the head of the pencil, indicating hardness and light or darkness of color. \"B\" indicates color, H indicates hardness, therefore, \"HB\" indicates that hardness and darkness  of the lead are both   我们常看到铅笔头上标着B、HB一类的字母，表示的就是铅笔芯的硬度和颜色深浅。B表示黑度，H表示硬度，所以，HB就是软硬和颜色深浅都适中的铅笔芯，适合写字。 \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The History of the Pencil', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1466-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-02-05 04:41:10', '2014-02-05 09:41:10', '', 1466, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/02/05/1466-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1470, 1, '2014-02-05 04:43:38', '2014-02-05 09:43:38', '[two_third]\nWoo, I\'m on a roll this week. I can\'t vouch for the accuracy of the history here, not being a pencil history expert myself, but this read has a lot of good words for larnin\'. I\'d put this in the lower-advanced spectrum, as the sentence structure isn\'t over-the-top literary, but there are a ton of specialized words and proper nouns. \n\nI can\'t vouch for the \nhttp://www.gushi365.com/info/9763.html\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n简陋 - [pinyin]pu2 gong1 ying1[/pinyin] - Dandelion\n名副其实 - [pinyin]pian1 pian1 qi3 wu3[/pinyin] - Lightly dance about\n扭到脚了 - [pinyin]niu3 dao4 jiao3 le[/pinyin] - Sprain / twist one\'s foot / ankle\n载歌载舞 - [pinyin]zai4 ge1 zai4 wu3[/pinyin] - Singing and dancing\n自言自语- [pinyin]zi4 yan2 zi4 yu3[/pinyin] - Talk to yourself\n说不定 - [pinyin]shuo1 bu5 ding4[/pinyin] - Who can say... [that sthng won\'t happen]\n奇迹 - [pinyin]qi2 ji4[/pinyin] - Miracle\n活蹦乱跳 - [pinyin]huo2 beng4 luan4 tiao4[/pinyin] - Leap and frisk about\n吵醒 - [pinyin]chao2 xing3[/pinyin] - To be woken up by noise\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n铅笔的历史非常悠久，它起源于2000多年前的古罗马时期。那时的铅笔很简陋，只不过是金属套里夹着的一根铅棒，甚至是铅块，倒真是名副其实的“铅”笔。而我们今天使用的铅笔是用石墨和黏（ni土制成的，里面并不含铅。\n\n现代铅笔诞生于16世纪的英国。1564年，有人在巴罗代尔发现了一种名叫石墨的黑色矿物。石墨能像铅一样在纸上留下痕迹，而且比铅的痕迹要黑得多，因此，人们称石墨为“黑铅”。巴罗代尔一带的牧羊人常用石墨在羊身上做记号。后来，人们又将石墨块切成小条，用于写字、绘画。不久，英王乔治二世将巴罗代尔石墨矿收归皇室所有，把它定为皇家的专用品。\n\n不过，石墨条也有它的缺点：容易弄脏手，还容易折断。1761年，德国化学家法伯用石墨粉同硫磺（liú huánɡ）、松香等混合起来，制成条，这比纯石墨条的韧（rèn）性大得多，也不大容易弄脏手。18世纪末时，只有英、德两国能够生产铅笔。\n\n后来，法国也在自己的国土上找到了石墨矿，但矿的质量不高，储（chǔ）量也少。法国科学家孔德便在石墨中掺（chān）入黏土，放进窑（yáo）里烧制，制成了既好用又耐用的铅笔芯（xīn）。石墨中掺入的黏土的比例不同，铅笔芯的硬度也就不同。我们常看到铅笔头上标着B、HB一类的字母，表示的就是铅笔芯的硬度和颜色深浅。B表示黑度，H表示硬度，所以，HB就是软硬和颜色深浅都适中的铅笔芯，适合写字。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe history of the pencil is very long, dating back 2000 years to ancient Roman times. The pencils of that time were very crude, being nothing more than a gold cover cripping a lead stick, or even a lead block, and it really was a \"lead\" pen (not just in name only). Whereas the pencils we use toady are manufactured from graphite and clay, the inside doesn\'t really contain lead.  \n\nModern pencils were born in 16th Century England. In 1564, people in Borrowdale discovered a kind of black mineral called graphite. Like lead, graphite could leave marks on paper, and the marks it left were much darker than lead, thus, people called graphite \"black lead\". Shepherds in the Borrowdale region commonly used graphite to mark seals on the bodies of sheep. Later, people carved lead into little strips, using them for writing and drawing. After long, the English king George the Second brought Borrowdale graphite ore back to the imperial household for the royal family\'s particular use.   \n\nHowever, graphite strips also had their weak point: they dirty the hands, and they break easily. In 1761, German chemist Faber mixed graphite powder together with sulfer, pine resin and other things, and manufactured them as strips, which was much tougher than simple graphite, and didn\'t dirty the hands as easily. At the end of the 18th century, only England and Germany were capable of producing pencils.    \n\nLater, France discovered [deposits of] graphite ore in their earth, but the ore\'s quality wasn\'t high, and the quantities weren\'t great. French Scientist Conte mixed the ore with clay, fired it in a kiln, making a more easy to use and durable pencil wick. The amount of clay mixed with the graphite wasn\'t always the same, and so the hardness of the lead [wick] also changed accordingly. We often see \"B\" and \"HB\" letters marked out on the head of the pencil, indicating hardness and light or darkness of color. \"B\" indicates color, H indicates hardness, therefore, \"HB\" indicates that hardness and darkness  of the lead are both moderate, and are suitable for writing.   \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The History of the Pencil', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1466-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-02-05 04:43:38', '2014-02-05 09:43:38', '', 1466, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/02/05/1466-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1471, 1, '2014-02-05 05:10:10', '2014-02-05 10:10:10', '', 'Learn to Read Simplified Chinese - Advanced Chinese Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140205-inline', '', '', '2014-02-05 05:10:10', '2014-02-05 10:10:10', '', 1466, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/20140205-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1472, 1, '2014-02-05 05:10:11', '2014-02-05 10:10:11', '', 'Learn to Read Simplified Chinese - Advanced Chinese Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140205', '', '', '2014-02-05 05:10:11', '2014-02-05 10:10:11', '', 1466, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/20140205.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1473, 1, '2014-02-05 05:20:20', '2014-02-05 10:20:20', '[two_third]\nWoo, I\'m on a roll this week. I can\'t vouch for the accuracy of the history here, not being a pencil history expert myself, but this read has a lot of good words for larnin\'. I\'d put this in the lower-advanced spectrum, as the sentence structure isn\'t over-the-top literary, but there are a ton of specialized words and proper nouns. \n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/20140205-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin Chinese - Simplified Character Learning Short Stories\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The tone is very encyclopedic, so, rather serious and not a lot of fun. \n\nA couple of proper names for you: \n<strong>巴罗代尔</strong> - Borrowdale, England\n<strong>乔治二世</strong> - George the Second (English King)\n<strong>法伯</strong> - Eberhard Faber, a German chemist\n<strong>孔德</strong> - Nicolas-Jacques Conté, French scientist\n\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.gushi365.com/info/9763.html\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.gushi365.com/info/9763.html</a>\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n简陋 - [pinyin]jian3 lou4[/pinyin] - Simple and crude\n名副其实 - [pinyin]ming2 fu4 qi2 shi2[/pinyin] - Not in name only, but also in reality\n诞生 - [pinyin]dan4 sheng1[/pinyin] - To be born\n矿物 - [pinyin]kuang4 wu4[/pinyin] - Mineral\n皇室- [pinyin]huang2 shi4[/pinyin] - Imperial household\n缺点 - [pinyin]que1 dian3[/pinyin] - Weak point, drawback\n硫磺 - [pinyin]liu2 huang2[/pinyin] - Sulfer\n松香 - [pinyin]song1 xiang1[/pinyin] - Leap and frisk about\n掺入 - [pinyin]chao2 xing3[/pinyin] - To be woken up by noise\n芯\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n铅笔的历史非常悠久，它起源于2000多年前的古罗马时期。那时的铅笔很<strong>简陋</strong>，只不过是金属套里夹着的一根铅棒，甚至是铅块，倒真是<strong>名副其实</strong>的“铅”笔。而我们今天使用的铅笔是用石墨和黏土制成的，里面并不含铅。\n\n现代铅笔<strong>诞生</strong>于16世纪的英国。1564年，有人在巴罗代尔发现了一种名叫石墨的黑色<strong>矿物</strong>。石墨能像铅一样在纸上留下痕迹，而且比铅的痕迹要黑得多，因此，人们称石墨为“黑铅”。巴罗代尔一带的牧羊人常用石墨在羊身上做记号。后来，人们又将石墨块切成小条，用于写字、绘画。不久，英王乔治二世将巴罗代尔石墨矿收归<strong>皇室</strong>所有，把它定为皇家的专用品。\n\n不过，石墨条也有它的<strong>缺点</strong>：容易弄脏手，还容易折断。1761年，德国化学家法伯用石墨粉同<strong>硫磺</strong>、<strong>松香</strong>等混合起来，制成条，这比纯石墨条的韧性大得多，也不大容易弄脏手。18世纪末时，只有英、德两国能够生产铅笔。\n\n后来，法国也在自己的国土上找到了石墨矿，但矿的质量不高，储量也少。法国科学家孔德便在石墨中<strong>掺入</strong>黏土，放进窑里烧制，制成了既好用又耐用的铅笔<strong>芯</strong>。石墨中掺入的黏土的比例不同，铅笔芯的硬度也就不同。我们常看到铅笔头上标着B、HB一类的字母，表示的就是铅笔芯的硬度和颜色深浅。B表示黑度，H表示硬度，所以，HB就是软硬和颜色深浅都适中的铅笔芯，适合写字。 \n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThe history of the pencil is very long, dating back 2000 years to ancient Roman times. The pencils of that time were very crude, being nothing more than a gold cover cripping a lead stick, or even a lead block, and it really was a \"lead\" pen (not just in name only). Whereas the pencils we use toady are manufactured from graphite and clay, the inside doesn\'t really contain lead.  \n\nModern pencils were born in 16th Century England. In 1564, people in Borrowdale discovered a kind of black mineral called graphite. Like lead, graphite could leave marks on paper, and the marks it left were much darker than lead, thus, people called graphite \"black lead\". Shepherds in the Borrowdale region commonly used graphite to mark seals on the bodies of sheep. Later, people carved lead into little strips, using them for writing and drawing. After long, the English king George the Second brought Borrowdale graphite ore back to the imperial household for the royal family\'s particular use.   \n\nHowever, graphite strips also had their weak point: they dirty the hands, and they break easily. In 1761, German chemist Faber mixed graphite powder together with sulfer, pine resin and other things, and manufactured them as strips, which was much tougher than simple graphite, and didn\'t dirty the hands as easily. At the end of the 18th century, only England and Germany were capable of producing pencils.    \n\nLater, France discovered [deposits of] graphite ore in their earth, but the ore\'s quality wasn\'t high, and the quantities weren\'t great. French Scientist Conte mixed the ore with clay, fired it in a kiln, making a more easy to use and durable pencil wick. The amount of clay mixed with the graphite wasn\'t always the same, and so the hardness of the lead [wick] also changed accordingly. We often see \"B\" and \"HB\" letters marked out on the head of the pencil, indicating hardness and light or darkness of color. \"B\" indicates color, H indicates hardness, therefore, \"HB\" indicates that hardness and darkness  of the lead are both moderate, and are suitable for writing.   \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'The History of the Pencil', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1466-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-02-05 05:20:20', '2014-02-05 10:20:20', '', 1466, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/02/05/1466-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1475, 1, '2014-02-05 06:12:33', '2014-02-05 11:12:33', 'I was away for a couple of months there, so I missed a few awesome comments until just recently. \n\nGrace, a commenter on this blog, brought her Chinese reading practice website to my attention, and I love it! She has a fabulous collections of translated materials for Elementary, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced readers, including my absolute fav genre, Chinese detective stories. Yay!\n\nDon\'t miss adding <a href=\"http://www.justlearnchinese.com\">Justlearnchinese.com</a> to your ', 'New Resource: Justlearnchinese.com', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1474-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-02-05 06:12:33', '2014-02-05 11:12:33', '', 1474, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/02/05/1474-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1476, 1, '2014-02-05 06:13:56', '2014-02-05 11:13:56', 'I was away for a couple of months towards the end of last year, so I missed a few awesome comments until just recently. \n\nGrace, a commenter on this blog, brought her Chinese reading practice website to my attention, and it\'s the jam. She has a fabulous collections of translated materials for Elementary, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced readers, including my absolute fav genre, Chinese detective stories. Yay!\n\nDon\'t miss adding <a href=\"http://www.justlearnchinese.com\">Justlearnchinese.com</a>to your blogroll. \n\n', 'New Resource: Justlearnchinese.com', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1474-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-02-05 06:13:56', '2014-02-05 11:13:56', '', 1474, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/02/05/1474-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1480, 1, '2014-06-10 20:05:10', '2014-06-11 00:05:10', 'Science! A quick paragraph about why peppers come in so many hues. Though the sentence structure here isn\'t too bad and the article is very short, I\'m classifying this as \'advanced\' since several of the words are quite chemistry-specific. Advanced readers will recognize the words \"被破坏\" - to be broken by - as the phrase itself is common. In this case, though, we\'re not talking about a literal breaking, we\'re talking about the chemical process of an element \"breaking down\". \r\n\r\nHere\'s <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/shiwangeweishime/youqudezhiwu/2012-01-30/25368.html\" target=\"_blank\">the original</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辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在未成熟前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有叶绿素的缘故。到了成熟期，叶绿素<strong>被破坏</strong>，辣椒中含有的黄色素和叶红素就相应增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \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\nThere are many types of peppers, but all types of pepper are green in color before they ripen, which is because they contain chlorophyll. When it finally comes time for them to ripen, the chlorophyll breaks down, and the yellow and red pigments in the peppers increase accordingly, so they become yellow and red. In addition, some types of peppers taste better when they\'re still green, so they are brought to market before they ripen. That\'s why we see so many different colors of peppers.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Facts in Chinese] Why are some peppers different colors?', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'why-are-some-peppers-different-colors', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:57:03', '2016-11-04 09:57:03', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1480', 0, 'post', '', 8),
(2034, 1, '2016-11-04 05:53:17', '2016-11-04 09:53:17', 'Science! A quick paragraph about why peppers come in so many hues. Though the sentence structure here isn\'t too bad and the article is very short, I\'m classifying this as \'advanced\' since several of the words are quite chemistry-specific. Advanced readers will recognize the words \"被破坏\" - to be broken by - as the phrase itself is common. In this case, though, we\'re not talking about a literal breaking, we\'re talking about the chemical process of an element \"breaking down\". \r\n\r\nHere\'s <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/shiwangeweishime/youqudezhiwu/2012-01-30/25368.html\" target=\"_blank\">the original</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辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在未成熟前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有叶绿素的缘故。到了成熟期，叶绿素<strong>被破坏</strong>，辣椒中含有的黄色素和叶红素就相应增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \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\nThere are many types of peppers, but all types of pepper are green in color before they ripen, which is because they contain chlorophyll. When it finally comes time for them to ripen, the chlorophyll breaks down, and the yellow and red pigments in the peppers increase accordingly, so they become yellow and red. In addition, some types of peppers taste better when they\'re still green, so they are brought to market before they ripen. That\'s why we see so many different colors of peppers.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Facts in Chinese] Why are some peppers different colors?', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1480-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:53:17', '2016-11-04 09:53:17', '', 1480, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1480-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1722, 1, '2016-10-31 03:09:24', '2016-10-31 07:09:24', 'Science! A quick paragraph about why peppers come in so many hues. Though the sentence structure here isn\'t too bad and the article is very short, I\'m classifying this as \'advanced\' since several of the words are quite chemistry-specific. Advanced readers will recognize the words \"被破坏\" - to be broken by - as the phrase itself is common. In this case, though, we\'re not talking about a literal breaking, we\'re talking about the chemical process of an element \"breaking down\". \r\n\r\nHere\'s <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/shiwangeweishime/youqudezhiwu/2012-01-30/25368.html\" target=\"_blank\">the original</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　辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在<strong>未成熟</strong>前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有<strong>叶绿素</strong>的<strong>缘故</strong>。到了成熟期，叶绿素被破坏，辣椒中<strong>含有</strong>的黄色<strong>素</strong>和叶红素就<strong>相应</strong>增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \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\nThere are many types of peppers, but all types of pepper are green in color before they ripen, which is because they contain chlorophyll. When it finally comes time for them to ripen, the chlorophyll breaks down, and the yellow and red pigments in the peppers increase accordingly, so they become yellow and red. In addition, some types of peppers taste better when they\'re still green, so they are brought to market before they ripen. That\'s why we see so many different colors of peppers.  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Facts] Why are some peppers different colors?', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1480-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:09:24', '2016-10-31 07:09:24', '', 1480, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1480-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1481, 1, '2014-05-28 05:43:31', '2014-05-28 09:43:31', 'This post kicks ass, if I do say so myself. This kid was asked to imagine the perfect desk-chair of the future - what it would look like, and what it would do - and boy, does he ever. The chair turns into all kinds of utopian machinery. It flies, it helps you sleep, and it carries your books to school. Sentence structure is pretty easy and the language is solidly intermediate, with very little advanced vocab (one idiom, a couple of advanced words but not much). At six paragraphs, the text is a bit long, though. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn this text, you\'ll notice several uses of the character \"型\". 型 [pinyin]xing2[/pinyin] means \"type\", \"kind\", \"sort\". The character can be combined with other descriptive words, and in this text you\'ll see 新型 - \"New Type of...\" and 大型, meaning \"big type\" or \"large-scale\". \r\n\r\nHere\'s the <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2014-04-02/1396399386256109.html\" target=\"_blank\">original</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你想知道未来的桌椅是什么样子吗? 还是让我这个发明人来介绍一下吧!\r\n\r\n未来的桌椅是高科技材料制成的，大小、颜色、形状能随意变化。早晨去上学，就按第一个按钮，颜色可以变成绿色，象征新的一天朝气蓬勃，这个桌椅变成了新型自行车，那时候人们讲究环保，每个学生都骑这样的车去上学，不用别的能源，有太阳能和风就够了。如果遇见堵车的现象，自行车就会飞跃过去，保证准时到达学校。\r\n\r\n到了学校，请按第二个按钮，绿色自行车变成了蓝色电脑桌椅，开始上课学习，根本不用带书包呀、文具盒、教材什么的。一切学习任务都在电脑上完成。\r\n\r\n到了放学的时候，又变回自行车回到家。当然这时候的车速可以放慢，好好欣赏一下大自然的风光。回到家没有作业，这时请按第三个橘色按钮，自行车再变成大型游戏机，你就可以玩各种游戏了。当然，对眼睛没有害处。\r\n\r\n到了晚上，请按第四个按钮，游戏机变成了你喜欢颜色的折叠床，发出美妙的音乐，催你甜蜜地入眠。假如你感觉哪儿不舒服了，就从床头伸出几个按摩头给你按摩，让你安然入睡。\r\n\r\n怎么样，我发明的未来的桌椅你一定喜欢吧?欢迎你现在就来预订一套。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDo you want to know what chairs and tables will be like in the future? Well then let this inventor [author is referring to self] introduce you!\r\n\r\nChairs and tables in the future are manufactured from high-tech materials, and the size, color and shape can change according to your wishes. In the morning when you go to school, you just push the first button, and the color will change to green, symbolizing a new day full of youthful energy, and its shape will change into a new type of bicycle, since at that time [the future] people will all pay attention to the environment, and every student will ride this kind of bike to go to school, and no other power source will be needed, just solar and wind will be enough. If you run into traffic, this bike can leap over it, ensuring you\'ll arrive at school on time. 　\r\n\r\nOnce you get to school, please push the second button, and the green bike will turn into a blue computer desk and chair, and when you start to study, you don\'t even need to have your book bag, stationery box or other study materials. Everything you need [to accomplish studying] is all in the computer. 　\r\n\r\nWhen school gets out, it will again turn into a bike so you can return home. Of course at this time, the bike is also freed to go slowly, so that you can take a moment to appreciate the natural scenery. When you get home and you have no homework, press the third orange-colored button, and the bike will change into a large video game machine, and you can play all kinds of games. Of course, it will do no damage to your eyes. \r\n\r\nAt night, press the fourth button, and the video game machine will turn into a fold-out bed in any color you want, playing splendid music, that will encourage you to drift into sweet sleep. If you feel at all uncomfortable, a few massagers will extend from the head of the bed and give you a massage, to let you rest peacefully. \r\n\r\nWhat do you think? Surely you\'ll like my future desk chair. You\'re welcome to place an order for one now. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 未来的桌椅 - Desk-chairs of the Future', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'desk-chairs-of-the-future', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:55:05', '2016-11-04 09:55:05', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1481', 0, 'post', '', 11),
(2035, 1, '2016-11-04 05:55:05', '2016-11-04 09:55:05', 'This post kicks ass, if I do say so myself. This kid was asked to imagine the perfect desk-chair of the future - what it would look like, and what it would do - and boy, does he ever. The chair turns into all kinds of utopian machinery. It flies, it helps you sleep, and it carries your books to school. Sentence structure is pretty easy and the language is solidly intermediate, with very little advanced vocab (one idiom, a couple of advanced words but not much). At six paragraphs, the text is a bit long, though. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn this text, you\'ll notice several uses of the character \"型\". 型 [pinyin]xing2[/pinyin] means \"type\", \"kind\", \"sort\". The character can be combined with other descriptive words, and in this text you\'ll see 新型 - \"New Type of...\" and 大型, meaning \"big type\" or \"large-scale\". \r\n\r\nHere\'s the <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2014-04-02/1396399386256109.html\" target=\"_blank\">original</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你想知道未来的桌椅是什么样子吗? 还是让我这个发明人来介绍一下吧!\r\n\r\n未来的桌椅是高科技材料制成的，大小、颜色、形状能随意变化。早晨去上学，就按第一个按钮，颜色可以变成绿色，象征新的一天朝气蓬勃，这个桌椅变成了新型自行车，那时候人们讲究环保，每个学生都骑这样的车去上学，不用别的能源，有太阳能和风就够了。如果遇见堵车的现象，自行车就会飞跃过去，保证准时到达学校。\r\n\r\n到了学校，请按第二个按钮，绿色自行车变成了蓝色电脑桌椅，开始上课学习，根本不用带书包呀、文具盒、教材什么的。一切学习任务都在电脑上完成。\r\n\r\n到了放学的时候，又变回自行车回到家。当然这时候的车速可以放慢，好好欣赏一下大自然的风光。回到家没有作业，这时请按第三个橘色按钮，自行车再变成大型游戏机，你就可以玩各种游戏了。当然，对眼睛没有害处。\r\n\r\n到了晚上，请按第四个按钮，游戏机变成了你喜欢颜色的折叠床，发出美妙的音乐，催你甜蜜地入眠。假如你感觉哪儿不舒服了，就从床头伸出几个按摩头给你按摩，让你安然入睡。\r\n\r\n怎么样，我发明的未来的桌椅你一定喜欢吧?欢迎你现在就来预订一套。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDo you want to know what chairs and tables will be like in the future? Well then let this inventor [author is referring to self] introduce you!\r\n\r\nChairs and tables in the future are manufactured from high-tech materials, and the size, color and shape can change according to your wishes. In the morning when you go to school, you just push the first button, and the color will change to green, symbolizing a new day full of youthful energy, and its shape will change into a new type of bicycle, since at that time [the future] people will all pay attention to the environment, and every student will ride this kind of bike to go to school, and no other power source will be needed, just solar and wind will be enough. If you run into traffic, this bike can leap over it, ensuring you\'ll arrive at school on time. 　\r\n\r\nOnce you get to school, please push the second button, and the green bike will turn into a blue computer desk and chair, and when you start to study, you don\'t even need to have your book bag, stationery box or other study materials. Everything you need [to accomplish studying] is all in the computer. 　\r\n\r\nWhen school gets out, it will again turn into a bike so you can return home. Of course at this time, the bike is also freed to go slowly, so that you can take a moment to appreciate the natural scenery. When you get home and you have no homework, press the third orange-colored button, and the bike will change into a large video game machine, and you can play all kinds of games. Of course, it will do no damage to your eyes. \r\n\r\nAt night, press the fourth button, and the video game machine will turn into a fold-out bed in any color you want, playing splendid music, that will encourage you to drift into sweet sleep. If you feel at all uncomfortable, a few massagers will extend from the head of the bed and give you a massage, to let you rest peacefully. \r\n\r\nWhat do you think? Surely you\'ll like my future desk chair. You\'re welcome to place an order for one now. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 未来的桌椅 - Desk-chairs of the Future', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1481-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:55:05', '2016-11-04 09:55:05', '', 1481, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1481-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1778, 1, '2016-10-31 04:14:34', '2016-10-31 08:14:34', 'This post kicks ass, if I do say so myself. This kid was asked to imagine the perfect desk-chair of the future - what it would look like, and what it would do - and boy, does he ever. The chair turns into all kinds of utopian machinery. It flies, it helps you sleep, and it carries your books to school. Sentence structure is pretty easy and the language is solidly intermediate, with very little advanced vocab (one idiom, a couple of advanced words but not much). At six paragraphs, the text is a bit long, though. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nIn this text, you\'ll notice several uses of the character \"型\". 型 [pinyin]xing2[/pinyin] means \"type\", \"kind\", \"sort\". The character can be combined with other descriptive words, and in this text you\'ll see 新型 - \"New Type of...\" and 大型, meaning \"big type\" or \"large-scale\". \r\n\r\nHere\'s the <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2014-04-02/1396399386256109.html\" target=\"_blank\">original</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你想知道<strong>未来</strong>的桌椅是什么样子吗? 还是让我这个<strong>发明人</strong>来介绍一下吧!\r\n\r\n未来的桌椅是<strong>高科技</strong>材料制成的，大小、颜色、形状能随意<strong>变化</strong>。早晨去上学，就按第一个<strong>按钮</strong>，颜色可以变成绿色，象征新的一天<strong>朝气蓬勃</strong>，这个桌椅变成了新型自行车，那时候人们讲究环保，每个学生都骑这样的车去上学，不用别的<strong>能源</strong>，有太阳能和风就够了。如果遇见堵车的现象，自行车就会飞跃过去，保证准时到达学校。\r\n\r\n到了学校，请按第二个按钮，绿色自行车变成了蓝色电脑桌椅，开始上课学习，根本不用带书包呀、<strong>文具盒</strong>、教材什么的。一切学习任务都在电脑上完成。\r\n\r\n到了放学的时候，又变回自行车回到家。当然这时候的车速可以放慢，好好欣赏一下大自然的风光。回到家没有作业，这时请按第三个橘色按钮，自行车再变成大型<strong>游戏机</strong>，你就可以玩各种游戏了。当然，对眼睛没有害处。\r\n\r\n到了晚上，请按第四个按钮，游戏机变成了你喜欢颜色的折<strong>叠床</strong>，发出美妙的音乐，催你甜蜜地入眠。假如你感觉哪儿不舒服了，就从床头伸出几个按摩头给你按摩，让你<strong>安然</strong>入睡。\r\n\r\n怎么样，我发明的未来的桌椅你一定喜欢吧?欢迎你现在就来预订一套。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDo you want to know what chairs and tables will be like in the future? Well then let this inventor [author is referring to self] introduce you!\r\n\r\nChairs and tables in the future are manufactured from high-tech materials, and the size, color and shape can change according to your wishes. In the morning when you go to school, you just push the first button, and the color will change to green, symbolizing a new day full of youthful energy, and its shape will change into a new type of bicycle, since at that time [the future] people will all pay attention to the environment, and every student will ride this kind of bike to go to school, and no other power source will be needed, just solar and wind will be enough. If you run into traffic, this bike can leap over it, ensuring you\'ll arrive at school on time. 　\r\n\r\nOnce you get to school, please push the second button, and the green bike will turn into a blue computer desk and chair, and when you start to study, you don\'t even need to have your book bag, stationery box or other study materials. Everything you need [to accomplish studying] is all in the computer. 　\r\n\r\nWhen school gets out, it will again turn into a bike so you can return home. Of course at this time, the bike is also freed to go slowly, so that you can take a moment to appreciate the natural scenery. When you get home and you have no homework, press the third orange-colored button, and the bike will change into a large video game machine, and you can play all kinds of games. Of course, it will do no damage to your eyes. \r\n\r\nAt night, press the fourth button, and the video game machine will turn into a fold-out bed in any color you want, playing splendid music, that will encourage you to drift into sweet sleep. If you feel at all uncomfortable, a few massagers will extend from the head of the bed and give you a massage, to let you rest peacefully. \r\n\r\nWhat do you think? Surely you\'ll like my future desk chair. You\'re welcome to place an order for one now. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essays] 未来的桌椅 - Desk-chairs of the Future', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1481-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 04:14:34', '2016-10-31 08:14:34', '', 1481, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1481-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1759, 1, '2016-10-31 03:45:51', '2016-10-31 07:45:51', 'This post kicks ass, if I do say so myself. This kid was asked to imagine the perfect desk-chair of the future - what it would look like, and what it would do - and boy, does he ever. The chair turns into all kinds of utopian machinery. It flies, it helps you sleep, and it carries your books to school. Sentence structure is pretty easy and the language is solidly intermediate, with very little advanced vocab (one idiom, a couple of advanced words but not much). At six paragraphs, the text is a bit long, though. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140528-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin - Simplified Chinese Character Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> In this text, you\'ll notice several uses of the character \"型\". 型 [pinyin]xing2[/pinyin] means \"type\", \"kind\", \"sort\". The character can be combined with other descriptive words, and in this text you\'ll see 新型 - \"New Type of...\" and 大型, meaning \"big type\" or \"large-scale\". \r\n\r\nHere\'s the <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2014-04-02/1396399386256109.html\" target=\"_blank\">original</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你想知道<strong>未来</strong>的桌椅是什么样子吗? 还是让我这个<strong>发明人</strong>来介绍一下吧!\r\n\r\n未来的桌椅是<strong>高科技</strong>材料制成的，大小、颜色、形状能随意<strong>变化</strong>。早晨去上学，就按第一个<strong>按钮</strong>，颜色可以变成绿色，象征新的一天<strong>朝气蓬勃</strong>，这个桌椅变成了新型自行车，那时候人们讲究环保，每个学生都骑这样的车去上学，不用别的<strong>能源</strong>，有太阳能和风就够了。如果遇见堵车的现象，自行车就会飞跃过去，保证准时到达学校。\r\n\r\n到了学校，请按第二个按钮，绿色自行车变成了蓝色电脑桌椅，开始上课学习，根本不用带书包呀、<strong>文具盒</strong>、教材什么的。一切学习任务都在电脑上完成。\r\n\r\n到了放学的时候，又变回自行车回到家。当然这时候的车速可以放慢，好好欣赏一下大自然的风光。回到家没有作业，这时请按第三个橘色按钮，自行车再变成大型<strong>游戏机</strong>，你就可以玩各种游戏了。当然，对眼睛没有害处。\r\n\r\n到了晚上，请按第四个按钮，游戏机变成了你喜欢颜色的折<strong>叠床</strong>，发出美妙的音乐，催你甜蜜地入眠。假如你感觉哪儿不舒服了，就从床头伸出几个按摩头给你按摩，让你<strong>安然</strong>入睡。\r\n\r\n怎么样，我发明的未来的桌椅你一定喜欢吧?欢迎你现在就来预订一套。\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_half]\r\n\r\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\r\nDo you want to know what chairs and tables will be like in the future? Well then let this inventor [author is referring to self] introduce you!\r\n\r\nChairs and tables in the future are manufactured from high-tech materials, and the size, color and shape can change according to your wishes. In the morning when you go to school, you just push the first button, and the color will change to green, symbolizing a new day full of youthful energy, and its shape will change into a new type of bicycle, since at that time [the future] people will all pay attention to the environment, and every student will ride this kind of bike to go to school, and no other power source will be needed, just solar and wind will be enough. If you run into traffic, this bike can leap over it, ensuring you\'ll arrive at school on time. 　\r\n\r\nOnce you get to school, please push the second button, and the green bike will turn into a blue computer desk and chair, and when you start to study, you don\'t even need to have your book bag, stationery box or other study materials. Everything you need [to accomplish studying] is all in the computer. 　\r\n\r\nWhen school gets out, it will again turn into a bike so you can return home. Of course at this time, the bike is also freed to go slowly, so that you can take a moment to appreciate the natural scenery. When you get home and you have no homework, press the third orange-colored button, and the bike will change into a large video game machine, and you can play all kinds of games. Of course, it will do no damage to your eyes. \r\n\r\nAt night, press the fourth button, and the video game machine will turn into a fold-out bed in any color you want, playing splendid music, that will encourage you to drift into sweet sleep. If you feel at all uncomfortable, a few massagers will extend from the head of the bed and give you a massage, to let you rest peacefully. \r\n\r\nWhat do you think? Surely you\'ll like my future desk chair. You\'re welcome to place an order for one now. \r\n\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essays] 未来的桌椅 - Desk-chairs of the Future', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1481-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:45:51', '2016-10-31 07:45:51', '', 1481, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1481-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1482, 1, '2014-05-01 23:17:01', '2014-05-02 03:17:01', '　你想知道未来的桌椅是什么样子吗?还是让我这个发明人来介绍一下吧!\n　　未来的桌椅是高科技材料制成的，大小、颜色、形状能随意变化。早晨去上学，就按第一个按钮，颜色可以变成绿色，象征新的一天朝气蓬勃，这个桌椅变成了新型自行车，那时候人们讲究环保，每个学生都骑这样的车去上学，不用别的能源，有太阳能和风就够了。如果遇见堵车的现象，自行车就会飞跃过去，保证准时到达学校。\n　　到了学校，请按第二个按钮，绿色自行车变成了蓝色电脑桌椅，开始上课学习，根本不用带书包呀、文具盒、教材什么的。一切学习任务都在电脑上完成。\n　　到了放学的时候，又变回自行车回到家。当然这时候的车速可以放慢，好好欣赏一下大自然的风光。回到家没有作业，这时请按第三个橘色按钮，自行车再变成大型游戏机，你就可以玩各种游戏了。当然，对眼睛没有害处。\n　　到了晚上，请按第四个按钮，游戏机变成了你喜欢颜色的折叠床，发出美妙的音乐，催你甜蜜地入眠。假如你感觉哪儿不舒服了，就从床头伸出几个按摩头给你按摩，让你安然入睡。\n　　怎么样，我发明的未来的桌椅你一定喜欢吧?欢迎你现在就来预订一套。\n\nhttp://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2014-04-02/1396399386256109.html', 'Chairs of the Future', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1481-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-01 23:17:01', '2014-05-02 03:17:01', '', 1481, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/01/1481-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1483, 1, '2014-05-07 00:08:31', '2014-05-07 04:08:31', 'Though this post is beginner-level, it\'s also very condensed. I\'d say you\'ll have to stop and remind yourself what something means every few words or so. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>A few notes:</h3>\r\n\r\n- There\'s a proper noun in here you probably won\'t find in the dictionary: 江东 is a place, [pinyin]jiang1 dong1[/pinyin], it\'s a district of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province (south China). So 江东公园 is \"JiangDong Park\". \r\n\r\n- 小朋友 [pinyin]xiao3 peng2 you5[/pinyin], literally \"Little Friend\", actually just means \"small children\", often used when one child is referring to a other children he or she doesn\'t know. \r\n\r\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml</a>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n　　前几天，我做了一件不光彩的事。说出来真难为情。晚上，我去江东公园玩，看到有几位小朋友在捉青蛙，我也赶忙捉青蛙，捉了青蛙就把它们带回家。在家里养了几天，青蛙渐渐瘦了下来，它们好像在对我说：“把我们放回大自然吧，我们一定会多捉害虫。”我听了感到真不好意思，晚上，就悄悄把它们放回了大自然。\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 last few days, I did a not-so-illustrious thing. I\'m ashamed to say what it is. In the evening, I went to JiangDong Park to play, and I saw that there were a few other children catching frogs, so I also hurriedly started catching frogs, and after I caught them I brought them back to my house. I took care of them at my house for a few days, but the frogs gradually became thinner and thinner, as if they were saying to me: \"Put us back in nature, and we can catch more insects.\" I listened to this and was truly embarrassed so that night, I secretly put them back outside. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 抓青蛙 - Catching Frogs', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'catching-frogs', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:05:27', '2016-11-04 10:05:27', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1483', 0, 'post', '', 41),
(2037, 1, '2016-11-04 06:05:27', '2016-11-04 10:05:27', 'Though this post is beginner-level, it\'s also very condensed. I\'d say you\'ll have to stop and remind yourself what something means every few words or so. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>A few notes:</h3>\r\n\r\n- There\'s a proper noun in here you probably won\'t find in the dictionary: 江东 is a place, [pinyin]jiang1 dong1[/pinyin], it\'s a district of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province (south China). So 江东公园 is \"JiangDong Park\". \r\n\r\n- 小朋友 [pinyin]xiao3 peng2 you5[/pinyin], literally \"Little Friend\", actually just means \"small children\", often used when one child is referring to a other children he or she doesn\'t know. \r\n\r\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml</a>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n　　前几天，我做了一件不光彩的事。说出来真难为情。晚上，我去江东公园玩，看到有几位小朋友在捉青蛙，我也赶忙捉青蛙，捉了青蛙就把它们带回家。在家里养了几天，青蛙渐渐瘦了下来，它们好像在对我说：“把我们放回大自然吧，我们一定会多捉害虫。”我听了感到真不好意思，晚上，就悄悄把它们放回了大自然。\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 last few days, I did a not-so-illustrious thing. I\'m ashamed to say what it is. In the evening, I went to JiangDong Park to play, and I saw that there were a few other children catching frogs, so I also hurriedly started catching frogs, and after I caught them I brought them back to my house. I took care of them at my house for a few days, but the frogs gradually became thinner and thinner, as if they were saying to me: \"Put us back in nature, and we can catch more insects.\" I listened to this and was truly embarrassed so that night, I secretly put them back outside. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 抓青蛙 - Catching Frogs', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1483-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:05:27', '2016-11-04 10:05:27', '', 1483, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1483-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1747, 1, '2016-10-31 03:36:36', '2016-10-31 07:36:36', 'Though this post is beginner-level, it\'s also very condensed. I\'d say you\'ll have to stop and remind yourself what something means every few words or so. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<h3>A few notes:</h3>\r\n\r\n- There\'s a proper noun in here you probably won\'t find in the dictionary: 江东 is a place, [pinyin]jiang1 dong1[/pinyin], it\'s a district of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province (south China). So 江东公园 is \"JiangDong Park\". \r\n\r\n- 小朋友 [pinyin]xiao3 peng2 you5[/pinyin], literally \"Little Friend\", actually just means \"small children\", often used when one child is referring to a other children he or she doesn\'t know. \r\n\r\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml</a>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n　　前几天，我做了一件不<strong>光彩</strong>的事。说出来真<strong>难为情</strong>。晚上，我去江东公园玩，看到有几位小朋友在捉青蛙，我也赶忙<strong>捉青蛙</strong>，捉了青蛙就把它们带回家。在家里养了几天，青蛙<strong>渐渐</strong>瘦了下来，它们好像在对我说：“把我们放回<strong>大自然</strong>吧，我们一定会多捉<strong>害虫</strong>。”我听了感到真不好意思，晚上，就悄悄把它们放回了大自然。\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 last few days, I did a not-so-illustrious thing, and I\'m ashamed to say it. In the evening, I went to JiangDong Park to play, and I saw that there were a few other children catching frogs, so I also hurriedly started catching frogs, and after I caught them I brought them back to my house. At my house I took care of them for a few days, but the frogs gradually became thinner and thinner, it\'s like they were saying to me: \"Put us back in nature, and we can catch more insects.\" I listened to this and was truly embarrassed0 so that night, I secretly put them back outside. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Essay] Catching Frogs', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1483-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 03:36:36', '2016-10-31 07:36:36', '', 1483, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1483-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1490, 1, '2014-05-02 00:57:49', '2014-05-02 04:57:49', '', 'Beginning Chinese Reading: Mandarin Chinese Childrens Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140510', '', '', '2014-05-02 00:57:49', '2014-05-02 04:57:49', '', 1483, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140510.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1491, 1, '2014-05-02 00:57:51', '2014-05-02 04:57:51', '', 'Beginning Chinese Reading: Mandarin Chinese Childrens Essays', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20100510-inline', '', '', '2014-05-02 00:57:51', '2014-05-02 04:57:51', '', 1483, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20100510-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1492, 1, '2014-05-02 00:54:41', '2014-05-02 04:54:41', '[two_third]\nThough this post is beginner-level, it\'s also very condensed. I\'d say you\'ll have to stop and remind yourself what something means every few words or so. <!--more-->\n\nA few notes: \n\n- There\'s a proper noun in here you probably won\'t find in the dictionary: 江东 is a place, [pinyin]jiang1 dong1[/pinyin], it\'s a district of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province (south China). So 江东公园 is \"JiangDong Park\". \n\n- 小朋友 [pinyin]xiao3 peng2 you5[/pinyin], literally \"Little Friend\", actually just means \"small children\", often used when one child is referring to a other children he or she doesn\'t know. \n\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml</a>\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n光彩 - [pinyin]guang1 cai3[/pinyin] - Illustrious\n难为情 - [pinyin]nan2 wei2 qing2[/pinyin] - Embarrassed\n捉 - [pinyin]zhuo1[/pinyin] - Capture\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\n渐渐- [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Gradually\n大自然 - [pinyin]da4 zi4 ran2[/pinyin] - The great outdoors\n害虫- [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n　　前几天，我做了一件不<strong>光彩</strong>的事。说出来真<strong>难为情</strong>。晚上，我去江东公园玩，看到有几位小朋友在捉青蛙，我也赶忙<strong>捉青蛙</strong>，捉了青蛙就把它们带回家。在家里养了几天，青蛙<strong>渐渐</strong>瘦了下来，它们好像在对我说：“把我们放回<strong>大自然</strong>吧，我们一定会多捉<strong>害虫</strong>。”我听了感到真不好意思，晚上，就悄悄把它们放回了大自然。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn the last few days, I did a not-so-illustrious thing, and I\'m ashamed to say it. In the evening, I went to JiangDong Park to play, and I saw that there were a few other children catching frogs, so I also hurriedly started catching frogs, and after I caught them I brought them back to my house. At my house I took care of them for a few days, but the frogs gradually became thinner and thinner, it\'s like they were saying to me: \"Put us back in nature, and we can catch more insects.\" I listened to this and was truly embarrassed0 so that night, I secretly put them back outside. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Catching Frogs', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1483-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-02 00:54:41', '2014-05-02 04:54:41', '', 1483, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/02/1483-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1484, 1, '2014-05-02 00:37:08', '2014-05-02 04:37:08', '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', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'poem-dewdrops', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:06:36', '2016-11-04 10:06:36', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1484', 0, 'post', '', 13),
(1700, 1, '2016-10-31 02:32:36', '2016-10-31 06:32:36', 'A quick and simple poem about morning dew. <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThe 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]', '[Poem] 露珠 - Dewdrops', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1484-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:32:36', '2016-10-31 06:32:36', '', 1484, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1484-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1485, 1, '2014-05-02 00:34:52', '2014-05-02 04:34:52', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner Chinese Reading Exercises', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140502', '', '', '2014-05-02 00:34:52', '2014-05-02 04:34:52', '', 1484, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140502.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1486, 1, '2014-05-02 00:34:57', '2014-05-02 04:34:57', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Beginner Chinese Reading Exercises', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140502-inline', '', '', '2014-05-02 00:34:57', '2014-05-02 04:34:57', '', 1484, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140502-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1487, 1, '2014-05-02 00:37:02', '2014-05-02 04:37:02', '[two_third]\nA quick and simple poem about morning dew. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140502-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Simplified Chinese Poems Study\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder a\" />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. \n\nThough the title of the poem is \"Dewdrops\" - 露珠 - you\'ll notice that the actual word is never mentioned in the poem. \n\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20131223/52b840bf2572e.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20131223/52b840bf2572e.shtml</a>\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n草地 - [pinyin]cao3 di4[/pinyin] - Meadow\n珍珠 - [pinyin]zhen1 zhu1[/pinyin] - Pearl\n草丛 - [pinyin]cao3 cong2[/pinyin] - Underbrush\n湿 - [pinyin]shi1[/pinyin] - Moist, wet\n泥土- [pinyin]ni2 tu3[/pinyin] - soil, earth\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n昨天夜里，\n谁从<strong>草地</strong>上走过？\n丢了那么多的<strong>珍珠</strong>。\n今天早上，\n谁在<strong>草丛</strong>中看着我？\n还打<strong>湿</strong>了我的衣裤。\n太阳升高了，\n谁收走了珍珠？\n留下了湿湿的气息，\n湿湿的泥土。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nLast night,\nWho walked up from the meadow?\n[They] lost so many pearls.\nThis morning, \nWho was watching me from the underbrush? \n[They] made damp my trousers.\nThe sun is high,\nwho left with the pearls?\n[They] left behind them dewy breath,\nand wet soil.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Poem: Dewdrops', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1484-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-02 00:37:02', '2014-05-02 04:37:02', '', 1484, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/02/1484-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1488, 1, '2016-10-31 02:32:43', '2016-10-31 06:32:43', 'A quick and simple poem about morning dew. <!--more-->\n\nThe 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. \n\nThough the title of the poem is \"Dewdrops\" - 露珠 - you\'ll notice that the actual word is never mentioned in the poem. \n\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20131223/52b840bf2572e.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20131223/52b840bf2572e.shtml</a>\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\n昨天夜里，\n谁从<strong>草地</strong>上走过？\n丢了那么多的<strong>珍珠</strong>。\n今天早上，\n谁在<strong>草丛</strong>中看着我？\n还打<strong>湿</strong>了我的衣裤。\n太阳升高了，\n谁收走了珍珠？\n留下了湿湿的气息，\n湿湿的泥土。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nLast night,\nWho walked up from the meadow?\n[They] lost so many pearls.\nThis morning, \nWho was watching me from the underbrush? \n[They] made damp my trousers.\nThe sun is high,\nwho left with the pearls?\n[They] left behind them dewy breath,\nand wet soil.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Poem] 露珠 - Dewdrops', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1484-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:32:43', '2016-10-31 06:32:43', '', 1484, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/02/1484-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1699, 1, '2016-10-31 02:30:24', '2016-10-31 06:30:24', '', 'practice-chinese-reading-beginner-poetry', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'practice-chinese-reading-beginner-poetry', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:32:14', '2016-10-31 06:32:14', '', 1484, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/practice-chinese-reading-beginner-poetry.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1489, 1, '2014-05-02 00:37:08', '2014-05-02 04:37:08', '[two_third]\r\nA quick and simple poem about morning dew. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140502-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin: Simplified Chinese Poems Study\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />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[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n草地 - [pinyin]cao3 di4[/pinyin] - Meadow\r\n珍珠 - [pinyin]zhen1 zhu1[/pinyin] - Pearl\r\n草丛 - [pinyin]cao3 cong2[/pinyin] - Underbrush\r\n湿 - [pinyin]shi1[/pinyin] - Moist, wet\r\n泥土- [pinyin]ni2 tu3[/pinyin] - soil, earth\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]', 'Poem: Dewdrops', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1484-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-02 00:37:08', '2014-05-02 04:37:08', '', 1484, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/02/1484-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1493, 1, '2016-11-04 06:03:35', '2016-11-04 10:03:35', 'Though this post is beginner-level, it\'s also very condensed. I\'d say you\'ll have to stop and remind yourself what something means every few words or so. <!--more-->\n\n<h3>A few notes:</h3>\n\n- There\'s a proper noun in here you probably won\'t find in the dictionary: 江东 is a place, [pinyin]jiang1 dong1[/pinyin], it\'s a district of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province (south China). So 江东公园 is \"JiangDong Park\". \n\n- 小朋友 [pinyin]xiao3 peng2 you5[/pinyin], literally \"Little Friend\", actually just means \"small children\", often used when one child is referring to a other children he or she doesn\'t know. \n\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml</a>\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n　　前几天，我做了一件不光彩的事。说出来真难为情。晚上，我去江东公园玩，看到有几位小朋友在捉青蛙，我也赶忙捉青蛙，捉了青蛙就把它们带回家。在家里养了几天，青蛙渐渐瘦了下来，它们好像在对我说：“把我们放回大自然吧，我们一定会多捉害虫。”我听了感到真不好意思，晚上，就悄悄把它们放回了大自然。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nIn the last few days, I did a not-so-illustrious thing. I\'m ashamed to say what it is. In the evening, I went to JiangDong Park to play, and I saw that there were a few other children catching frogs, so I also hurriedly started catching frogs, and after I caught them I brought them back to my house. I took care of them at my house for a few days, but the frogs gradually became thinner and thinner, as if they were saying to me: \"Put us back in nature, and we can catch more insects.\" I listened to this and was truly embarrassed so that night, I secretly put them back outside. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Essays] 抓青蛙 - Catching Frogs', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1483-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:03:35', '2016-11-04 10:03:35', '', 1483, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/02/1483-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(2036, 1, '2016-11-04 06:04:57', '2016-11-04 10:04:57', '', 'Beginning Chinese Reading: Learning Chinese Characters', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'learn-to-read-simplified-mandarin-chinese-catching-frogs', '', '', '2016-11-04 06:05:17', '2016-11-04 10:05:17', '', 1483, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/learn-to-read-simplified-mandarin-chinese-catching-frogs.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1494, 1, '2014-05-02 01:00:39', '2014-05-02 05:00:39', '[two_third]\r\nThough this post is beginner-level, it\'s also very condensed. I\'d say you\'ll have to stop and remind yourself what something means every few words or so. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20100510-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Mandarin: Simplified Essays for Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />A few notes: \r\n\r\n- There\'s a proper noun in here you probably won\'t find in the dictionary: 江东 is a place, [pinyin]jiang1 dong1[/pinyin], it\'s a district of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province (south China). So 江东公园 is \"JiangDong Park\". \r\n\r\n- 小朋友 [pinyin]xiao3 peng2 you5[/pinyin], literally \"Little Friend\", actually just means \"small children\", often used when one child is referring to a other children he or she doesn\'t know. \r\n\r\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml</a>\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n光彩 - [pinyin]guang1 cai3[/pinyin] - Illustrious\r\n难为情 - [pinyin]nan2 wei2 qing2[/pinyin] - Embarrassed\r\n捉 - [pinyin]zhuo1[/pinyin] - Capture\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n渐渐- [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n大自然 - [pinyin]da4 zi4 ran2[/pinyin] - The great outdoors\r\n害虫- [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\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　　前几天，我做了一件不<strong>光彩</strong>的事。说出来真<strong>难为情</strong>。晚上，我去江东公园玩，看到有几位小朋友在捉青蛙，我也赶忙<strong>捉青蛙</strong>，捉了青蛙就把它们带回家。在家里养了几天，青蛙<strong>渐渐</strong>瘦了下来，它们好像在对我说：“把我们放回<strong>大自然</strong>吧，我们一定会多捉<strong>害虫</strong>。”我听了感到真不好意思，晚上，就悄悄把它们放回了大自然。\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 last few days, I did a not-so-illustrious thing, and I\'m ashamed to say it. In the evening, I went to JiangDong Park to play, and I saw that there were a few other children catching frogs, so I also hurriedly started catching frogs, and after I caught them I brought them back to my house. At my house I took care of them for a few days, but the frogs gradually became thinner and thinner, it\'s like they were saying to me: \"Put us back in nature, and we can catch more insects.\" I listened to this and was truly embarrassed0 so that night, I secretly put them back outside. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Catching Frogs', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1483-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-02 01:00:39', '2014-05-02 05:00:39', '', 1483, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/02/1483-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1495, 1, '2014-05-07 23:07:36', '2014-05-08 03:07:36', '[two_third]\r\nThough this post is beginner-level, it\'s also very condensed. I\'d say you\'ll have to stop and remind yourself what something means every few words or so. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20100510-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Mandarin: Simplified Essays for Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />A few notes: \r\n\r\n- There\'s a proper noun in here you probably won\'t find in the dictionary: 江东 is a place, [pinyin]jiang1 dong1[/pinyin], it\'s a district of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province (south China). So 江东公园 is \"JiangDong Park\". \r\n\r\n- 小朋友 [pinyin]xiao3 peng2 you5[/pinyin], literally \"Little Friend\", actually just means \"small children\", often used when one child is referring to a other children he or she doesn\'t know. \r\n\r\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml</a>\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n光彩 - [pinyin]guang1 cai3[/pinyin] - Illustrious\r\n难为情 - [pinyin]nan2 wei2 qing2[/pinyin] - Embarrassed\r\n捉 - [pinyin]zhuo1[/pinyin] - Capture\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n渐渐- [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n大自然 - [pinyin]da4 zi4 ran2[/pinyin] - The great outdoors\r\n害虫- [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\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　　前几天，我做了一件不<strong>光彩</strong>的事。说出来真<strong>难为情</strong>。晚上，我去江东公园玩，看到有几位小朋友在捉青蛙，我也赶忙<strong>捉青蛙</strong>，捉了青蛙就把它们带回家。在家里养了几天，青蛙<strong>渐渐</strong>瘦了下来，它们好像在对我说：“把我们放回<strong>大自然</strong>吧，我们一定会多捉<strong>害虫</strong>。”我听了感到真不好意思，晚上，就悄悄把它们放回了大自然。\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 last few days, I did a not-so-illustrious thing, and I\'m ashamed to say it. In the evening, I went to JiangDong Park to play, and I saw that there were a few other children catching frogs, so I also hurriedly started catching frogs, and after I caught them I brought them back to my house. At my house I took care of them for a few days, but the frogs gradually became thinner and thinner, it\'s like they were saying to me: \"Put us back in nature, and we can catch more insects.\" I listened to this and was truly embarrassed0 so that night, I secretly put them back outside. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Catching Frogs', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1483-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-07 23:07:36', '2014-05-08 03:07:36', '', 1483, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/07/1483-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1496, 1, '2014-05-07 23:08:06', '2014-05-08 03:08:06', '[two_third]\r\nThough this post is beginner-level, it\'s also very condensed. I\'d say you\'ll have to stop and remind yourself what something means every few words or so. <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20100510-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learning to Read Mandarin: Simplified Essays for Learners\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />A few notes: \r\n\r\n- There\'s a proper noun in here you probably won\'t find in the dictionary: 江东 is a place, [pinyin]jiang1 dong1[/pinyin], it\'s a district of Ningbo in Zhejiang Province (south China). So 江东公园 is \"JiangDong Park\". \r\n\r\n- 小朋友 [pinyin]xiao3 peng2 you5[/pinyin], literally \"Little Friend\", actually just means \"small children\", often used when one child is referring to a other children he or she doesn\'t know. \r\n\r\nSource: <a href=\"http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.zuowen.com/e/20120522/4fbb17e8c23c9.shtml</a>\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n光彩 - [pinyin]guang1 cai3[/pinyin] - Illustrious\r\n难为情 - [pinyin]nan2 wei2 qing2[/pinyin] - Embarrassed\r\n捉 - [pinyin]zhuo1[/pinyin] - Capture\r\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\r\n渐渐- [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Gradually\r\n大自然 - [pinyin]da4 zi4 ran2[/pinyin] - The great outdoors\r\n害虫- [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\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　　前几天，我做了一件不<strong>光彩</strong>的事。说出来真<strong>难为情</strong>。晚上，我去江东公园玩，看到有几位小朋友在捉青蛙，我也赶忙<strong>捉青蛙</strong>，捉了青蛙就把它们带回家。在家里养了几天，青蛙<strong>渐渐</strong>瘦了下来，它们好像在对我说：“把我们放回<strong>大自然</strong>吧，我们一定会多捉<strong>害虫</strong>。”我听了感到真不好意思，晚上，就悄悄把它们放回了大自然。\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 last few days, I did a not-so-illustrious thing, and I\'m ashamed to say it. In the evening, I went to JiangDong Park to play, and I saw that there were a few other children catching frogs, so I also hurriedly started catching frogs, and after I caught them I brought them back to my house. At my house I took care of them for a few days, but the frogs gradually became thinner and thinner, it\'s like they were saying to me: \"Put us back in nature, and we can catch more insects.\" I listened to this and was truly embarrassed0 so that night, I secretly put them back outside. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Catching Frogs', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1483-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-07 23:08:06', '2014-05-08 03:08:06', '', 1483, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/07/1483-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1498, 1, '2014-05-07 23:35:01', '2014-05-08 03:35:01', '\r\n\r\n\r\n[two_third]\r\nintro \r\nhttp://www.tom61.com/shiwangeweishime/youqudezhiwu/2012-01-30/25368.html\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n野餐 - [pinyin]ye3 can1[/pinyin] - Picnic\r\n\r\n</div>\r\n[/one_third]\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n　辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在未成熟前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有叶绿素的缘故。到了成熟期，叶绿素被破坏，辣椒中含有的黄色素和叶红素就相应增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \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　辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在未成熟前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有叶绿素的缘故。到了成熟期，叶绿素被破坏，辣椒中含有的黄色素和叶红素就相应增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Why are some peppers different colors?', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1480-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-07 23:35:01', '2014-05-08 03:35:01', '', 1480, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/07/1480-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1500, 1, '2014-05-08 19:42:46', '2014-05-08 23:42:46', '[two_third]\nintro \nhttp://www.tom61.com/shiwangeweishime/youqudezhiwu/2012-01-30/25368.html\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n辣椒 - [pinyin]ye3 can1[/pinyin] - Picnic\n未成熟\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n　辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在未成熟前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有叶绿素的缘故。到了成熟期，叶绿素被破坏，辣椒中含有的黄色素和叶红素就相应增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThere are many types of peppers, but all types of pepper are green in color before they ripen, which is because they contain chlorophyll. When it finally comes time for them to ripen, the chlorophyll breaks down, and the yellow and red pigments in the peppers increase accordingly, so they become yellow and red. In addition, some types of peppers taste better when they\'re still green, so they are brought to market before they ripen. That\'s why we see so many different colors of peppers.  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Why are some peppers different colors?', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1480-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-08 19:42:46', '2014-05-08 23:42:46', '', 1480, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/08/1480-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1499, 1, '2014-05-08 19:30:16', '2014-05-08 23:30:16', '\n[two_third]\nintro \nhttp://www.tom61.com/shiwangeweishime/youqudezhiwu/2012-01-30/25368.html\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n野餐 - [pinyin]ye3 can1[/pinyin] - Picnic\n\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n　辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在未成熟前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有叶绿素的缘故。到了成熟期，叶绿素被破坏，辣椒中含有的黄色素和叶红素就相应增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThere are many types of peppers, but all types of pepper are green in color before they ripen, which is because they contain chlorophyll. When it finally comes time for them to ripen, the chlorophyll breaks down, and the yellow and red pigments in the peppers increase accordingly, so they become yellow and red. In addition, some types of peppers taste better when they\'re still green, so they are brought to market before they ripen. Therefore, we can see 　辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在未成熟前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有叶绿素的缘故。到了成熟期，叶绿素被破坏，辣椒中含有的黄色素和叶红素就相应增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Why are some peppers different colors?', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1480-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-08 19:30:16', '2014-05-08 23:30:16', '', 1480, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/08/1480-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1497, 1, '2014-05-07 23:34:32', '2014-05-08 03:34:32', '\n\n\n[two_third]\nI love it when I find a longer story that\'s suitable for beginning readers. This one, which is either a tale that reminds us what happens when you try to be something you\'re not, or a tale that reminds us that men should never be allowed to give each other fashion advice, definitely fits the bill. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/20130805-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Simplified Chinese: Basic Chinese Reader\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />The first sentence isn\'t super simple, so push through that one if you can, it gets much easier in the following paragraphs. Four points of grammar: \n\n能有幸请 [pinyin]neng2 you3 xing4 qing3[/pinyin] - A politely formal phrase of invitation \"May have the pleasure of inviting you ...\" or more specifically, \"May I be so lucky as to...\" (have this dance?) (take you on a date?). \n\n看上去 [pinyin]kan4 shang4 qu4[/pinyin] - To look like. \n\n你要是再不走开 [pinyin]ni3 yao4 shi4 zai4 bu4 zou3 kai1[/pinyin] - This one might be a little confusing. Let\'s break it down: \n\n你 - You\n要是 - If\n再不 - Otherwise / If not\n走开 - Go away\n\nThe full phrase means \"If you don\'t go away....\"\n\n他会来收拾你的 [pinyin]ta1 hui4 lai2 shou1 shi5 ni3 de5[/pinyin]. In the story, Miss Pig says this to an unwelcome guest. The \"他\" in this case is Mr. Pig. The Beginners often learn the word \"收拾\", meaning \"to tidy up\". Usually, this means exactly what it sounds like, and applies to cleaning up a room or an apartment. In this case, it\'s being used in kind of an action movie way, meaning \"He\'ll come over and <strong>deal with</strong> you!\" or \"He\'ll come <strong>straighten you out</strong>!\". So Miss Pig is threatening the unwelcome guest, telling him that Mr. Pig will come over and beat him up. \n\nThe Chinese title is 猪先生去野餐\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n野餐 - [pinyin]ye3 can1[/pinyin] - Picnic\n期待 - [pinyin]qi1 dai4[/pinyin] - To look forward to\n打动 - [pinyin]da3 dong4[/pinyin] - To move someone(emotionally)\n遇到 - [pinyin]yu4 dao4[/pinyin] - To run into\n借 - [pinyin]jie4[/pinyin] - Lend, borrow\n接着 - [pinyin]jie1 zhe5[/pinyin] - Continuing on\n威猛 - [pinyin]wei1 meng3[/pinyin] - Bold and powerful\n英俊 - [pinyin]ying1 jun4[/pinyin] - Handsome\n激动 - [pinyin]ji1 dong4[/pinyin] - Excite, agitate\n妖怪 - [pinyin]yao1 guai4[/pinyin] - Monster, devil\n丑八怪 - [pinyin]chou3 ba1 guai4[/pinyin] - Ugly person\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n　辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在未成熟前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有叶绿素的缘故。到了成熟期，叶绿素被破坏，辣椒中含有的黄色素和叶红素就相应增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nToday, it\'s a great day for a picnic. Mr. Pig dressed himself with care, looking forward to [the possibility of] Miss Pig and himself going on a picnic together.\n\n\"Heh, I hope she says \'Yes\' [lit: I\'m willing]. Hm, I\'ll also pick some flowers to give her, that will certainly be enough to sway her!\"\n\nOn the road, Mr. Pig ran into his friend Fox. When fox heard about the picnic, he said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, let me lend you my beautiful tail. See, you look so clever, Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased. \n\nContinuing on, he ran into his friend Lion. Lion heard about the picnic and said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, borrow my beautiful hair for when you go over there. See, you look so powerful, Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased.  \n\nAfter a while, he ran into his friend Zebra. Zebra heard about the picnic and said: \"Let me give you a suggestion, I\'ll lend you my beautiful stripes. See, you look so handsome. Miss Pig will certainly like it.\" Mr. Pig was very pleased. He felt that he\'d never before looked so handsome.\n\nFinally arriving at Miss Pig\'s house, Mr. Pig excitedly knocked on the door. \"Would you do me the honor of going on a picnic with me?\" he asked. \n\nMiss Pig was terrified: \"Oh, no way! What kind of monster are you? If you don\'t go away, I\'ll go get Mr. Pig, he\'ll straighten you out!\"\n\nMr. Pig hurriedly ran away. On the road, he gave the stripes back to Zebra, the hair back to Lion, and the tail back to Fox. AFter that, he hurried back to Miss Pig\'s house, and again pressed the doorbell. \n\n\"Would you do me the honor of having a picnic with me?\" he asked again. \n\n\"Goodness, Mr. Pig!\" Miss Pig cried out. \"I\'m so happy to see you, I\'d love to go on a picnic with you. An ugly wretch just came by here, standing in my garden, and scared me so.\" \n\nOn the way, Miss Pig told Mr. Pig the story of the \'ugly wretch\' in great detail. Her handsome friend Mr. Pig, though, listened with great sympathy. It really was a great day for a picnic.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Why are some peppers different colors?', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1480-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-07 23:34:32', '2014-05-08 03:34:32', '', 1480, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/07/1480-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1501, 1, '2014-05-08 19:44:41', '2014-05-08 23:44:41', '[two_third]\nScience! A quick para. Though the sentence structure here isn\'t too bad and the article is very short, I\'m classifying this as \'advanced\' since several of the words are quite s\nhttp://www.tom61.com/shiwangeweishime/youqudezhiwu/2012-01-30/25368.html\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n辣椒 - [pinyin]ye3 can1[/pinyin] - Picnic\n未成熟\n叶绿素\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n　辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在<strong>未成熟</strong>前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有<strong>叶绿素</strong>的缘故。到了成熟期，叶绿素被破坏，辣椒中含有的黄色素和叶红素就相应增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThere are many types of peppers, but all types of pepper are green in color before they ripen, which is because they contain chlorophyll. When it finally comes time for them to ripen, the chlorophyll breaks down, and the yellow and red pigments in the peppers increase accordingly, so they become yellow and red. In addition, some types of peppers taste better when they\'re still green, so they are brought to market before they ripen. That\'s why we see so many different colors of peppers.  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Why are some peppers different colors?', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1480-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-08 19:44:41', '2014-05-08 23:44:41', '', 1480, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/08/1480-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1503, 1, '2014-05-28 04:49:35', '2014-05-28 08:49:35', '\n\nhttp://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2014-04-02/1396399386256109.html\n\n\n[two_third]\nThis post kicks ass, if I do say so myself. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n光彩 - [pinyin]guang1 cai3[/pinyin] - Illustrious\n难为情 - [pinyin]nan2 wei2 qing2[/pinyin] - Embarrassed\n捉 - [pinyin]zhuo1[/pinyin] - Capture\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\n渐渐- [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Gradually\n大自然 - [pinyin]da4 zi4 ran2[/pinyin] - The great outdoors\n害虫- [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n　你想知道未来的桌椅是什么样子吗?还是让我这个发明人来介绍一下吧!\n　　未来的桌椅是高科技材料制成的，大小、颜色、形状能随意变化。早晨去上学，就按第一个按钮，颜色可以变成绿色，象征新的一天朝气蓬勃，这个桌椅变成了新型自行车，那时候人们讲究环保，每个学生都骑这样的车去上学，不用别的能源，有太阳能和风就够了。如果遇见堵车的现象，自行车就会飞跃过去，保证准时到达学校。\n　　到了学校，请按第二个按钮，绿色自行车变成了蓝色电脑桌椅，开始上课学习，根本不用带书包呀、文具盒、教材什么的。一切学习任务都在电脑上完成。\n　　到了放学的时候，又变回自行车回到家。当然这时候的车速可以放慢，好好欣赏一下大自然的风光。回到家没有作业，这时请按第三个橘色按钮，自行车再变成大型游戏机，你就可以玩各种游戏了。当然，对眼睛没有害处。\n　　到了晚上，请按第四个按钮，游戏机变成了你喜欢颜色的折叠床，发出美妙的音乐，催你甜蜜地入眠。假如你感觉哪儿不舒服了，就从床头伸出几个按摩头给你按摩，让你安然入睡。\n　　怎么样，我发明的未来的桌椅你一定喜欢吧?欢迎你现在就来预订一套。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDo you want to know what chairs and tables will be like in the future? Well then let this inventor [author is referring to self] introduce you!\n\nChairs and tables in the future are made from hig　　未来的桌椅是高科技材料制成的，大小、颜色、形状能随意变化。早晨去上学，就按第一个按钮，颜色可以变成绿色，象征新的一天朝气蓬勃，这个桌椅变成了新型自行车，那时候人们讲究环保，每个学生都骑这样的车去上学，不用别的能源，有太阳能和风就够了。如果遇见堵车的现象，自行车就会飞跃过去，保证准时到达学校。\n　　到了学校，请按第二个按钮，绿色自行车变成了蓝色电脑桌椅，开始上课学习，根本不用带书包呀、文具盒、教材什么的。一切学习任务都在电脑上完成。\n　　到了放学的时候，又变回自行车回到家。当然这时候的车速可以放慢，好好欣赏一下大自然的风光。回到家没有作业，这时请按第三个橘色按钮，自行车再变成大型游戏机，你就可以玩各种游戏了。当然，对眼睛没有害处。\n　　到了晚上，请按第四个按钮，游戏机变成了你喜欢颜色的折叠床，发出美妙的音乐，催你甜蜜地入眠。假如你感觉哪儿不舒服了，就从床头伸出几个按摩头给你按摩，让你安然入睡。\n　　怎么样，我发明的未来的桌椅你一定喜欢吧?欢迎你现在就来预订一套。\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Chairs of the Future', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1481-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-28 04:49:35', '2014-05-28 08:49:35', '', 1481, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/28/1481-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1504, 1, '2014-05-28 05:21:28', '2014-05-28 09:21:28', '[two_third]\nThis post kicks ass, if I do say so myself. This kid was asked to imagine the perfect desk-chair of the future - what it would look like, and what it would do - and boy, does he ever. The chair turns into all kinds of utopian machinery, flies, and . Sentence structure is pretty easy and the language is solidly intermediate, with very little advanced vocab (one idiom, a couple of advanced words but not much). At 5 paragraphs, the text is a bit long, though. <!--more-->\n\nHere\'s the <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2014-04-02/1396399386256109.html\" target=\"_blank\">original</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n光彩 - [pinyin]guang1 cai3[/pinyin] - Illustrious\n难为情 - [pinyin]nan2 wei2 qing2[/pinyin] - Embarrassed\n捉 - [pinyin]zhuo1[/pinyin] - Capture\n青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\n渐渐- [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Gradually\n大自然 - [pinyin]da4 zi4 ran2[/pinyin] - The great outdoors\n害虫- [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n　你想知道未来的桌椅是什么样子吗?还是让我这个发明人来介绍一下吧!\n　　未来的桌椅是高科技材料制成的，大小、颜色、形状能随意变化。早晨去上学，就按第一个按钮，颜色可以变成绿色，象征新的一天朝气蓬勃，这个桌椅变成了新型自行车，那时候人们讲究环保，每个学生都骑这样的车去上学，不用别的能源，有太阳能和风就够了。如果遇见堵车的现象，自行车就会飞跃过去，保证准时到达学校。\n　　到了学校，请按第二个按钮，绿色自行车变成了蓝色电脑桌椅，开始上课学习，根本不用带书包呀、文具盒、教材什么的。一切学习任务都在电脑上完成。\n　　到了放学的时候，又变回自行车回到家。当然这时候的车速可以放慢，好好欣赏一下大自然的风光。回到家没有作业，这时请按第三个橘色按钮，自行车再变成大型游戏机，你就可以玩各种游戏了。当然，对眼睛没有害处。\n　　到了晚上，请按第四个按钮，游戏机变成了你喜欢颜色的折叠床，发出美妙的音乐，催你甜蜜地入眠。假如你感觉哪儿不舒服了，就从床头伸出几个按摩头给你按摩，让你安然入睡。\n　　怎么样，我发明的未来的桌椅你一定喜欢吧?欢迎你现在就来预订一套。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDo you want to know what chairs and tables will be like in the future? Well then let this inventor [author is referring to self] introduce you!\n\nChairs and tables in the future are manufactured from high-tech materials, and the size, color and shape can change according to your wishes. In the morning when you go to school, you just push the first button, and the color will change to green, symbolizing a new day full of youthful energy, and its shape will change into a new type of bicycle, since at that time [the future] people will all pay attention to the environment, and every student will ride this kind of bike to go to school, and no other power source will be needed, just solar and wind will be enough. If you run into traffic, this bike can leap over it, ensuring you\'ll arrive at school on time. 　\n\nOnce you get to school, please push the second button, and the green bike will turn into a blue computer desk and chair, and when you start to study, you don\'t even need to have your book bag, stationery or other study materials. Everything you need [to accomplish studying] is all in the computer. 　\n\nWhen school gets out, it will again turn into a bike so you can return home. Of course at this time, the bike can also go slowly, so that you can take a moment to appreciate the natural scenery. When you get home and you have no homework, press the third orange-colored button, and the bike will change into a large video game machine. Of course, it will do no damage to your eyes. \n\nAt night, press the fourth button, and the video game machine will turn into a fold-out bed in any color you want, playing splendid music, that will encourage you to drift into sweet sleep. If you feel at all uncomfortable, a few massagers will extend from the head of the bed and give you a massage, to let you rest peacefully. \n\nWhat do you think? Surely you\'ll like my future desk chair. I welcome you to place an order for one now. \n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Chairs of the Future', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1481-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-28 05:21:28', '2014-05-28 09:21:28', '', 1481, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/28/1481-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1505, 1, '2014-05-28 05:32:15', '2014-05-28 09:32:15', '[two_third]\nThis post kicks ass, if I do say so myself. This kid was asked to imagine the perfect desk-chair of the future - what it would look like, and what it would do - and boy, does he ever. The chair turns into all kinds of utopian machinery. It flies, it helps you sleep, and it carries your books to school. Sentence structure is pretty easy and the language is solidly intermediate, with very little advanced vocab (one idiom, a couple of advanced words but not much). At six paragraphs, the text is a bit long, though. <!--more-->\n\nIn this text, you\'ll notice several uses of the character \"型\". 型 [pinyin]xing2[/pinyin] means \"type\", \"kind\", \"sort\". The character can be combined with other descriptive words, and in this text you\'ll see 新型 - \"New Type of...\" and 大型, meaning \"big type\" or \"large-scale\". \n\nHere\'s the <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2014-04-02/1396399386256109.html\" target=\"_blank\">original</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n未来 - [pinyin]guang1 cai3[/pinyin] - Illustrious\n发明人 - [pinyin]nan2 wei2 qing2[/pinyin] - Embarrassed\n高科技 - [pinyin]zhuo1[/pinyin] - Capture\n变化 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog\n按钮 - [pinyin]jian1 jian1[/pinyin] - Gradually\n朝气蓬勃 - [pinyin]da4 zi4 ran2[/pinyin] - The great outdoors\n能源 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\n文具盒 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\n游戏机 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\n叠床 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\n能源 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n你想知道<strong>未来</strong>的桌椅是什么样子吗? 还是让我这个<strong>发明人</strong>来介绍一下吧!\n\n未来的桌椅是<strong>高科技</strong>材料制成的，大小、颜色、形状能随意<strong>变化</strong>。早晨去上学，就按第一个<strong>按钮</strong>，颜色可以变成绿色，象征新的一天<strong>朝气蓬勃</strong>，这个桌椅变成了新型自行车，那时候人们讲究环保，每个学生都骑这样的车去上学，不用别的<strong>能源</strong>，有太阳能和风就够了。如果遇见堵车的现象，自行车就会飞跃过去，保证准时到达学校。\n\n到了学校，请按第二个按钮，绿色自行车变成了蓝色电脑桌椅，开始上课学习，根本不用带书包呀、<strong>文具盒</strong>、教材什么的。一切学习任务都在电脑上完成。\n\n到了放学的时候，又变回自行车回到家。当然这时候的车速可以放慢，好好欣赏一下大自然的风光。回到家没有作业，这时请按第三个橘色按钮，自行车再变成大型<strong>游戏机</strong>，你就可以玩各种游戏了。当然，对眼睛没有害处。\n\n到了晚上，请按第四个按钮，游戏机变成了你喜欢颜色的折<strong>叠床</strong>，发出美妙的音乐，催你甜蜜地入眠。假如你感觉哪儿不舒服了，就从床头伸出几个按摩头给你按摩，让你安然入睡。\n\n怎么样，我发明的未来的桌椅你一定喜欢吧?欢迎你现在就来预订一套。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDo you want to know what chairs and tables will be like in the future? Well then let this inventor [author is referring to self] introduce you!\n\nChairs and tables in the future are manufactured from high-tech materials, and the size, color and shape can change according to your wishes. In the morning when you go to school, you just push the first button, and the color will change to green, symbolizing a new day full of youthful energy, and its shape will change into a new type of bicycle, since at that time [the future] people will all pay attention to the environment, and every student will ride this kind of bike to go to school, and no other power source will be needed, just solar and wind will be enough. If you run into traffic, this bike can leap over it, ensuring you\'ll arrive at school on time. 　\n\nOnce you get to school, please push the second button, and the green bike will turn into a blue computer desk and chair, and when you start to study, you don\'t even need to have your book bag, stationery box or other study materials. Everything you need [to accomplish studying] is all in the computer. 　\n\nWhen school gets out, it will again turn into a bike so you can return home. Of course at this time, the bike is also freed to go slowly, so that you can take a moment to appreciate the natural scenery. When you get home and you have no homework, press the third orange-colored button, and the bike will change into a large video game machine, and you can play all kinds of games. Of course, it will do no damage to your eyes. \n\nAt night, press the fourth button, and the video game machine will turn into a fold-out bed in any color you want, playing splendid music, that will encourage you to drift into sweet sleep. If you feel at all uncomfortable, a few massagers will extend from the head of the bed and give you a massage, to let you rest peacefully. \n\nWhat do you think? Surely you\'ll like my future desk chair. I welcome you to place an order for one now. \n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Desk-chairs of the Future', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1481-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-28 05:32:15', '2014-05-28 09:32:15', '', 1481, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/28/1481-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1506, 1, '2014-05-28 05:35:24', '2014-05-28 09:35:24', '[two_third]\nThis post kicks ass, if I do say so myself. This kid was asked to imagine the perfect desk-chair of the future - what it would look like, and what it would do - and boy, does he ever. The chair turns into all kinds of utopian machinery. It flies, it helps you sleep, and it carries your books to school. Sentence structure is pretty easy and the language is solidly intermediate, with very little advanced vocab (one idiom, a couple of advanced words but not much). At six paragraphs, the text is a bit long, though. <!--more-->\n\nIn this text, you\'ll notice several uses of the character \"型\". 型 [pinyin]xing2[/pinyin] means \"type\", \"kind\", \"sort\". The character can be combined with other descriptive words, and in this text you\'ll see 新型 - \"New Type of...\" and 大型, meaning \"big type\" or \"large-scale\". \n\nHere\'s the <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2014-04-02/1396399386256109.html\" target=\"_blank\">original</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n未来 - [pinyin]wei4 lai2[/pinyin] - The Future\n发明人 - [pinyin]fa1 ming2 ren2[/pinyin] - Inventor\n高科技 - [pinyin]gao1 ke1 ji4[/pinyin] - High-tech\n变化 - [pinyin]bian4 hua4[/pinyin] - To change\n按钮 - [pinyin]an4 niu3[/pinyin] - A button\n朝气蓬勃 - [pinyin]zhao1 qi4 peng2 bo2[/pinyin] - Youthful vigor\n能源 - [pinyin]neng2 yuan2[/pinyin] - Power source\n文具盒 - [pinyin]wen2 ju4 he2[/pinyin] - Box of stationery, pencil case\n游戏机 - [pinyin]you2 xi4 ji1[/pinyin] - Video game machine\n叠床 - [pinyin]die2 chuang2[/pinyin] - Insect\n能源 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Insect\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n你想知道<strong>未来</strong>的桌椅是什么样子吗? 还是让我这个<strong>发明人</strong>来介绍一下吧!\n\n未来的桌椅是<strong>高科技</strong>材料制成的，大小、颜色、形状能随意<strong>变化</strong>。早晨去上学，就按第一个<strong>按钮</strong>，颜色可以变成绿色，象征新的一天<strong>朝气蓬勃</strong>，这个桌椅变成了新型自行车，那时候人们讲究环保，每个学生都骑这样的车去上学，不用别的<strong>能源</strong>，有太阳能和风就够了。如果遇见堵车的现象，自行车就会飞跃过去，保证准时到达学校。\n\n到了学校，请按第二个按钮，绿色自行车变成了蓝色电脑桌椅，开始上课学习，根本不用带书包呀、<strong>文具盒</strong>、教材什么的。一切学习任务都在电脑上完成。\n\n到了放学的时候，又变回自行车回到家。当然这时候的车速可以放慢，好好欣赏一下大自然的风光。回到家没有作业，这时请按第三个橘色按钮，自行车再变成大型<strong>游戏机</strong>，你就可以玩各种游戏了。当然，对眼睛没有害处。\n\n到了晚上，请按第四个按钮，游戏机变成了你喜欢颜色的折<strong>叠床</strong>，发出美妙的音乐，催你甜蜜地入眠。假如你感觉哪儿不舒服了，就从床头伸出几个按摩头给你按摩，让你安然入睡。\n\n怎么样，我发明的未来的桌椅你一定喜欢吧?欢迎你现在就来预订一套。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDo you want to know what chairs and tables will be like in the future? Well then let this inventor [author is referring to self] introduce you!\n\nChairs and tables in the future are manufactured from high-tech materials, and the size, color and shape can change according to your wishes. In the morning when you go to school, you just push the first button, and the color will change to green, symbolizing a new day full of youthful energy, and its shape will change into a new type of bicycle, since at that time [the future] people will all pay attention to the environment, and every student will ride this kind of bike to go to school, and no other power source will be needed, just solar and wind will be enough. If you run into traffic, this bike can leap over it, ensuring you\'ll arrive at school on time. 　\n\nOnce you get to school, please push the second button, and the green bike will turn into a blue computer desk and chair, and when you start to study, you don\'t even need to have your book bag, stationery box or other study materials. Everything you need [to accomplish studying] is all in the computer. 　\n\nWhen school gets out, it will again turn into a bike so you can return home. Of course at this time, the bike is also freed to go slowly, so that you can take a moment to appreciate the natural scenery. When you get home and you have no homework, press the third orange-colored button, and the bike will change into a large video game machine, and you can play all kinds of games. Of course, it will do no damage to your eyes. \n\nAt night, press the fourth button, and the video game machine will turn into a fold-out bed in any color you want, playing splendid music, that will encourage you to drift into sweet sleep. If you feel at all uncomfortable, a few massagers will extend from the head of the bed and give you a massage, to let you rest peacefully. \n\nWhat do you think? Surely you\'ll like my future desk chair. I welcome you to place an order for one now. \n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Desk-chairs of the Future', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1481-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-28 05:35:24', '2014-05-28 09:35:24', '', 1481, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/28/1481-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1507, 1, '2014-05-28 05:41:45', '2014-05-28 09:41:45', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese - High Tech Essays and Intermediate Language Practice', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140528', '', '', '2014-05-28 05:41:45', '2014-05-28 09:41:45', '', 1481, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140528.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1508, 1, '2014-05-28 05:41:49', '2014-05-28 09:41:49', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese - Intermediate Texts and Stories', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140528-inline', '', '', '2014-05-28 05:41:49', '2014-05-28 09:41:49', '', 1481, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140528-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1509, 1, '2014-05-28 05:43:30', '2014-05-28 09:43:30', '[two_third]\nThis post kicks ass, if I do say so myself. This kid was asked to imagine the perfect desk-chair of the future - what it would look like, and what it would do - and boy, does he ever. The chair turns into all kinds of utopian machinery. It flies, it helps you sleep, and it carries your books to school. Sentence structure is pretty easy and the language is solidly intermediate, with very little advanced vocab (one idiom, a couple of advanced words but not much). At six paragraphs, the text is a bit long, though. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140528-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Mandarin - Simplified Chinese Character Reading\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder a\" /> In this text, you\'ll notice several uses of the character \"型\". 型 [pinyin]xing2[/pinyin] means \"type\", \"kind\", \"sort\". The character can be combined with other descriptive words, and in this text you\'ll see 新型 - \"New Type of...\" and 大型, meaning \"big type\" or \"large-scale\". \n\nHere\'s the <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/youxiuzuowen/xiaoxueyinianjizuowen/2014-04-02/1396399386256109.html\" target=\"_blank\">original</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n未来 - [pinyin]wei4 lai2[/pinyin] - The Future\n发明人 - [pinyin]fa1 ming2 ren2[/pinyin] - Inventor\n高科技 - [pinyin]gao1 ke1 ji4[/pinyin] - High-tech\n变化 - [pinyin]bian4 hua4[/pinyin] - To change\n按钮 - [pinyin]an4 niu3[/pinyin] - A button\n朝气蓬勃 - [pinyin]zhao1 qi4 peng2 bo2[/pinyin] - Youthful vigor\n能源 - [pinyin]neng2 yuan2[/pinyin] - Power source\n文具盒 - [pinyin]wen2 ju4 he2[/pinyin] - Box of stationery, pencil case\n游戏机 - [pinyin]you2 xi4 ji1[/pinyin] - Video game machine\n叠床 - [pinyin]die2 chuang2[/pinyin] - Fold-out bed\n安然 - [pinyin]an1 ran2[/pinyin] - Peacefully\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n你想知道<strong>未来</strong>的桌椅是什么样子吗? 还是让我这个<strong>发明人</strong>来介绍一下吧!\n\n未来的桌椅是<strong>高科技</strong>材料制成的，大小、颜色、形状能随意<strong>变化</strong>。早晨去上学，就按第一个<strong>按钮</strong>，颜色可以变成绿色，象征新的一天<strong>朝气蓬勃</strong>，这个桌椅变成了新型自行车，那时候人们讲究环保，每个学生都骑这样的车去上学，不用别的<strong>能源</strong>，有太阳能和风就够了。如果遇见堵车的现象，自行车就会飞跃过去，保证准时到达学校。\n\n到了学校，请按第二个按钮，绿色自行车变成了蓝色电脑桌椅，开始上课学习，根本不用带书包呀、<strong>文具盒</strong>、教材什么的。一切学习任务都在电脑上完成。\n\n到了放学的时候，又变回自行车回到家。当然这时候的车速可以放慢，好好欣赏一下大自然的风光。回到家没有作业，这时请按第三个橘色按钮，自行车再变成大型<strong>游戏机</strong>，你就可以玩各种游戏了。当然，对眼睛没有害处。\n\n到了晚上，请按第四个按钮，游戏机变成了你喜欢颜色的折<strong>叠床</strong>，发出美妙的音乐，催你甜蜜地入眠。假如你感觉哪儿不舒服了，就从床头伸出几个按摩头给你按摩，让你<strong>安然</strong>入睡。\n\n怎么样，我发明的未来的桌椅你一定喜欢吧?欢迎你现在就来预订一套。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nDo you want to know what chairs and tables will be like in the future? Well then let this inventor [author is referring to self] introduce you!\n\nChairs and tables in the future are manufactured from high-tech materials, and the size, color and shape can change according to your wishes. In the morning when you go to school, you just push the first button, and the color will change to green, symbolizing a new day full of youthful energy, and its shape will change into a new type of bicycle, since at that time [the future] people will all pay attention to the environment, and every student will ride this kind of bike to go to school, and no other power source will be needed, just solar and wind will be enough. If you run into traffic, this bike can leap over it, ensuring you\'ll arrive at school on time. 　\n\nOnce you get to school, please push the second button, and the green bike will turn into a blue computer desk and chair, and when you start to study, you don\'t even need to have your book bag, stationery box or other study materials. Everything you need [to accomplish studying] is all in the computer. 　\n\nWhen school gets out, it will again turn into a bike so you can return home. Of course at this time, the bike is also freed to go slowly, so that you can take a moment to appreciate the natural scenery. When you get home and you have no homework, press the third orange-colored button, and the bike will change into a large video game machine, and you can play all kinds of games. Of course, it will do no damage to your eyes. \n\nAt night, press the fourth button, and the video game machine will turn into a fold-out bed in any color you want, playing splendid music, that will encourage you to drift into sweet sleep. If you feel at all uncomfortable, a few massagers will extend from the head of the bed and give you a massage, to let you rest peacefully. \n\nWhat do you think? Surely you\'ll like my future desk chair. I welcome you to place an order for one now. \n\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Desk-chairs of the Future', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1481-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-05-28 05:43:30', '2014-05-28 09:43:30', '', 1481, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/05/28/1481-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1512, 1, '2014-06-10 19:52:33', '2014-06-10 23:52:33', '[two_third]\nScience! A quick paragraph about why peppers come in so many hues. Though the sentence structure here isn\'t too bad and the article is very short, I\'m classifying this as \'advanced\' since several of the words are quite chemistry-specific. <!--more-->\n\nHere\'s the original. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n辣椒 - [pinyin]ye3 can1[/pinyin] - Picnic\n未成熟\n叶绿素\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n　辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在<strong>未成熟</strong>前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有<strong>叶绿素</strong>的缘故。到了成熟期，叶绿素被破坏，辣椒中含有的黄色素和叶红素就相应增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThere are many types of peppers, but all types of pepper are green in color before they ripen, which is because they contain chlorophyll. When it finally comes time for them to ripen, the chlorophyll breaks down, and the yellow and red pigments in the peppers increase accordingly, so they become yellow and red. In addition, some types of peppers taste better when they\'re still green, so they are brought to market before they ripen. That\'s why we see so many different colors of peppers.  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Why are some peppers different colors?', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1480-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-06-10 19:52:33', '2014-06-10 23:52:33', '', 1480, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/06/10/1480-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1514, 1, '2014-06-10 20:01:00', '2014-06-11 00:01:00', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Chinese Reading Materials for Advanced Learners', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140611', '', '', '2014-06-10 20:01:00', '2014-06-11 00:01:00', '', 1480, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/20140611.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1515, 1, '2014-06-10 20:01:01', '2014-06-11 00:01:01', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Practice Chinese Reading Skills', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140611-inline', '', '', '2014-06-10 20:01:01', '2014-06-11 00:01:01', '', 1480, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/20140611-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1516, 1, '2014-06-10 20:04:34', '2014-06-11 00:04:34', '[two_third]\nScience! A quick paragraph about why peppers come in so many hues. Though the sentence structure here isn\'t too bad and the article is very short, I\'m classifying this as \'advanced\' since several of the words are quite chemistry-specific. <!--more-->\n\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/20140611-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Chinese Character Practice: Simplified Chinese\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" />Advanced readers will recognize the words \"被破坏\" - to be broken by - as the phrase itself is common. In this case, though, we\'re not talking about a literal breaking, we\'re talking about the chemical process of an element \"breaking down\". \n\nHere\'s <a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/shiwangeweishime/youqudezhiwu/2012-01-30/25368.html\" target=\"_blank\">the original</a>. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n辣椒 - [pinyin]la4 jiao1[/pinyin] - Pepper\n未成熟 - [pinyin]wei4 cheng2 shu2[/pinyin] - Not yet ripe\n叶绿素 - [pinyin]ye4 lv4 su4[/pinyin] - chlorophyll\n缘故 - [pinyin]yuan2 gu4[/pinyin] - A reason\n含有 - [pinyin]han2 you3[/pinyin] - To contain\n素 - [pinyin]su4[/pinyin] - Pigment\n相应 - [pinyin]xiang1 ying4[/pinyin] - Correspondingly\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n　辣椒的品种有很多，但不论哪一个品种，在<strong>未成熟</strong>前都是青绿色的，那是因为含有<strong>叶绿素</strong>的<strong>缘故</strong>。到了成熟期，叶绿素被破坏，辣椒中<strong>含有</strong>的黄色<strong>素</strong>和叶红素就<strong>相应</strong>增多，于是变成黄色和红色。而有的辣椒品种是在青绿色时味道更好，因而在未成熟前就上市了。所以，我们可看到各种颜色的辣椒。  \n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nThere are many types of peppers, but all types of pepper are green in color before they ripen, which is because they contain chlorophyll. When it finally comes time for them to ripen, the chlorophyll breaks down, and the yellow and red pigments in the peppers increase accordingly, so they become yellow and red. In addition, some types of peppers taste better when they\'re still green, so they are brought to market before they ripen. That\'s why we see so many different colors of peppers.  \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Why are some peppers different colors?', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1480-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-06-10 20:04:34', '2014-06-11 00:04:34', '', 1480, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/06/10/1480-revision-7/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1517, 1, '2013-05-27 14:49:43', '2013-05-27 18:49:43', '<h3>The Basics</h3>\r\nMy name is: <strong>Kendra</strong>\r\nI live in: <strong>Beijing</strong>\r\nAge: <strong>30</strong> \r\nFirst year in China: <strong>2002</strong>\r\nWhat this site is for: This site doesn\'t exist to teach you Chinese from scratch - there are plenty of sites and programs that do that. But this collection might help you keep your skills fresh, practice recognizing sentence structure, or pick up the occasional new vocabulary word.\r\n\r\n<h3>The Story</h3>\r\nAfter spending a few years China studying Mandarin and working, I took a several-year hiatus and returned to my native country. It was alarming how quickly my language skills began disintegrating. I searched online for Chinese reading materials, and though I found plenty of dictionaries and flash card sources, I had a very difficult time finding something that was at an appropriate reading level, was different than the typical textbook-y stuff available online, was presented in a way that was easy to read, and that I was sure I could get through. I ended up spending more time looking for something that was suitable than actually doing any reading. Even worse, I\'d often get through a few paragraphs only to hit a phrase I couldn\'t decipher and, with no one to ask, would have to put the reading aside. Annoy-ing! \r\n\r\nAs someone who organizes her thoughts into a series of domain names, it was inevitable I\'d eventually start a website about it, and here you are. I post whenever I get a chance. \r\n\r\n<h4>About the Translations</h4>\r\nMost (but not all) of the translations on this site are done by me, and I don\'t post anything unless I\'ve checked it several times, but that doesn\'t mean I haven\'t missed something. Do feel free to comment if you see anything that ought to have a better translation - it won\'t be taken amiss. \r\n\r\nIt\'s often quite difficult to do a word-for-word translation, as Chinese words that fit well into a particular Chinese sentence read very awkwardly after they\'ve been translated - sometimes a direct translation just sounds off. This is more and more true the higher your reading level.  \r\n\r\nI\'ll often change the order of wording in a sentence so that it makes sense or reads well in English. You\'ll also notice that I often remove commas, split long Chinese sentences into two or more English sentences, or rearrange the order of clauses, which is necessary to accommodate Chinese grammar.  The translation is meant as a guidepost to help point you in the right direction and keep you grounded in the text when needed - it\'s up to you to dissect sentence structure.\r\n<h4>How I Classify Reading Levels</h4>\r\nUltimately, my classifications are pretty arbitrary, but I\'ll try to lay out some of my basic reasoning here.\r\n\r\n<strong>Beginner</strong> - Very very few of these texts are actually beginner tests; at least I haven\'t been able to find any real beginner stuff yet (I\'m still looking for good sources of real beginner texts that aren\'t boring dialogs - if you know of any, please write!). This is because for any story, article or essay to really take shape, it usually must involve some intermediate grammar or intermediate vocabulary. This is why most truly beginner textbooks stick to dialogs as opposed to actual articles. In order to do any real reading, you\'ve got to at least know the basics of sentence structure. I will classify something as beginner if at least a couple of the following criteria are met:\r\n<ul>\r\n	<li>The sentence structure is easy throughout</li>\r\n	<li>It contains mostly simpler words that are in the dictionary</li>\r\n	<li>There is no modern slang</li>\r\n	<li>The subject matter is basic / or for children</li>\r\n	<li>It\'s not too long</li>\r\n	<li>It contains few or no idioms</li>\r\n<li>It contains intermediate vocabulary but the story structure is very repetitive, so you can pick up the thread more easily as you go along.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Intermediate</strong> - I classify something as intermediate if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It\'s a longer piece that you have to hold a narrative thread through.</li>\r\n<li>The language is intermediate or upper-intermediate.</li>\r\n<li>There are some light idioms.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\n<strong>Advanced</strong> - Most of what\'s out there online is advanced reading. That\'s why as of now, there are more advanced texts on here than anything else. I classify something as advanced if:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>It contains many specialized or technical words (technology, health, beauty, geography, etc.)</li>\r\n<li>It contains high-level structures, like newspaper-y or literary writing styles.</li>\r\n<li>It contains any archaic words.</li>\r\n<li>The sentence structure is very complicated.</li>\r\n<li>It contains a lot of modern slang.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n\r\nEnjoy, and good luck with your studies.', 'About', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '2-revision-v1', '', '', '2013-05-27 14:49:43', '2013-05-27 18:49:43', '', 2, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2013/05/27/2-revision-25/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1519, 1, '2014-07-30 06:41:00', '2014-07-30 10:41:00', '[two_third]\r\nHey, whaddaya know! A guest post. Been a while since we got one of these. Many thanks to Ryan, who submitted recently. Ryan tells us: \"This is a very interesting article about Chinese-Americans that shouldn\'t be too hard for intermediate-level readers. The grammar in this article is fairly simple, and I could understand most of it, having learnt Chinese for half a year.\" <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/20140730-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn Chinese Reading: Learn to Read Chinese Characters\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignleft\" /> This post was taken from a passage in one of Ryan\'s old Chinese textbooks, given to him by a friend. It introduces what we presume is a much longer treatise on the history of Chinese immigration to North America. In this text, we learn a couple of cool place names and period names here. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title is:  华裔美国人. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n世纪 - [pinyin]shi4 ji4[/pinyin] - Century\r\n广东省 - [pinyin]guang3 dong1 sheng3[/pinyin] - Guangdong Province\r\n福建省 - [pinyin]fu2 jian4 sheng3[/pinyin] - Fujian Province\r\n淘金 - [pinyin]tao2 jin1[/pinyin] - Gold Rush\r\n铁路 - [pinyin]tie3 lu4[/pinyin] - Railroads\r\n内战 - [pinyin]nei4 zhan4[/pinyin] - Civil War\r\n中国城 - [pinyin]zhong1 guo2 cheng2[/pinyin] - Chinatown\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中国人是从19<strong>世纪</strong>二十年代开始到美国来的。他们大多来自<strong>广东省</strong>和<strong>福建省</strong>。一开始，他们在加利福尼亚<strong>淘金</strong>；后来，又在西部修建<strong>铁路</strong>、经营农场。20世纪四五十年代，一些人因为中国<strong>内战</strong>来到美国。从20世纪七十年代开始，越来越多的中国人到美国来留学。学习结束后，有的人继续留在美国工作和生活。\r\n\r\n中国人到美国的时候，最先是在大城市里居住。所以，现在很多城市像旧金山、纽约、<strong>檀香山</strong>和加拿大的温哥华等都有很大的<strong>中国城</strong>。\r\n\r\n以前，中国人在美国生活非常艰难。在几代人的共同努力下，很多人取得了很大的成就。看看下面的当代华裔美国人，有哪些是你认识的？ \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\nFrom the 1820\'s, Chinese people started arriving in America. Most of them came from Guangdong Province and Fujian Province. Initially, they came to California to pan for gold [during the Gold Rush] ; later, they built railroads and started farms in the West. In the 1940s and 1950s, more people [immigrated to the] United States] because of the Chinese civil war. Beginning in the 1970s, more and more Chinese people came to America to study. After they graduated, some people stayed in America to work and live.\r\n\r\nWhen the Chinese arrived in the United States, most of them lived in big cities. Thus, now many cities like San Francisco, New York, Honolulu, Canada\'s Vancouver, and others have large Chinatowns.\r\n\r\nPreviously, Chinese people living in the United States had it very hard. But through the joint efforts of several generations, many [Chinese] people have achieved great things. Here\'s a look at contemporary Chinese Americans, which ones are you familiar with?\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: The History of Chinese Americans', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', 'guest-post-the-history-of-chinese-americans', '', '', '2016-10-31 02:53:31', '2016-10-31 06:53:31', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1519', 0, 'post', '', 15),
(1520, 1, '2014-07-30 06:35:19', '2014-07-30 10:35:19', '[two_third]\nHey, whaddaya know! A guest post. Been a while since we got one of these. Many thanks to Ryan, who submitted recently. Ryan tells us: \"This is a very interesting article about Chinese-Americans that shouldn\'t be too hard for intermediate-level readers. The grammar in this article is fairly simple, and I could understand most of it, having learnt Chinese for half a year.\" <!--more-->\n\nThis post was taken from a passage in one of Ryan\'s old Chinese textbooks, given to him by a friend. It introduces what we presume is a much longer treatise on the history of Chinese immigration to North America. In this text, we learn a couple of cool place names and period names here. \n\nThe Chinese title is:  华裔美国人. \n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n世纪 - [pinyin]shi4 ji4[/pinyin] - Century\n广东省 - [pinyin]guang3 dong1 sheng3[/pinyin] - Guangdong Province\n福建省 - [pinyin]fu2 jian4 sheng3[/pinyin] - Fujian Province\n淘金 - [pinyin]tao2 jin1[/pinyin] - Gold Rush\n铁路 - [pinyin]tie2[/pinyin] - To contain\n内战 - [pinyin]su4[/pinyin] - Pigment\n中国城 - [pinyin]xiang1 ying4[/pinyin] - Correspondingly\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n中国人是从19<strong>世纪</strong>二十年代开始到美国来的。他们大多来自<strong>广东省</strong>和<strong>福建省</strong>。一开始，他们在加利福尼亚<strong>淘金</strong>；后来，又在西部修建<strong>铁路</strong>、经营农场。20世纪四五十年代，一些人因为中国<strong>内战</strong>来到美国。从20世纪七十年代开始，越来越多的中国人到美国来留学。学习结束后，有的人继续留在美国工作和生活。\n\n中国人到美国的时候，最先是在大城市里居住。所以，现在很多城市像旧金山、纽约、<strong>檀香山</strong>和加拿大的温哥华等都有很大的<strong>中国城</strong>。\n\n以前，中国人在美国生活非常艰难。在几代人的共同努力下，很多人取得了很大的成就。看看下面的当代华裔美国人，有哪些是你认识的？ \n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nFrom the 1820\'s, Chinese people started arriving in America. Most of them came from Guangdong Province and Fujian Province. Initially, they came to California to pan for gold [during the Gold Rush] ; later, they built railroads and started farms in the West. In the 1940s and 1950s, more people [immigrated to the] United States] because of the Chinese civil war. Beginning in the 1970s, more and more Chinese people came to America to study. After they graduated, some people stayed in America to work and live.\n\nWhen the Chinese arrived in the United States, most of them lived in big cities. Thus, now many cities like San Francisco, New York, Honolulu, Canada\'s Vancouver, and others have large Chinatowns.\n\nPreviously, Chinese people living in the United States had it very hard. But through the joint efforts of several generations, many [Chinese] people have achieved great things. Here\'s a look at contemporary Chinese Americans, which ones are you familiar with?\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: The History of Chinese Americans', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1519-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-07-30 06:35:19', '2014-07-30 10:35:19', '', 1519, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/07/30/1519-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1521, 1, '2014-07-30 06:39:40', '2014-07-30 10:39:40', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Simplified Chinese Reading Exercises', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140730', '', '', '2014-07-30 06:39:40', '2014-07-30 10:39:40', '', 1519, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/20140730.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1522, 1, '2014-07-30 06:39:42', '2014-07-30 10:39:42', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Simplified Chinese Character Study', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140730-inline', '', '', '2014-07-30 06:39:42', '2014-07-30 10:39:42', '', 1519, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/20140730-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1523, 1, '2014-07-30 06:36:14', '2014-07-30 10:36:14', '[two_third]\r\nHey, whaddaya know! A guest post. Been a while since we got one of these. Many thanks to Ryan, who submitted recently. Ryan tells us: \"This is a very interesting article about Chinese-Americans that shouldn\'t be too hard for intermediate-level readers. The grammar in this article is fairly simple, and I could understand most of it, having learnt Chinese for half a year.\" <!--more-->\r\n\r\nThis post was taken from a passage in one of Ryan\'s old Chinese textbooks, given to him by a friend. It introduces what we presume is a much longer treatise on the history of Chinese immigration to North America. In this text, we learn a couple of cool place names and period names here. \r\n\r\nThe Chinese title is:  华裔美国人. \r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n世纪 - [pinyin]shi4 ji4[/pinyin] - Century\r\n广东省 - [pinyin]guang3 dong1 sheng3[/pinyin] - Guangdong Province\r\n福建省 - [pinyin]fu2 jian4 sheng3[/pinyin] - Fujian Province\r\n淘金 - [pinyin]tao2 jin1[/pinyin] - Gold Rush\r\n铁路 - [pinyin]tie3 lu4[/pinyin] - Railroads\r\n内战 - [pinyin]nei4 zhan4[/pinyin] - Civil War\r\n中国城 - [pinyin]zhong1 guo2 cheng2[/pinyin] - Chinatown\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中国人是从19<strong>世纪</strong>二十年代开始到美国来的。他们大多来自<strong>广东省</strong>和<strong>福建省</strong>。一开始，他们在加利福尼亚<strong>淘金</strong>；后来，又在西部修建<strong>铁路</strong>、经营农场。20世纪四五十年代，一些人因为中国<strong>内战</strong>来到美国。从20世纪七十年代开始，越来越多的中国人到美国来留学。学习结束后，有的人继续留在美国工作和生活。\r\n\r\n中国人到美国的时候，最先是在大城市里居住。所以，现在很多城市像旧金山、纽约、<strong>檀香山</strong>和加拿大的温哥华等都有很大的<strong>中国城</strong>。\r\n\r\n以前，中国人在美国生活非常艰难。在几代人的共同努力下，很多人取得了很大的成就。看看下面的当代华裔美国人，有哪些是你认识的？ \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\nFrom the 1820\'s, Chinese people started arriving in America. Most of them came from Guangdong Province and Fujian Province. Initially, they came to California to pan for gold [during the Gold Rush] ; later, they built railroads and started farms in the West. In the 1940s and 1950s, more people [immigrated to the] United States] because of the Chinese civil war. Beginning in the 1970s, more and more Chinese people came to America to study. After they graduated, some people stayed in America to work and live.\r\n\r\nWhen the Chinese arrived in the United States, most of them lived in big cities. Thus, now many cities like San Francisco, New York, Honolulu, Canada\'s Vancouver, and others have large Chinatowns.\r\n\r\nPreviously, Chinese people living in the United States had it very hard. But through the joint efforts of several generations, many [Chinese] people have achieved great things. Here\'s a look at contemporary Chinese Americans, which ones are you familiar with?\r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Guest Post: The History of Chinese Americans', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1519-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-07-30 06:36:14', '2014-07-30 10:36:14', '', 1519, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/07/30/1519-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1526, 1, '2014-08-26 00:51:16', '2014-08-26 04:51:16', 'Story behind the Chinese idiom 专心致志 [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1 zhi4 zhi4[/pinyin], which means \"to do something with single-minded devotion\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\nSometimes these idiom stories do a good job tying themselves into the history of the idiom; sometimes they\'re more just a vaguely-related tale that will help you remember the idiom. This is one of the latter. This idiom story actually contains 2 other idioms (see the vocab list), so, hey, idiom party.\r\n\r\nYou might be interested in the way that the author of this story talks about chess. To \"play chess\" is written like this: 下棋 - [pinyin]xia4 qi2[/pinyin], or literally \"to put down chess pieces\". But when we\'re talking about someone\'s skill level of chess play - in otherwords, the level of chess mastery - the author uses 棋艺 - [pinyin]qi2 yi4[/pinyin], or literally \"chess art\". So 下棋 is a verb, \"to play chess\", while 棋艺 is a noun, as in \"mad chess skillz\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/chengyugushi/2014-07-14/43769.html\" target=\"_blank\">Here\'s the original text</a> on tom61.com.  \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n1) 从前有一个下棋能手名叫秋，他的棋艺非常高超。\r\n\r\n2) 秋有两个学生，一起跟他学习下棋，其中一个学生非常专心集中精力跟老师学习。另一个却不这样，他认为学下棋很容易，用不着认真。老师讲解的时候，他虽然坐在那里，眼睛也好像在看着棋子可心里却想着：“要是现在到野外射下一只鸿雁，美餐一顿该多好。 ”因为他总是胡思乱想心不在焉，老师的讲解一点也没听进去。\r\n\r\n3) 结果，虽然两个学生同是一个名师传授，但是，一个进步很快，成了棋艺高强的名手，另一个却没学到一点本事。 \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 chess master named Qiu whose chess skills were superlative. \r\n\r\nQiu had two students who studied chess with him, one student studied with concentrated focus and energy. The other, however, wasn\'t like that, he thought studying chess was very easy, and there was no need to take it seriously. When the teacher was explaining, although the [the student] sat there, his eyes seemed to be on the chess pieces, he was actually thinking: \"If I go to the countryside right now and shoot a goose, I\'ll have a lovely dinner.\" Because he was always indulging in flights of fancy and absent-mindedness, nothing the teacher said ever sunk in.\r\n\r\nAs a result, although the two students studied were taught at the same time by the same master, one improved quickly and became a superior chess player, while the other never learned much at all. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 专心致志 - To Act with Single-minded Devotion', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'story-behind-the-idiom-zhuan-xin-zhi-zhi', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:50:56', '2016-11-04 09:50:56', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1526', 0, 'post', '', 8),
(2033, 1, '2016-11-04 05:50:56', '2016-11-04 09:50:56', 'Story behind the Chinese idiom 专心致志 [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1 zhi4 zhi4[/pinyin], which means \"to do something with single-minded devotion\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\nSometimes these idiom stories do a good job tying themselves into the history of the idiom; sometimes they\'re more just a vaguely-related tale that will help you remember the idiom. This is one of the latter. This idiom story actually contains 2 other idioms (see the vocab list), so, hey, idiom party.\r\n\r\nYou might be interested in the way that the author of this story talks about chess. To \"play chess\" is written like this: 下棋 - [pinyin]xia4 qi2[/pinyin], or literally \"to put down chess pieces\". But when we\'re talking about someone\'s skill level of chess play - in otherwords, the level of chess mastery - the author uses 棋艺 - [pinyin]qi2 yi4[/pinyin], or literally \"chess art\". So 下棋 is a verb, \"to play chess\", while 棋艺 is a noun, as in \"mad chess skillz\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/chengyugushi/2014-07-14/43769.html\" target=\"_blank\">Here\'s the original text</a> on tom61.com.  \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n1) 从前有一个下棋能手名叫秋，他的棋艺非常高超。\r\n\r\n2) 秋有两个学生，一起跟他学习下棋，其中一个学生非常专心集中精力跟老师学习。另一个却不这样，他认为学下棋很容易，用不着认真。老师讲解的时候，他虽然坐在那里，眼睛也好像在看着棋子可心里却想着：“要是现在到野外射下一只鸿雁，美餐一顿该多好。 ”因为他总是胡思乱想心不在焉，老师的讲解一点也没听进去。\r\n\r\n3) 结果，虽然两个学生同是一个名师传授，但是，一个进步很快，成了棋艺高强的名手，另一个却没学到一点本事。 \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 chess master named Qiu whose chess skills were superlative. \r\n\r\nQiu had two students who studied chess with him, one student studied with concentrated focus and energy. The other, however, wasn\'t like that, he thought studying chess was very easy, and there was no need to take it seriously. When the teacher was explaining, although the [the student] sat there, his eyes seemed to be on the chess pieces, he was actually thinking: \"If I go to the countryside right now and shoot a goose, I\'ll have a lovely dinner.\" Because he was always indulging in flights of fancy and absent-mindedness, nothing the teacher said ever sunk in.\r\n\r\nAs a result, although the two students studied were taught at the same time by the same master, one improved quickly and became a superior chess player, while the other never learned much at all. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 专心致志 - To Act with Single-minded Devotion', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1526-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:50:56', '2016-11-04 09:50:56', '', 1526, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/11/1526-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1691, 1, '2016-10-31 01:51:24', '2016-10-31 05:51:24', 'Story behind the Chinese idiom 专心致志 [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1 zhi4 zhi4[/pinyin], which means \"to do something with single-minded devotion\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\nSometimes these idiom stories do a good job tying themselves into the history of the idiom; sometimes they\'re more just a vaguely-related tale that will help you remember the idiom. This is one of the latter. This idiom story actually contains 2 other idioms (see the vocab list), so, hey, idiom party.\r\n\r\nYou might be interested in the way that the author of this story talks about chess. To \"play chess\" is written like this: 下棋 - [pinyin]xia4 qi2[/pinyin], or literally \"to put down chess pieces\". But when we\'re talking about someone\'s skill level of chess play - in otherwords, the level of chess mastery - the author uses 棋艺 - [pinyin]qi2 yi4[/pinyin], or literally \"chess art\". So 下棋 is a verb, \"to play chess\", while 棋艺 is a noun, as in \"mad chess skillz\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/chengyugushi/2014-07-14/43769.html\" target=\"_blank\">Here\'s the original text</a> on tom61.com.  \r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\r\n从前有一个<strong>下棋</strong>能手名叫秋，他的<strong>棋艺</strong>非常高超。\r\n\r\n秋有两个学生，一起跟他学习下棋，其中一个学生非常<strong>专心</strong>集中精力跟老师学习。另一个却不这样，他认为学下棋很容易，用不着认真。老师讲解的时候，他虽然坐在那里，眼睛也好像在看着棋子可心里却想着：“要是现在到野外射下一只<strong>鸿雁</strong>，美餐一顿该多好。 ”因为他总是<strong>胡思乱想</strong><strong>心不在焉</strong>，老师的讲解一点也没听进去。\r\n\r\n结果，虽然两个学生同是一个名师<strong>传授</strong>，但是，一个进步很快，成了棋艺高强的名手，另一个却没学到一点本事。 \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 chess master named Qiu whose chess skills were superlative. \r\n\r\nQiu had two students who studied chess with him, one student studied with concentrated focus and energy. The other, however, wasn\'t like that, he thought studying chess was very easy, and there was no need to take it seriously. When the teacher was explaining, although the [the student] sat there, his eyes seemed to be on the chess pieces, he was actually thinking: \"If I go to the countryside right now and shoot a goose, I\'ll have a lovely dinner.\" Because he was always indulging in flights of fancy and absent-mindedness, nothing the teacher said ever sunk in.\r\n\r\nAs a result, although the two students studied were taught at the same time by the same master, one improved quickly and became a superior chess player, while the other never learned much at all. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 专心致志 - To Act with Single-minded Devotion', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1526-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 01:51:24', '2016-10-31 05:51:24', '', 1526, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1526-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1528, 1, '2014-08-26 00:40:47', '2014-08-26 04:40:47', '[two_third]\nOften these idiom stories e. This idiom story actually contains 3 other idioms, so, hey, idiom party. \n\nLet\'s t棋艺\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n下棋 - [pinyin]la4 jiao1[/pinyin] - Pepper\n专心 - [pinyin]wei4 cheng2 shu2[/pinyin] - Not yet ripe\n鸿雁 - [pinyin]ye4 lv4 su4[/pinyin] - chlorophyll\n胡思乱想 - [pinyin]hu2 si1 luan4 xiang3[/pinyin] - A reason\n心不在焉 - [pinyin]xin1 bu4 zai4 yan1/pinyin] - Absent-minded, one\'s heart is not present\n传授 - [pinyin]chuan2 shou4[/pinyin] - To have knowledge imparted upon you, esp. by a great master. \n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n从前有一个<strong>下棋</strong>能手名叫秋，他的<strong>棋艺</strong>非常高超。\n\n秋有两个学生，一起跟他学习下棋，其中一个学生非常<strong>专心</strong>集中精力跟老师学习。另一个却不这样，他认为学下棋很容易，用不着认真。老师讲解的时候，他虽然坐在那里，眼睛也好像在看着棋子可心里却想着：“要是现在到野外射下一只<strong>鸿雁</strong>，美餐一顿该多好。 ”因为他总是<strong>胡思乱想</strong><strong>心不在焉</strong>，老师的讲解一点也没听进去。\n\n结果，虽然两个学生同是一个名师<strong>传授</strong>，但是，一个进步很快，成了棋艺高强的名手，另一个却没学到一点本事。 \n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nLong ago there was a chess master named Qiu whose chess skills were superlative. \n\nQiu had two students who studied chess with him, one student studied with concentrated focus and energy. The other, however, wasn\'t like that, he thought studying chess was very easy, and there was no need to take it seriously. When the teacher was explaining, although the [the student] sat there, his eyes seemed to be on the chess pieces, he was actually thinking: \"If I go to the countryside right now and shoot a goose, I\'ll have a lovely dinner.\" Because he was always indulging in flights of fancy and absent-mindedness, nothing the teacher said ever sunk in.\n\nAs a result, although the two students studied were taught at the same time by the same master, one improved quickly and became a superior chess player, while the other never learned much at all. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Zhuan Xin Zhi Zhi', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1526-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-08-26 00:40:47', '2014-08-26 04:40:47', '', 1526, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/08/26/1526-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1529, 1, '2014-08-26 00:49:00', '2014-08-26 04:49:00', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Chinese Fables in English', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140826', '', '', '2014-08-26 00:49:00', '2014-08-26 04:49:00', '', 1526, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/20140826.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1530, 1, '2014-08-26 00:49:02', '2014-08-26 04:49:02', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Chinese Fables in English', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20140826-inline', '', '', '2014-08-26 00:49:02', '2014-08-26 04:49:02', '', 1526, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/20140826-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0);
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(1531, 1, '2014-08-26 00:45:46', '2014-08-26 04:45:46', '[two_third]\nStory behind the Chinese idiom 专心致志 [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1 zhi4 zhi4[/pinyin], which means \"to do something with single-minded devotion\". <!--more-->\n\nSometimes these idiom stories do a good job tying themselves into the history of the idiom; sometimes they\'re more just a vaguely-related tale that will help you remember the idiom. This is one of the latter. This idiom story actually contains 2 other idioms (see the vocab list), so, hey, idiom party.\n\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/chengyugushi/2014-07-14/43769.html\" target=\"_blank\">Here\'s the original text</a> on tom61.com.  \n\nLet\'s t棋艺\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n下棋 - [pinyin]xia4 qi2[/pinyin] - To play chess\n专心 - [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1[/pinyin] - Concentrate\n鸿雁 - [pinyin]hong2 yan4[/pinyin] - Swan goose\n胡思乱想 - [pinyin]hu2 si1 luan4 xiang3[/pinyin] - Thoughts running wild\n心不在焉 - [pinyin]xin1 bu4 zai4 yan1/pinyin] - Absent-minded, one\'s heart is not present\n传授 - [pinyin]chuan2 shou4[/pinyin] - To have knowledge imparted upon you, esp. by a great master. \n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\n从前有一个<strong>下棋</strong>能手名叫秋，他的<strong>棋艺</strong>非常高超。\n\n秋有两个学生，一起跟他学习下棋，其中一个学生非常<strong>专心</strong>集中精力跟老师学习。另一个却不这样，他认为学下棋很容易，用不着认真。老师讲解的时候，他虽然坐在那里，眼睛也好像在看着棋子可心里却想着：“要是现在到野外射下一只<strong>鸿雁</strong>，美餐一顿该多好。 ”因为他总是<strong>胡思乱想</strong><strong>心不在焉</strong>，老师的讲解一点也没听进去。\n\n结果，虽然两个学生同是一个名师<strong>传授</strong>，但是，一个进步很快，成了棋艺高强的名手，另一个却没学到一点本事。 \n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nLong ago there was a chess master named Qiu whose chess skills were superlative. \n\nQiu had two students who studied chess with him, one student studied with concentrated focus and energy. The other, however, wasn\'t like that, he thought studying chess was very easy, and there was no need to take it seriously. When the teacher was explaining, although the [the student] sat there, his eyes seemed to be on the chess pieces, he was actually thinking: \"If I go to the countryside right now and shoot a goose, I\'ll have a lovely dinner.\" Because he was always indulging in flights of fancy and absent-mindedness, nothing the teacher said ever sunk in.\n\nAs a result, although the two students studied were taught at the same time by the same master, one improved quickly and became a superior chess player, while the other never learned much at all. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Zhuan Xin Zhi Zhi', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1526-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-08-26 00:45:46', '2014-08-26 04:45:46', '', 1526, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/08/26/1526-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1532, 1, '2014-08-26 00:51:16', '2014-08-26 04:51:16', '[two_third]\r\nStory behind the Chinese idiom 专心致志 [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1 zhi4 zhi4[/pinyin], which means \"to do something with single-minded devotion\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\nSometimes these idiom <img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/20140826-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Chinese Fables\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignnone\" />stories do a good job tying themselves into the history of the idiom; sometimes they\'re more just a vaguely-related tale that will help you remember the idiom. This is one of the latter. This idiom story actually contains 2 other idioms (see the vocab list), so, hey, idiom party.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/chengyugushi/2014-07-14/43769.html\" target=\"_blank\">Here\'s the original text</a> on tom61.com.  \r\n\r\nLet\'s t棋艺\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n下棋 - [pinyin]xia4 qi2[/pinyin] - To play chess\r\n专心 - [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1[/pinyin] - Concentrate\r\n鸿雁 - [pinyin]hong2 yan4[/pinyin] - Swan goose\r\n胡思乱想 - [pinyin]hu2 si1 luan4 xiang3[/pinyin] - Thoughts running wild\r\n心不在焉 - [pinyin]xin1 bu4 zai4 yan1/pinyin] - Absent-minded, one\'s heart is not present\r\n传授 - [pinyin]chuan2 shou4[/pinyin] - To have knowledge imparted upon you, esp. by a great master. \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从前有一个<strong>下棋</strong>能手名叫秋，他的<strong>棋艺</strong>非常高超。\r\n\r\n秋有两个学生，一起跟他学习下棋，其中一个学生非常<strong>专心</strong>集中精力跟老师学习。另一个却不这样，他认为学下棋很容易，用不着认真。老师讲解的时候，他虽然坐在那里，眼睛也好像在看着棋子可心里却想着：“要是现在到野外射下一只<strong>鸿雁</strong>，美餐一顿该多好。 ”因为他总是<strong>胡思乱想</strong><strong>心不在焉</strong>，老师的讲解一点也没听进去。\r\n\r\n结果，虽然两个学生同是一个名师<strong>传授</strong>，但是，一个进步很快，成了棋艺高强的名手，另一个却没学到一点本事。 \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 chess master named Qiu whose chess skills were superlative. \r\n\r\nQiu had two students who studied chess with him, one student studied with concentrated focus and energy. The other, however, wasn\'t like that, he thought studying chess was very easy, and there was no need to take it seriously. When the teacher was explaining, although the [the student] sat there, his eyes seemed to be on the chess pieces, he was actually thinking: \"If I go to the countryside right now and shoot a goose, I\'ll have a lovely dinner.\" Because he was always indulging in flights of fancy and absent-mindedness, nothing the teacher said ever sunk in.\r\n\r\nAs a result, although the two students studied were taught at the same time by the same master, one improved quickly and became a superior chess player, while the other never learned much at all. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Zhuan Xin Zhi Zhi', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1526-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-08-26 00:51:16', '2014-08-26 04:51:16', '', 1526, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/08/26/1526-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1533, 1, '2016-11-04 05:49:54', '2016-11-04 09:49:54', 'Story behind the Chinese idiom 专心致志 [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1 zhi4 zhi4[/pinyin], which means \"to do something with single-minded devotion\". <!--more-->\n\nSometimes these idiom stories do a good job tying themselves into the history of the idiom; sometimes they\'re more just a vaguely-related tale that will help you remember the idiom. This is one of the latter. This idiom story actually contains 2 other idioms (see the vocab list), so, hey, idiom party.\n\nYou might be interested in the way that the author of this story talks about chess. To \"play chess\" is written like this: 下棋 - [pinyin]xia4 qi2[/pinyin], or literally \"to put down chess pieces\". But when we\'re talking about someone\'s skill level of chess play - in otherwords, the level of chess mastery - the author uses 棋艺 - [pinyin]qi2 yi4[/pinyin], or literally \"chess art\". So 下棋 is a verb, \"to play chess\", while 棋艺 is a noun, as in \"mad chess skillz\". \n\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/chengyugushi/2014-07-14/43769.html\" target=\"_blank\">Here\'s the original text</a> on tom61.com.  \n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\n<h3>Chinese text</h3>\n1) 从前有一个下棋能手名叫秋，他的棋艺非常高超。\n\n2) 秋有两个学生，一起跟他学习下棋，其中一个学生非常专心集中精力跟老师学习。另一个却不这样，他认为学下棋很容易，用不着认真。老师讲解的时候，他虽然坐在那里，眼睛也好像在看着棋子可心里却想着：“要是现在到野外射下一只鸿雁，美餐一顿该多好。 ”因为他总是胡思乱想心不在焉，老师的讲解一点也没听进去。\n\n3) 结果，虽然两个学生同是一个名师传授，但是，一个进步很快，成了棋艺高强的名手，另一个却没学到一点本事。 \n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\nLong ago there was a chess master named Qiu whose chess skills were superlative. \n\nQiu had two students who studied chess with him, one student studied with concentrated focus and energy. The other, however, wasn\'t like that, he thought studying chess was very easy, and there was no need to take it seriously. When the teacher was explaining, although the [the student] sat there, his eyes seemed to be on the chess pieces, he was actually thinking: \"If I go to the countryside right now and shoot a goose, I\'ll have a lovely dinner.\" Because he was always indulging in flights of fancy and absent-mindedness, nothing the teacher said ever sunk in.\n\nAs a result, although the two students studied were taught at the same time by the same master, one improved quickly and became a superior chess player, while the other never learned much at all. \n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', '[Chinese Idioms] 专心致志 - To Act with Single-minded Devotion', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1526-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:49:54', '2016-11-04 09:49:54', '', 1526, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/08/26/1526-autosave/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1534, 1, '2014-08-26 00:52:02', '2014-08-26 04:52:02', '[two_third]\r\nStory behind the Chinese idiom 专心致志 [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1 zhi4 zhi4[/pinyin], which means \"to do something with single-minded devotion\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/20140826-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Chinese Fables\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignnone\" />Sometimes these idiom stories do a good job tying themselves into the history of the idiom; sometimes they\'re more just a vaguely-related tale that will help you remember the idiom. This is one of the latter. This idiom story actually contains 2 other idioms (see the vocab list), so, hey, idiom party.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/chengyugushi/2014-07-14/43769.html\" target=\"_blank\">Here\'s the original text</a> on tom61.com.  \r\n\r\nLet\'s t棋艺\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n下棋 - [pinyin]xia4 qi2[/pinyin] - To play chess\r\n专心 - [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1[/pinyin] - Concentrate\r\n鸿雁 - [pinyin]hong2 yan4[/pinyin] - Swan goose\r\n胡思乱想 - [pinyin]hu2 si1 luan4 xiang3[/pinyin] - Thoughts running wild\r\n心不在焉 - [pinyin]xin1 bu4 zai4 yan1/pinyin] - Absent-minded, one\'s heart is not present\r\n传授 - [pinyin]chuan2 shou4[/pinyin] - To have knowledge imparted upon you, esp. by a great master. \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从前有一个<strong>下棋</strong>能手名叫秋，他的<strong>棋艺</strong>非常高超。\r\n\r\n秋有两个学生，一起跟他学习下棋，其中一个学生非常<strong>专心</strong>集中精力跟老师学习。另一个却不这样，他认为学下棋很容易，用不着认真。老师讲解的时候，他虽然坐在那里，眼睛也好像在看着棋子可心里却想着：“要是现在到野外射下一只<strong>鸿雁</strong>，美餐一顿该多好。 ”因为他总是<strong>胡思乱想</strong><strong>心不在焉</strong>，老师的讲解一点也没听进去。\r\n\r\n结果，虽然两个学生同是一个名师<strong>传授</strong>，但是，一个进步很快，成了棋艺高强的名手，另一个却没学到一点本事。 \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 chess master named Qiu whose chess skills were superlative. \r\n\r\nQiu had two students who studied chess with him, one student studied with concentrated focus and energy. The other, however, wasn\'t like that, he thought studying chess was very easy, and there was no need to take it seriously. When the teacher was explaining, although the [the student] sat there, his eyes seemed to be on the chess pieces, he was actually thinking: \"If I go to the countryside right now and shoot a goose, I\'ll have a lovely dinner.\" Because he was always indulging in flights of fancy and absent-mindedness, nothing the teacher said ever sunk in.\r\n\r\nAs a result, although the two students studied were taught at the same time by the same master, one improved quickly and became a superior chess player, while the other never learned much at all. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Zhuan Xin Zhi Zhi', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1526-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-08-26 00:52:02', '2014-08-26 04:52:02', '', 1526, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/08/26/1526-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1535, 1, '2014-08-26 00:55:08', '2014-08-26 04:55:08', '[two_third]\r\nStory behind the Chinese idiom 专心致志 [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1 zhi4 zhi4[/pinyin], which means \"to do something with single-minded devotion\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/20140826-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Chinese Fables\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignnone\" />Sometimes these idiom stories do a good job tying themselves into the history of the idiom; sometimes they\'re more just a vaguely-related tale that will help you remember the idiom. This is one of the latter. This idiom story actually contains 2 other idioms (see the vocab list), so, hey, idiom party.\r\n\r\nYou might be interested in the way that the author of this story talks about chess. To \"play chess\" is written like this: 下棋 - [pinyin]xia4 qi2[/pinyin], or literally \"to put down chess pieces\". But when we\'re talking about someone\'s skill level of chess play - in otherwords, the level of chess mastery - the author uses 棋艺 - [pinyin]qi2 yi4[/pinyin], or literally \"chess art\". So 下棋 is a verb, \"to play chess\", while 棋艺 is a noun, as in \"mad chess skillz\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/chengyugushi/2014-07-14/43769.html\" target=\"_blank\">Here\'s the original text</a> on tom61.com.  \r\n\r\nLet\'s t棋艺\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n下棋 - [pinyin]xia4 qi2[/pinyin] - To play chess\r\n专心 - [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1[/pinyin] - Concentrate\r\n鸿雁 - [pinyin]hong2 yan4[/pinyin] - Swan goose\r\n胡思乱想 - [pinyin]hu2 si1 luan4 xiang3[/pinyin] - Thoughts running wild\r\n心不在焉 - [pinyin]xin1 bu4 zai4 yan1/pinyin] - Absent-minded, one\'s heart is not present\r\n传授 - [pinyin]chuan2 shou4[/pinyin] - To have knowledge imparted upon you, esp. by a great master. \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从前有一个<strong>下棋</strong>能手名叫秋，他的<strong>棋艺</strong>非常高超。\r\n\r\n秋有两个学生，一起跟他学习下棋，其中一个学生非常<strong>专心</strong>集中精力跟老师学习。另一个却不这样，他认为学下棋很容易，用不着认真。老师讲解的时候，他虽然坐在那里，眼睛也好像在看着棋子可心里却想着：“要是现在到野外射下一只<strong>鸿雁</strong>，美餐一顿该多好。 ”因为他总是<strong>胡思乱想</strong><strong>心不在焉</strong>，老师的讲解一点也没听进去。\r\n\r\n结果，虽然两个学生同是一个名师<strong>传授</strong>，但是，一个进步很快，成了棋艺高强的名手，另一个却没学到一点本事。 \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 chess master named Qiu whose chess skills were superlative. \r\n\r\nQiu had two students who studied chess with him, one student studied with concentrated focus and energy. The other, however, wasn\'t like that, he thought studying chess was very easy, and there was no need to take it seriously. When the teacher was explaining, although the [the student] sat there, his eyes seemed to be on the chess pieces, he was actually thinking: \"If I go to the countryside right now and shoot a goose, I\'ll have a lovely dinner.\" Because he was always indulging in flights of fancy and absent-mindedness, nothing the teacher said ever sunk in.\r\n\r\nAs a result, although the two students studied were taught at the same time by the same master, one improved quickly and became a superior chess player, while the other never learned much at all. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Zhuan Xin Zhi Zhi', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1526-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-08-26 00:55:08', '2014-08-26 04:55:08', '', 1526, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/08/26/1526-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1536, 1, '2014-08-26 00:55:31', '2014-08-26 04:55:31', '[two_third]\r\nStory behind the Chinese idiom 专心致志 [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1 zhi4 zhi4[/pinyin], which means \"to do something with single-minded devotion\". <!--more-->\r\n\r\n<img src=\"http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/20140826-INLINE.jpg\" alt=\"Learn to Read Chinese Characters: Chinese Fables\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"imgborder alignnone\" />Sometimes these idiom stories do a good job tying themselves into the history of the idiom; sometimes they\'re more just a vaguely-related tale that will help you remember the idiom. This is one of the latter. This idiom story actually contains 2 other idioms (see the vocab list), so, hey, idiom party.\r\n\r\nYou might be interested in the way that the author of this story talks about chess. To \"play chess\" is written like this: 下棋 - [pinyin]xia4 qi2[/pinyin], or literally \"to put down chess pieces\". But when we\'re talking about someone\'s skill level of chess play - in otherwords, the level of chess mastery - the author uses 棋艺 - [pinyin]qi2 yi4[/pinyin], or literally \"chess art\". So 下棋 is a verb, \"to play chess\", while 棋艺 is a noun, as in \"mad chess skillz\". \r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.tom61.com/ertongwenxue/chengyugushi/2014-07-14/43769.html\" target=\"_blank\">Here\'s the original text</a> on tom61.com.  \r\n\r\nLet\'s t棋艺\r\n[/two_third]\r\n[one_third last=last]\r\n<div class=\"postintro\">\r\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\r\n下棋 - [pinyin]xia4 qi2[/pinyin] - To play chess\r\n专心 - [pinyin]zhuan1 xin1[/pinyin] - Concentrate\r\n鸿雁 - [pinyin]hong2 yan4[/pinyin] - Swan goose\r\n胡思乱想 - [pinyin]hu2 si1 luan4 xiang3[/pinyin] - Thoughts running wild\r\n心不在焉 - [pinyin]xin1 bu4 zai4 yan1[/pinyin] - Absent-minded, one\'s heart is not present\r\n传授 - [pinyin]chuan2 shou4[/pinyin] - To have knowledge imparted upon you, esp. by a great master. \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从前有一个<strong>下棋</strong>能手名叫秋，他的<strong>棋艺</strong>非常高超。\r\n\r\n秋有两个学生，一起跟他学习下棋，其中一个学生非常<strong>专心</strong>集中精力跟老师学习。另一个却不这样，他认为学下棋很容易，用不着认真。老师讲解的时候，他虽然坐在那里，眼睛也好像在看着棋子可心里却想着：“要是现在到野外射下一只<strong>鸿雁</strong>，美餐一顿该多好。 ”因为他总是<strong>胡思乱想</strong><strong>心不在焉</strong>，老师的讲解一点也没听进去。\r\n\r\n结果，虽然两个学生同是一个名师<strong>传授</strong>，但是，一个进步很快，成了棋艺高强的名手，另一个却没学到一点本事。 \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 chess master named Qiu whose chess skills were superlative. \r\n\r\nQiu had two students who studied chess with him, one student studied with concentrated focus and energy. The other, however, wasn\'t like that, he thought studying chess was very easy, and there was no need to take it seriously. When the teacher was explaining, although the [the student] sat there, his eyes seemed to be on the chess pieces, he was actually thinking: \"If I go to the countryside right now and shoot a goose, I\'ll have a lovely dinner.\" Because he was always indulging in flights of fancy and absent-mindedness, nothing the teacher said ever sunk in.\r\n\r\nAs a result, although the two students studied were taught at the same time by the same master, one improved quickly and became a superior chess player, while the other never learned much at all. \r\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: Zhuan Xin Zhi Zhi', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1526-revision-v1', '', '', '2014-08-26 00:55:31', '2014-08-26 04:55:31', '', 1526, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2014/08/26/1526-revision-6/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1539, 1, '2015-02-18 02:04:33', '2015-02-18 07:04:33', 'Happy Year of the Sheep! Couple of days ago, I stumbled across the Book \"The Last Yin Yang Master\", aka \"The Last Onmyoji\", 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\nI\'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<hr />\r\n\r\n[one_half]\r\n<div class=\"chinesetext\">\r\n<h3>Chinese Text</h3>\r\n<strong>1)</strong> 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<strong>2)</strong> 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<strong>3)</strong> 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<strong>4)</strong> 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<strong>5)</strong> 所以我回来了。\r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> 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<strong>7)</strong> 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<strong>8)</strong> 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<strong>9)</strong> 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<strong>10)</strong> 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<strong>11)</strong> 为了不让他们操心,我也去一次次的应付相亲。\r\n\r\n<strong>12)</strong> 对,是应付。\r\n\r\n<strong>13)</strong> 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<strong>14)</strong> \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<strong>15)</strong> 关于相貌这一点,我继承了我母亲。\r\n\r\n<strong>16)</strong>  一个不知道故乡在哪里的美貌女人。\r\n\r\n<strong>17)</strong> 她有痴呆症。\r\n\r\n<strong>18)</strong> 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<strong>19)</strong> 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<strong>20)</strong> 可惜,她是个傻子。\r\n\r\n<strong>21)</strong> 如果不是傻子,我父亲也买不起。\r\n\r\n<strong>22)</strong> 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<strong>23)</strong> 不说话,不动。只是安静的坐着。\r\n\r\n<strong>24)</strong> 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<strong>25)</strong> 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<strong>26)</strong> 没钱,这是命。\r\n\r\n<strong>27)</strong> 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\n<strong>1)</strong> My 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\n<strong>2)</strong> I 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\n<strong>3)</strong> My home town is Luoyang. In the Luoyang countryside falls a little village called Shilipu\'er. \r\n\r\n<strong>4)</strong> The 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\n<strong>5)</strong> So I went home. \r\n\r\n<strong>6)</strong> My 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\n<strong>7)</strong> In 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\n<strong>8)</strong> Of course at these times, my father would smile in a simple and honest way, wiping the sweat off his brow. \r\n\r\n<strong>9)</strong> After 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\n<strong>10)</strong> My 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\n<strong>11)</strong> So as not to make him worry, I\'d already coped with my first blind date. \r\n\r\n<strong>12)</strong> Yes, it was definitely \"coping\". \r\n\r\n<strong>13)</strong> College, 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\n<strong>14)</strong> On 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\n<strong>15)</strong> About my looks, those I inherited from my mother. \r\n\r\n<strong>16)</strong> A good-looking woman from who-knows-where.  \r\n\r\n<strong>17)</strong> She had dementia.\r\n\r\n<strong>18)</strong> A few decades ago, my father went to the city, and spent three hundred dollars to buy her and bring her home.\r\n\r\n<strong>19)</strong> My 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\n<strong>20)</strong> Pity, she was an idiot.\r\n\r\n<strong>21)</strong> If she hadn\'t been an idiot, my dad could never have afforded her. \r\n\r\n<strong>22)</strong> Then 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\n<strong>23)</strong> She didn\'t speak, didn\'t move. Just quietly sat there.\r\n\r\n<strong>24)</strong> This 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\n<strong>25)</strong> My 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\n<strong>26)</strong> No money, that\'s just life. \r\n\r\n<strong>27)</strong> My 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]', '[Chinese Books] 《最后一个阴阳师》The Last Yin Yang Master', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'great-book-the-last-yin-yang-master', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:48:29', '2016-11-04 09:48:29', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1539', 0, 'post', '', 19),
(1540, 1, '2015-02-18 00:34:57', '2015-02-18 05:34:57', 'Happy 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>.\n\nI\'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 ignores, followed by some myths and legends, or maybe a mysterious old man, or maybe a body goes missing, and then things freaky. Again, things get hard when people 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 stop you.\n\nThis really is worth a go for readers at almost all levels. The read is mid- to late-intermediate, but using Pleco, late-stage beginners and early-intermediates will be able to understand big chunks of it, enough to motivate you to puzzle through the parts you don\'t get. Advanced readers may just appreciate learning a bit of spooky vocab.', 'Great book: The Last Yin Yang Master', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1539-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-18 00:34:57', '2015-02-18 05:34:57', '', 1539, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/18/1539-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1541, 1, '2015-02-18 02:03:04', '2015-02-18 07:03:04', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Intermediate Chinese Reading Exercises', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150218-inline', '', '', '2015-02-18 02:03:04', '2015-02-18 07:03:04', '', 1539, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150218-inline.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1542, 1, '2015-02-18 02:03:05', '2015-02-18 07:03:05', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Intermediate Chinese Books with English Translation', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150218', '', '', '2015-02-18 02:03:05', '2015-02-18 07:03:05', '', 1539, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150218-.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1543, 1, '2015-02-18 01:59:16', '2015-02-18 06:59:16', '[two_third]\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-->\n\nI\'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 recomemended.\n\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. \n\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. \n\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. \n\nEnjoy!\n\n\n[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n盘缠 - [pinyin]pan2 chan2[/pinyin] - Travel money\n肺痨 - [pinyin]fei4 lao2[/pinyin] - Tuberculosis\n张罗 - [pinyin]zhang1 luo5[/pinyin] - Gather together\n屁股 - [pinyin]pi4 gu5[/pinyin] - Butt, behind, rump\n浑浑噩噩 - [pinyin]hun2 hun2 e4 e4[/pinyin] - Butt, behind, rump\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\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。\n\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。\n\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。\n\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。\n\n所以我回来了。\n\n在外面活的不如一条狗的我,在老家得到了极大的尊严。\n\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。”\n\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。\n\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。\n\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。\n\n为了不让他们操心,我也去一次次的应付相亲。\n\n对,是应付。\n\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。\n\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。\n\n关于相貌这一点,我继承了我母亲。\n\n 一个不知道故乡在哪里的美貌女人。\n\n她有痴呆症。\n\n在几十年前,我父亲进城,用了三百块钱把她买了回来。\n\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。\n\n可惜,她是个傻子。\n\n如果不是傻子,我父亲也买不起。\n\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。\n\n不说话,不动。只是安静的坐着。\n\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。\n\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。\n\n没钱,这是命。\n\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。\n\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\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. \n\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.\n\nMy home town is Luoyang. In the Luoyang countryside falls a little village called Shilipu\'er. \n\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. \n\nSo I went home. \n\nMy life away from home wasn\'t even as good as a dog\'s, but I get plenty of respect in my home town. \n\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.]\n\nOf course at these times, my father would smile in a simple and honest way, wiping the sweat off his brow. \n\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\".\n\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. \n\nSo as not to make him worry, I\'d already coped with my first blind date. \n\nYes, it was definitely \"coping\". \n\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. \n\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. \n\nAbout my looks, those I inherited from my mother. \n\nA good-looking woman from who-knows-where.  \n\nShe had dementia.\n\nA few decades ago, my father went to the city, and spent three hundred dollars to buy her and bring her home.\n\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. \n\nPity, she was an idiot.\n\nIf she hadn\'t been an idiot, my dad could never have afforded her. \n\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. \n\nShe didn\'t speak, didn\'t move. Just quietly sat there.\n\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. \n\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. \n\nNo money, that\'s just life. \n\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.\n[/hide-this-part][/one_half]', 'Great book: The Last Yin Yang Master', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '1539-revision-v1', '', '', '2015-02-18 01:59:16', '2015-02-18 06:59:16', '', 1539, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/18/1539-revision-2/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
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(1544, 1, '2015-02-18 02:04:33', '2015-02-18 07:04:33', '[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 recomemended.\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\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 02:04:33', '2015-02-18 07:04:33', '', 1539, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/18/1539-revision-3/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1545, 1, '2015-02-18 02:04:47', '2015-02-18 07:04:47', '[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\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 02:04:47', '2015-02-18 07:04:47', '', 1539, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/18/1539-revision-4/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1546, 1, '2015-02-18 02:05:23', '2015-02-18 07:05:23', '[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 02:05:23', '2015-02-18 07:05:23', '', 1539, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/18/1539-revision-5/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1548, 1, '2015-02-18 03:19:19', '2015-02-18 08:19:19', '', 'Advanced Chinese Stories: Learn to Read Mandarin', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150224', '', '', '2015-02-18 03:19:19', '2015-02-18 08:19:19', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150224.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1549, 1, '2015-02-18 03:19:21', '2015-02-18 08:19:21', '', 'Advanced Chinese Stories: Learn to Read Mandarin', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150224-inline', '', '', '2015-02-18 03:19:21', '2015-02-18 08:19:21', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150224-inline.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1551, 1, '2015-02-19 22:44:54', '2015-02-20 03:44:54', '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 class=\"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 Idioms] 塞翁失马 - A Blessing in Disguise', '', 'publish', 'open', 'open', '', 'guest-post-story-behind-the-idiom-sai-weng-shi-ma', '', '', '2016-11-04 05:47:36', '2016-11-04 09:47:36', '', 0, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/?p=1551', 0, 'post', '', 28),
(1637, 1, '2016-10-31 00:00:39', '2016-10-31 04:00:39', '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]', 'Story Behind the Idiom: 塞翁失马', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1551-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-10-31 00:00:39', '2016-10-31 04:00:39', '', 1551, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2016/10/1551-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1552, 1, '2015-02-19 22:39:26', '2015-02-20 03:39:26', '[two_third]\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-->\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 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:\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[/two_third]\n[one_third last=last]\n<div class=\"postintro\">\n<h4>Click to Listen</h4>\n老翁 - [pinyin]sui4 dao4[/pinyin] - Tunnel\n仆人 - [pinyin]ning2 jing4[/pinyin] - Tranquil\n邻国 - [pinyin]hua1 jia3[/pinyin] - Old person over 60\n闻讯 - [pinyin]fu4 weng1[/pinyin] - Millionaire\n骏马 - [pinyin]zhong1 dian3 zhan4[/pinyin] - Terminus\n战场 - [pinyin]zhong1 dian3 zhan4[/pinyin] - Terminus\n</div>\n[/one_third]\n\n<hr />\n\n[one_half]\n<div id=\"chinesetext\">\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。\"\n\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！＂\n\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！”\n\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。”\n\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。\n</div>\n[/one_half]\n\n[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink=\"SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION\"]\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.\"\n\nOld man\'s friends came and comforted him. However, the old man said: \"Well, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Who knows!\"\n\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.\"\n\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.\"\n\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.\n\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 22:39:26', '2015-02-20 03:39:26', '', 1551, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/2015/02/19/1551-revision/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1553, 1, '2015-02-19 22:43:37', '2015-02-20 03:43:37', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Chinese Idioms and Fables', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150220-inline', '', '', '2015-02-19 22:43:37', '2015-02-20 03:43:37', '', 1551, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150220-INLINE.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1554, 1, '2015-02-19 22:43:40', '2015-02-20 03:43:40', '', 'Learn to Read Chinese: Chinese Idioms and Fables', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'open', '', '20150220', '', '', '2015-02-19 22:43:40', '2015-02-20 03:43:40', '', 1551, 'http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/20150220.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0);
