STANDARD CHINESE A Modular Approach

OPTIONAL MODULE: Customs Surrounding Marriage, Birth and Death

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STANDARD CHINESE: A MODULAR APPROACH

OPTIONAL MODULE: CUSTOMS SURROUNDING MARRIAGE, BIRTH AND DEATH

Before starting the MBD Module, you should have at least completed the Arranging a Meeting Module.

August 1979

PREFACE

Standard Chinese: A Modular Approach originated in an interagency conference held at the Foreign Service Institute in August 1973 to address the need generally felt in the U.S. Government language training community for improving and updating Chinese materials to reflect current usage in Taipei and in Peking.

The conference resolved to develop materials which were flexible enough in form and content to meet the requirements of a wide range of government agencies and academic institutions.

A Project Board was established consisting of representatives of the Central Intelligence Agency Language Learning Center, the Defense Language Institute, the State Department¹s Foreign Service Institute, the Cryptologic School of the National Security Agency, and the U.S. Office of Education, later joined by the Canadian Forces Foreign Language School. The representatives have included Arthur T. McNeill, John Hopkins, and John Boag (CIA); Colonel John F. Elder,工工I, Joseph C. Hutchinson, Ivy Gibian, and Major Bernard Muller-Thym (DLI); James R. Frith and John B. Ratliff,工工工（FSI);

Kazuo Shitama (NSA); Richard T_ Thompson and Julia Petrov (OE); and Lieutenant Colonel George Kozoriz (CFFLS).

The Project Board set up the Chinese Core Curriculum Project in 19Th in space provided at the Foreign Service Institute. Each of the six U.S. and Canadian government agencies provided funds and other assistance.

Gerard P. Kok was appointed project coordinator, and a planning council was formed consisting of Mr. Kok, Frances Li of the Defense Language Institute, Patricia 0^fConnor of the University of Texas, Earl M. Rickerson of the Language Learning Center, and James Wrenn of Brown University. In the Fall of 19了了， Lucille A. Barale was appointed deputy project coordinator. David W. Dellinger of the Language Learning Center and Charles R. Sheehan of the Foreign Service Institute also served on the planning council and contributed material to the project. The planning council drew up the original overall design for the materials and met regularly to review their development.

Writers for the first half of the materials were John H. T. Harvey,

Lucille A. Barale and Roberta S. Barry, who worked in close cooperation with the planning council and with the Chinese staff of the Foreign Service Institute. Mr. Harvey developed the instructional formats of the comprehension and production self-study materials, and also designed the communication-based classroom activities and wrote the teacher¹s guides. Lucille A, Barale and Roberta S. Barry wrote the tape scripts and the student text. By 19了8 Thomas E. Madden and Susan C. Pola had joined the staff. Led by Ms. Barale they have worked as a team to produce the materials subsequent to Module 6.

All Chinese language material was prepared or selected by Chuan 0. Chao, Ying-chi Chen, Hsiao-jung Chi, Eva Diao, Jan Hu, Tsung~mi Li, and Yunhui C. Yang, assisted for part of the time by Chieh-fang Ou Lee, Ying-ming Chen, and Joseph Yu Hsu Wang. Anna Affholder, Mei-li Chen, and Henry Khuo helped in the preparation of a preliminary corpus of dialogues.

Administrative assistance was provided at various times by Vincent Basciano, Lisa A. Bowden, Beth Broomell, Jill W. Ellis, Donna Fong, Judith J. Kieda, Renee T. C. Liang, Thomas Madden, Susan C. Pola, and Kathleen Strype.

The production of tape recordings was directed by Jose M. Ramirez of the Foreign Service Institute Recording Studio. The Chinese script was voiced by Ms. Chao, Ms. Chen, Mr. Chen, Ms. Diao, Ms. Hu，Mr. Khuo, Mr. Li, and Ms. Yang. The English script was read by Ms. Barale, Ms. Barry,

Mr. Basciano, Ms. Ellis， Ms. Pola, and Ms. Strype.

The graphics were produced by John McClelland of the Foreign Service Institute Audio-Visual staff, under the general supervision of Joseph A. Sadote, Chief of Audio-Visual.

Standard Chinese: A Modular Approach was field-tested with the cooperation of Brown University, the Defense Language Institute, the Foreign Service Institute, the Language Learning Center, the United States Air Force Academy, the University of Illinois, and the University of Virginia.

The Defense Language Institute printed the preliminary materials used for field testing and has likewise printed this edition.

CONTENTS

OBJECTIVES ...............................................i

UNIT 1

Part 工...............................................1

Part 工工 ..............................................7

Part工工工............................................13

Vocabulary ..........................................21

UNIT 2

Part 工..............................................23

Part 工工.............................................32

Vocabulary ..........................................k2

UNIT 3

Part I ..............................................hk

Part 工工.............................................52

Vocabulary ..........................................6l

UNIT k

Part I ..............................................63

Part 工工.............................................了2

Vocabulary ..........................................82

UNIT 5

Part I ..............................................8U

Part 工工.............................................9了

Vocabulary .........................................IOU

UNIT 6

Part 工.............................................1〇6

Part II ............................................116

Vocabulary .........................................12U

APPENDIX

Unit Vocabulary Characters .........................126

OBJECTIVES

General

The purpose of the Module on Customs Surrounding Marriage, Birth and Death is to furnish you with the linguistic skills and cultural background information you need to take part in conversations about changing attitudes and practices with regard to courtship, marriage, birth, divorce, death and funerals in China, and to conduct yourself in a culturally appropriate manner when you come in contact with Chinese people at the time of one of these significant events in their lives.

Before starting the MBD module, you should have at least completed the Arranging a Meeting Module. You may, of course, use this module at any later point in the course.

Specific

When you have finished this module, you should be able to:

1.    Ask about the age when most people get married.

2.    Ask about how a wedding is celebrated and what differences there are in marriage practices between the city and the country.

3.    Ask about the current local customs regarding gifts for weddings, births, and funerals.

k. Ask about the frequency of divorce.

5.    Talk about the functions and statuses of the people who play a role in arranging a present-day traditional marriage.

6.    Ask questions about the bride, the groom, and the ceremony in a modern-day wedding.

了. Ask about population control efforts, changes in population control policy, restrictions on young people having children, what factors are taken into consideration in family planning, and how old most couples are when they have children.

8. Congratulate a new mother. Ask about a new-born infant ^fs health,

appetite, and weight, and describe the baby in terms of traditional values.

9• Talk about the traditional beliefs and practices with regard to the mother¹s health before and after giving birth.

10. Present condolences to someone whose relative has died, comfort and

express concern for that person.

11.    Ask, after deciding if appropriate, about the circumstances of the death and the funeral.

12.    Apologize for not being able to attend a funeral.

13.    Ask what attire and behavior are appropriate when attending a funeral.

Customs Surrounding Marriage, Birth, and Death: Unit 1

PART 工

1.    Zhōngguo zhěngfǔ shi bu shi    Does the Chinese government advocate

tichāng niānqīng rěn wan    that young people marry late?

_tjiěhun?

2.    Zhěngfǔ tichāng vǎnlian vǎnhun. The government advocates late

involvement and late marriage.

3.    Něige qīngniān, gSngzuo hen null. That young person is very hardworking.

k. Nongcūn niānqing rěn yě shixlng Do the young people in the country-wǎnhūn ma?    side also practice late marriage?

5.    Wǎnhūn yǐjlng chěngle yīzhǒng    Late marriage has already become a

fēngqi•    common practice for young people.

6.    Xiǎo Lǐ he_tā lian^fāi hen jiǔ    Xiǎo Li has been in love with her for

le， kěshi yīzhi bū yao jiěhūn.    a long time, but he^fs never wanted

to get married.

Zhěge xiǎo chěngshi kě piao-    Boy, is this little town pretty!

liang le!

NOTES ON PART I

Notes on No. 1

tlchang: ^fto advocate, to promote, to initiate, to recommend, to encourage¹

Zhe shi shěi tichāngde?    Who advocates this?

niānqing: ^fto be young¹ (literally, ^fyea*rs-light¹ or 'years-green¹• There are two different characters with the same sound used for the second syllable.)

Tā zhěnme niānqing, zhěnme    She^fs so young and so beautiful! piaoliang!

Wo nianqingde shihou, bu    When 工 was young, I didn^ft like

xǐhuan kan shū.    to read.

Zhěixiē niānqing rěn dōu ai    These young people all love to go

kān diānyǐng.    to the movies.

Něige nianqingde ZhSngguo    That young Chinese person speaks

rěn, Yīngwěn shuSde bū cuo.    pretty good English.

•jiěhūn: 'to get married¹, also pronounced .jiēhun. Notice that in Chinese you talk of 'getting married¹, while in English we talk of 'being married¹. And it follows grammatically that jiěhūn is a process verb, not a state verb. Jiěhūn will always *be seen with an aspect marker such as le_ or will be negated with měi.

Tāmen j iěhūnle měiyou?    Have they gotten married yet? (This

is the equivalent of ¹Are they married?)

Wǐ jiěhūn duo jiǔ le?    How long have you been married?

Jiěhūn is a verb-object compound, literally meaning 'to knot marriage¹. Jiě and hūn can be separated by aspect markers, such as de_ or £uo_.

Nǐ shi shěnme shihou jiěde hūn? When did you get married? or Nǐ shi shěnme shihou jiěhūnde?

Wang Xiānsheng jiěguo sānci    Mr. Wang has been married three

hūn.    times.

To say ¹ get married to someone* use the pattern gen ... .liěhun.

Tā gēn shěi jiěhūn le?    To whom did he get married?

Note on No. 2

vanlian vanhun: 'late involvement and late marriage¹. Wǎnlian is an abbreviation for van lian^fāi, 'mature love¹, (lian^fai means 'romantic love, courtship¹), and wǎnhūn is an abbreviation for van jiěhūn, ¹late marriage¹. This policy has been promoted since the 1960s, but only actively enforced since the 19了Os- It is difficult to generalize about the required minimum marriage ages, as they differ from city to city and might "be nonexistant in certain rural and national minority areas, where the government is trying to increase the population. The minimum age has "been progressively raised over the years, until 19了8 when the rules were eased a "bit. In general, if the comlDined ages of the couple exceeds fifty years (or the female¹ s age exceeds the male's), then the marriage is allowable.

Note on No. 3

qingniān: Wouth, young person¹. Do not confuse this noun with the adjectival verb niānqing, ^fto be young¹. (See Notes on No. 1)

Zhěiwěi qingniS.n laoshi yinggāi    This young teacher should go to a

dāo daxuě qū jiao shū.    university to teach•

In this sentence, the noun qingnian is used to modify the noun laoshi,

*teacher•.

A: Wo jide sānshiniān yiqiān    工 rememlDer that thirty years ago

ni těbiě āi chī tang,    you especially loved to eat candy.

B: Shi a, něi shihou women dōu    Yes. Back then we were all young

hāishi qīngniān, Xianzai    people. Now I^fm old, and my

lǎo le， yā bū xing le•    teeth aren’t good any more.

null: ^!to be hardworking, to be    diligent¹, or as an adverb, •diligently, hard¹.

Tā suīrān hen null, kěshi tāde    Although he¹s very hardworking, his

Yīngwen hāishi bu xing.    English is still not good enough.

Wo děi null xuě ZhSngwěn.    I have to study Chinese very hard.

Notes on No• b

nongcūn: •rural areas, countryside, village¹.

Nongcūnde kSngqi bǐ chěngli    The air in the country is much

hǎoduS le.    "better than in the city.

Tāmen jiā zāi nongcūn zhu.    Their family lives in the country.

shixing: ^fto practice, to carry    out (a method, policy, plan, reform)¹.

Nī zhěige jihua hen hǎo, kěshi    This plan of yours is very good, "but

wo xiǎng "bū neng shixing.    I don’t think it can be carried out.

Zhěige banfa yǐjlng shixingle    This method has been in practice for

sānge xīngqīle, kěshi jieguo    three weeks, "but the results aren’t

"bu hǎo,    good.

Notes on No. $

chěng: ^fto constitute, to make, to ■become¹ .

Tāde xuěxi yizhi hen hao, *biyě    His studies have "been good all along,

yǐhou ānpai gōngzuo *bū chěng    so after he graduates, setting up

wěnti.    a job for him wor^t constitute a

problem.

Wǒde nǐiěr xiānzāi chěngle    My daughter has Ijecoiae an older

jiějie， tā zhēn xǐhuan tade    sister. She really likes her

xiǎo měimei.    little sister.

fēngqi: •established practice, custom; general mood¹.

Xiānzāi you *bū shao qingnian    There are a lot of young people now

bu yāo zāi shāngdiānli māi    who don’t want to sell things in

dSngxi, zhěizhǒng fēngqi    shops. This practice is really

zhěn *bu hao.    *bad.

Xiānzāi zāi Zhōngguo, you yǒule Now in China there is again a general niān shūde fēngqi.    atmosphere of study.

Notes on No. 6

he: Vith¹ . You have seen he_ used "between two nouns or pronouns as a conjunction meaning ¹ and¹. Here you see it used as a prepositional verb meaning ^ith¹ . The word gēn, which you have seen, also has "both meanings,

¹ and¹ and Vith¹ ,

Formerly, f^en was the most frequently used word for Vith¹ or ^,and^l in the Mandarin spoken in North China, and he was more often written. But he has come into wide conversational use in pǔt5nghua. In addition to this variation, school children in Taiwan are sometimes taught to say hān instead of he, which is the same character with another pronunciation.

Generally speaking, if you use he_ or gēn you should not have any problem "being understood "by any speaker of Standard Chinese.

lian^fai: ^fto fall in love, to "be in love; romantic love, courtship¹. This is the socially acceptable way to describe a romantic relationship ■between two people. Notice that liar^ai can "be used both as noun and as a verb. (Liar^ai is written with an apostrophe to show where the syllable division is: lian ai， not lia nai•)

Tāmen liān*āile hǎojiniān le.    They¹ ve "been in love for quite a few

years now.

Tāmen xiānzāi kāishī liān*āi le. They¹ve just started to fall in love.

Wǒmende liān'āi zhǐ you sāntiān, Our love is only three days old and jiu bu xing le.    already it¹s over.

The noun lian* ai is often used in the phrase tan lian¹ ai _% ¹ to be romantically involved¹ or more literally * to talk of love¹ .

Tāmen liāngge tan lian¹ āi yǐjīng The two of them have been in love for tānle hen jiǔ le.    quite a while now.

Wo měiyou he tā tan liān’ai.    I’m not in love with her.

In China young people tend to go out in groups. When two people are seen going out alone, then it is assumed that they have serious intentions for the future.

Notes on No. 了

kě: ¹ really, certainly¹. This is an adverb which intensifies state verbs. Kě_ can be used before a negative.

Tāmen liāngge kě hao le!    The two of them are very good friends.

Ke bū shi ma!    Isn’t that so! (Really! or_ No kidding!)

Nā kě bū xing!    That really won^ft do!

Nā kě bu shi yijiān hǎo shi.    That¹s really not a good thing.

Nī kě yāo xiǎoxīn!    You¹ve got to be careful!

Although some Chinese are fond of using the word kě， to other Chinese it may sound too full of local color with which they do not identify.

Peking:

An American exchange student talks    with her language teacher. They are both in their late twenties.

A: Wo jide shāngci nǐ shu5 nǐ    工 remember last time you told me

ěrshibasui Is, hai měiyou    that you're twenty-eight years old

jiěhūn.    and you're not married yet.

B: Dui.    Right*

A: Wo yizhi xiǎng wěnwen ni，    I^!ve been meaning to ask you all

ZhSngguo niānqing rěn hǎoxiāng    along, it seems as if young people

sānshisui zuoyou cai jiěhūn,    in China don't get married until

shi bu shi?    they're about thirty, is that so?

B: Dui le. Women qingnian you    Right. We young people have a lot

hen duo shi yāo zuo - Yāo null    of things we have to do. We have to

gSngzuo, null xuěxi, bu yāo    work hard and study hard; we

zǎ〇 jiěhūn! Zhěngfǔ yě tichāng    shouldn't get married early! The

vanlian wǎnhūn. Zai chěngshi-    government also promotes late

li nianqīng rěn d5u zai ěrshi-    involvement and late marriage. In

wliusui yǐhou cai jiěhūn.    the city, young people don't get

married before the age of twenty-five or twenty-six.

A: Nongcūnlīde nianqīng rěn yě    Do the young people in the rural

shixing wǎnhūn ma?    areas practice late marriage too?

B: Dui， tāmen yě shixing wǎnhūn.    Yes, they do too. In the rural

Zāi nongcūn, wan lian¹āi wan    areas, late involvement and late

jiěhūn yǐjīng chěngle yizhong    marriage have already become a new

xīn fēngqi. Wo you yige zai    common practice. I have a friend who

Běijīng jiāoqū gongzuode    works in the suburbs of Peking who¹s

pěngyou xia lǐbai jiěhūn, nǐ    getting married next week. Do you want

yao bu yao he wo yiqǐ qu kān-    to go see it with me? 1*11 arrange it

kan? Wo gěi ni ānpai yixiar.    for you.

A: Haojlie. Nā kě zhěn you    Great. That would really be

yisi, gang dāo zhěr jiu you    interesting. And such a good

zhěnme yige hao jīhui.    opportunity so soon after getting

here.

NOTE ON THE DIALOGUE

...zai ěrshiwǔliusui yǐhou cai jiěhūn: This is quite a change from Imperial times, when females might be married off at age thirteen and males at age six so as to insure the family fortunes or fend off economic difficulties later. Nontheless, regulations are less strict in the countryside today, where one can marry perhaps at age twenty.

PART工工

8. Xiānzāi Zhongguo rěn jiěhūn    What kind of ceremony do the Chinese

you shěnme yishi?    have when they get married now?

9- A: Nī jiěhūn de shihou nǐde    What gifts did your relatives give

qīnqi songgei ni shěnme    you when you got married? livu?

B: Tāmen songgei wo yixiē xiǎo    They gave me a few small presents as

liwu zuo jiniān.    mementos.

10.    A: Xuduo nan qingnian jiěhūn    Many young men now go and live with

yǐhou zhūdao nū,1iār qu.    the wife's family after they get

married.

A: Zhě gēn yǐqiānde fēngsū you This is very different from the hen dade qūbiě•    customs of the past.

B: Ke bū shi ma! Zhēnshi gǎi- I'11 say! It¹s really changed a bianle bu shǎo.    lot.

11.    Ērqiě zāi nongcūn yě shixing    Furthermore, late marriage is also

wǎnhūn.    practiced in rural areas.

NOTES ON PART II Notes on No. 8

ylshi: ^fceremony, function' This can be used to refer to a range of different ceremonies, from the signing of a treaty or agreement to the taking of marital vows.

In old China, marriages were celebrated extravagantly. It was not uncommon to find families going into debt "because of the joyous occasion, which marked a new generation added to the family line. This elaborate ritual served to strengthen familial "bonds and the newlyweds¹ feeling of obligation owed to the family.

In PRC cities of today, lack of extra money and coupons to purchase food for guests, celebration space, and free time for preparation limit the celebration often to procedural formality alone--registration with the local police bureau. Wedding dinners may still be enjoyed in the countryside ,where there are fewer restrictions on time and food.

Notes on No• 9

qīnqi: Relatives¹ Qinqi is slightly different from the English word ¹ relatives¹ in that it does not include one’s immediate family, that is

parents or children, but is used to refer to all other relatives. (One¹ s immediate family are called ,1 iāli rěn.)

Nimen jiā qīnqi du5 ma?    Do you have a lot of relatives

in your family?

Women Jiā qīnqi kě du5 le!    We have lots of relatives in

our family.

songgei: ^Tgive (a gift) to ...¹ The verb song has several meanings.

One is ^Tto send*, as in Wo ~ba nǐde xlngli son^shangqu le， ’工 sent your luggage upstairs.¹ Another is to give someone something as a present.

Here you see song with the prepositional verb gěi ¹ for, to^T after it.

You have also seen jiāogei，¹to hand over to    to submit to... ¹. When

gěi is used after the main verb as a prepositional verb, it must "be followed "by the indirect object, that is, the person or thing to whom something is given. Gěi can also be used this way with ^fto send^T, and mai ¹ to sell¹.

Wo "bǎ zhěijiān yifu jigei wo    I sent this piece of clothing to my

měimei le.    younger sister.

/

Tā "bǎ fangzi māigei wo le.    He sold his house to me.

In these examples the direct object, clothing or house₅ is up front in the sentence, making it necessary to use gěi to put the indirect object after the main verb. This usually happens in sentences where the object is specific and the ba^ construction is preferred. When song is followed by an indirect object_? however, the gěi is usually optional.

Wo yāo song ta yige xiǎo lǐwu.    I am going to give him a small present.

Wo yāo songgei ta yige xiao    I am going to give him a small present.

liwu.

•••songgei ni shěnme lǐmi?: Wedding gifts for friends and relatives in the PRC are generally "useful” items. Common among these are nuanping, hot water jugs; huāping, vases; taidēng， table lamps; ~bǐ，pens; lianpěn, wash "basins; or cānju, kitchen items.

zuo: ¹ to act as，to serve as¹. Tāmen songgei vo yixiē xiǎo lǐmi zuo Jinian. is literally ¹ They gave me a few small presents to serve as mementos.¹

Zhěige xuěxiao "biyede xuesheng, A lot of students who graduated from hen du5 dou zuo laoshi le.    this school have "become teachers.

Yong zhěiběn xin shū zuo lǐwu, Would it "be okay to use this new hao bu hao?    "book as a present?

Zuo, ^fto act as, to serve as¹ is often seen used with yong, ^fto use^f as in the example above, yong • • • zuo …,^fto use (something) as (something) else、

jinian: •memento, remembrance; to commemorate¹.

Wo gěi ta yizhāng zhāopian zuo 1*11 give him a photo as a memento, jinian.

Notes on No, 10

xǔdu5: ^fmany; a great deal (of), lots (of)¹. Xuduō is used as a number (it can be followed by a counter) to modify other nouns.

A: Hāi you duoshao qian?    How much money is there left?

B: Hai you xuduō.    There¹s still a lot left. or

There¹s a lot more.

Tā maile xudu5 (zhāng) huār.    He bought a lot of paintings.

Xudu5 has several    things in common with hen duo, in addition to

similarity of meaning.    Used as modifiers in front of nouns, both xǔduS and hen duo can (1) be used alone, (2) be used with de, and (3) be

followed by a counter,    but not usually -ge•

Tā rěnshi xudu5 rěn.    He knows a lot of people.

Tā rěnshi hen du5 rěn.

Tā jianle xuduō(de) rěn.    He saw (met with) a lot of people.

Tā jianle hen du5(de) rěn.

Bichuli you hen du5 (jian)    dayī. There are a lot of overcoats in the

closet.

Tā xiěle xuduō (ben) shū.    He wrote a lot of books -

Hen du5 is probably more common than xudu5• Some speakers feel that they do not use xuduō in conversation; many speakers, however, do not feel any restriction about using it in conversation, k/

...zhudao nū.jiār qu: ¹ to go live with the wife^! s family* You've seen the prepositional verb dao used after main verbs, as in nadao loushang qu, ^ftake it upstairs¹. Following verbs expressing some kind of motion, the use of dao is fairly straight forward. But in the above example from the Reference List, dao is used with a verb which is not usually thought of as expressing motion, zhu, ¹ to live, to inhabit¹.

Here is another example of zhu used in a phrase expressing motion:

Tā shi zuotiān zhujinlaide.    He moved in yesterday.

The verbs zhan ^fto stand^f and zuo ^fto sit^f can also be used in phrases expressing motion.

Qǐng ni zhandao něibianr qu,    Would you please go stand over

hǎo bu hǎo?    there.

Qǐng ni zuodao qianbianr qu,    Would you please go sit up

hǎo bu hǎo?    front.

Due to the lack of housing, which might involve a wait of from one to three years for newlyweds, it is not infrequent now to find the groom join the household of his new bride. This is in contrast to former tradition, which stated that the woman "became part of the man¹ s family, and of course, moved into his family¹s house.

In the past, for the groom to join the household of his new "bride carried special significance. It was called ru zhui and might take place when a family had only female children and the father wanted his daughter¹s husband to take his last name in order to carry on the family line.

qūbiě: ¹ difference¹ When expressing the difference between two things, use « > > §Gn ■ ■ ■ you qūbiě.

Zhěiběn zidiǎn gēn něi"běn    There is a "big difference "between

you hen dāde qīTbiě,    this dictionary and that one.

Zhěige xuěxiao gen něige    What is the difference between

xuěxiao you shěnme qīTbiě?    this school and that one?

Zhěiliǎngge banfǎde qū"biě    What is the difference "between

zāi nǎr?    these two methods?

Kě ~bu shī ma! : ¹ Yes, indeed! , 1*11 say! ¹ , or more literally, ’Isn’t it so! ¹ Ke ~bu shi ma! is often used in northern China to indicate hearty agreement, or to indicate that something makes perfect sense to the speaker, something like English Well, of course!¹ or Really!¹.

~bu shǎo: Literally 'not a little¹ , in other words, ¹ quite a lot¹ .

Tā you bu shǎo hua yao gēn    He has a lot he wants to say to

ni shuō.    you.

Zai Měiguo "bū shǎo rěn you    In America a lot of people have

qichē.    cars.

erqiě: ，furthermore, moreover¹

Jīntiān tiānqi "bu hǎo, ěrqiě    The weather is "bad today, and

hǎoxiāng yao xia xuě.    furthermore it looks as if it’s

going to snow.

Ěrqiě is often used in the pattern ~bu dan. . .ěrqiě. . .， ¹ not only... but also...¹ or ^fnot only.•.moreover...^f:

Zhěizhǒng huār bū dan hǎo kan, This kind of flower is not only

ěrqiě fēichāng xiang.    pretty, but it ^fs also very fragrant.

Wo bu dan ai chi tang, ěrqiě    工 not only like to eat candy,

shennae tian dSngxi dōu ai    (moreover) I like to eat anything

chi.    sweet.

Tā bu dan xuěguo Zhongwěn,    Not only has he studied Chinese,

erqiě xuěde bu cuo.    but moreover he has learned it

q_uite well.

Wo bu dān měiyou he tā tan    Not only am I not in love with her,

liān^fai, ěrqiě wo yě bu da    moreover I don’t like her very

xǐhuan ta.    much.

Peking:

The American exchange student and her language teacher continue their

conversation:

A: Zh5ngguo rěn jiěhūnde shihou    What kind of ceremony is there

you shěnmeyangde yishi?    when the Chinese get married?

B: Měiyou shěnme yishi, jiu shi    There is no ceremony, ve just invite

qing qīnqi pěngyou lai he dianr    friends and relatives to come and

chā, chi diǎnr tang, diānxin,    have some tea, candy, snacks, and so

shenmede.    on.

A: Qīnqi pěngyou song bu song    Do the friends and relatives give

līwu?    gifts?

B: Youde rěn song yidianr xiao    Some people give small gifts as

līwu zuo jinian.    a memento.

A: tingshuo yǐqiān nongcūnli    I^fve heard that it used to be that

nūhāizi jiěhūnde shihou, nānjiā    in the country, when a girl got

yāo song xuduō liwu. Zhěige    married, the man’s family would have

fēngsu shi bu shi ye gǎibian    to give a lot of gifts. Has this

le?    custom changed too?

B: Shi a! Zhěizhǒng shiqing    Yes! In many regions, this kind of

zāi bu shǎo diqū dou měiyou le.    thing doesn’t exist any more.

Ērqiě xianzai yě youde nan    Furthermore, now there are also young

qingnian jiěhūn yihou zhudao    men who go to live with the wife’s

niijiār qu. Zhěi gēn yǐqiānde    family after they get married. This

fengsu ye you hen dade qū"biě.    is also very different from the

customs of the past.

A: Ke "bu shi ma! Zhēn shi    I’ll say! It has really changed

gaibianle bū shao.    a lot.

PART工工工

12.    Nǐmen jiěhūn yǐqian shuāngfang    Before you were married, did you both

dōu hen liao.jie ma?    know each other very veil?

13.    Xiānzāi ZhSngguo lihūnde bu    There aren’t many people getting

tai duo.    divorced in China now.

1总. Něidui fūfū bu zai yige diqū    That married, couple doesn^ft work in

gōngzuo.    the same region.

15.    Tā meinian you duoshao tiānde    How many days of leave does he get

tānqin_tjia?    every year to visit family?

16.    Fūfū zSngshi něnggou zāi yiqǐ    It’s always better if married, couples

bī.jiao hao.    can be together.

1了. A: Tāmen shi. ,jingguo xiāngdāng- They gave it quite a bit of consi-

de kǎolū yihou cai jiě-    deration before they got married, hūnde.

A: Danshi bu zhidao weishěnme, But for some reason or other they

tāmen hāishi you hen duo    still had a lot of problems, wěnti.

w

18.    Nānnū yingdāng bǐcǐ liaojiě    A man and woman should know each

yǐhou zai jiěhūn.    other well before they get

married.

19.    Ni xiang tā hui bu hui bang wo    Do you think he will help me solve

jiejue zhěige wěnti?    this problem?

NOTES ON PART 工工工

Notes on No. 12

shuǎngfāng: ^fboth sides, both parties ^f

Zhěijiān shiqing shi Zhongguo    This matter is knovn to both

he Meiguo shuāngfāng dou    America and China, zhīdaode.

bicǐ: ^rthe one and the other; each other, mutually¹

Suīran women měiyou shuo hua,    Although we didn^ft say anything, we

keshi bǐcǐ dōu zhīdao,    both knew. There was nothing

tāde bing měiyou banfa le.    that could be done for his illness.

Youde daxueshēng xihuan zai    Some college students like to

biyěde shihou bǐcǐ song    give each other gifts when

lǐwu.    graduating.

A: Zhoumo hǎo!    Have a nice weekend!

B: Bǐcǐ, bǐcǐ!    You too!

liǎojiě: ^Tto understand; to acquaint oneself with, to try to understand/.

Zhěijiān shi, wo bu dong, hai    工 don*t understand this,工 have to

děi qū liāojiě yixiā.    go back and try to understand it

again.

Wo liǎojiě ta.    工 understand her.

Tā juěde tā měiyou yige    He feels that he doesn’t have a

pěngyou zhēnde liǎoj iě tā.    single friend who really knows him.

Notice that when you want to say ^Tto know someone^f meaning ^fto understand someone^f , the Chinese word to use is liǎo.jiě, not rěnshi (which simply means to have made someone^fs acquaintance).

Note on No. 13

...lihūnde bū tai du5: ^fThere aren^ft many people getting divorced ...¹ Lihunde， ^fthose (people) who get divorced^f， is a noun phrase in which lihūn is nominalized by -de•

Notes on No. Ik

fūfū: ^fhusband and wife, married couple^r.

Tāmen fūfu liāngge dōu fēichāng Those two (that couple) are both hǎo.    very nice.

bū zai yige diqū gōngzuo:    ’d〇 not work in the same region*. Yige,

^Tone^r, is frequently used to mean ^Tone and the same¹. Here are some more examples:

Women dōu zai yige xuěxiao    All of us go to the same school, nian shū.

Tāmen liāngge dōu shi yige    They are both the product of the

lǎoshī j iāochulaide.    same teacher.

Note on No. 1$

tanqlnjia: ^Tleave for visiting family*. Tan qīn means to visit one^rs

closest relatives, usually parents, a spouse, or children.

Mingtiān tā jiii qū Shanghai    Tomorrow he¹ s going to Shanghai to

tan qīn le.    visit his family.

Note on No. 16

zǒngshi: ¹ always, all the time’. This advert may also occur as zong.

Tā zǒngshi ai qū Huāmei    He always loves to go to the

kāfēitīng.    Huaměi Coffeehouse.

něnggou: ^fcan, to "be able to’. This is a synonym of něng.

Notes on No, 1了

jingguo: ^!to pass "by or through, to go through¹. Jing^uo can mean 1) to pass "by or through something physically, or 2) to go through an experience.

Jīngguo zhěici xuěxi yihou    As a result of this study, I

wo kě qingchu du5 le.    see things a lot more clearly.

Wo měitiǎn xia "ban hui jiāde    Every day on my way home from work

shihou, dou jīngguo Bǎihuo    I pass "by the Bǎihuo Dalou.

Dālou    .•.dōu

jīngguo Bǎihuo Dāl6u.)

Nǐ jīngguo zhěige vuzide    When you passed "by this room,

shihou, ni měiyou kanjian    didn't you see us working inside?

women zai litou gongzuo ma?

xiāngdāng: ¹ quite, pretty (good, etc .); considerable, a consideralDle degree of¹.

Tāde shēntī xiāngdāng hao.    His health is quite good.

\

kǎolu: ¹ to consider; consideration¹.

Wo yijīng kaoluguo le， tā    I have already given it consideration,

hāishi yīnggāi shang dāxuě.    he should still go to college•

danshi: ^l-but¹ , a synonym of kěshi •

Wo yijīng quguo le, danshi    I already went there, "but I didn’t

wo měiyou kāndao ta.    see her.

Notes on No. 18

nannu: ^fmale and female¹.

Nānnūde shiqing zui nan shuo.    Matters "between men and women are

the hardest to judge•

yingdāng: •should, ought to¹. Yingdāng is a less-frequently heard word for yinggai• These two words share in common the following meanings:

(1)    ¹ should¹ in the sense of obligation or duty,

Zanmen shi tongzhi, yingdāng    We two are comrades, we should help

(or yīnggāi) Idǐcǐ tangmang.    each other,

(2)    ¹ ought to¹ in the sense of ¹ it would be suitable to¹ .

Wāitou leng, nǐ yīnggāi (or    It’s cold out, you should put on

yingdāng) duo chuān yidianr.    some more clothing.

(3)    ^,should^l in the sense of ¹ it would be desirable to¹.

Nǐ yīnggāi (or yingdāng)    You should try this, it^fs fun.

shiyishi, zhēn hao wānr.

(4)    ¹ should¹ in the sense of ¹ it is expected¹.

Shidian zhong le， tā yīnggāi    It’s ten o¹clock, he should be here

(or yingdāng) kuāi dāo le.    soon.

Tā xuě ZhSngwěn xuěle sānnian    He¹ s "been studying Chinese for three

le，yīnggāi xuěde "bū cuo le.    years, he should "be pretty good

"by now.

bǐ.liao: ¹ relatively, comparatively, "by comparison¹ . Also pronounced bǐjiao.

Jīntiān "bijiao re.    It’s hotter today.

Zhěijiān yifu gaile yǐhou,    After this article of clothing is

1dijiao hao yidianr.    altered, it will "be tetter.

Zhěi liangtiān tā tijiao shūfu The past couple of days he¹ s "been yidianr, "bu zenme fa shao le.    feeling better, he doesn’t have

such a high fever any more.

You may sometimes hear Chinese speakers use ~bǐjiao "before other adverbial expressions like bu tai ^fnot too¹，Iju zenme ¹ not so¹，~bu name ¹ not so¹ or hen ¹ very¹ . Careful speakers, however, feel that tǐjiao should not "be used in such cases.

Notes on No. 19

hui: ^fwill; might; be likely    to*. The auxiliary ver"b hui is used to express likelihood here.

Mingtiān tā huī bu hui lāi?    Will he come tomorrow?

Wo qu "ba men guānhao, nī hui    If I go close the door, will you

"bu hui juěde tai re?    feel too hot?

Jiějuě: ^fto solve, to settle    (a problem), to overcome (a difficulty)^?.

Nī "bu yao , qiānde went!    Don’t get anxious, the problem of

yījīng jiějuě le.    money has already been solved.

Washington _% D. C.

A graduate student in Chinese studies talks with an exchange student

from Peking.

A: Women rěnshi zhǐ you liāngge    We^fve only knovn each other for two

duo xīngqī, kěshi yǐjīng shi    weeks or so， but we^fre old friends

lǎo pěngyou le.    already.

B: Dui. Women tiāntiān zai    Yes. We’re together every day; it

ylkuair, zhēn hǎoxiāng shi lǎo    really is as if we¹re old friends. pěngyou le.

A: Wo yizhi xiǎng wěnwen ni nǐ    I’ve been meaning to ask you all

shi shěnme shlhour jiěhūnde ne?    along when you were married.

B: 0! Wo shi qiānniān jiěhūnde.    Oh. I was married the year before

last.

A: Nǐ ěrshibāsui le. Nǐ airen    You’re twenty-eight years old. How

ne?    about your spouse?

B: Tā sānshiěr le.    He¹s thirty-two.

A: Nǐmen jiěhūnde shihou kě bu    You certainly werenyoung when

xiǎo le! Zhōngguo nianqīng rěn    you were married! Is it this way

dōu shi zhěige yangzi ma?    for all Chinese young people?

B: Dui le. Zhěngfǔ tichāng wan-    Yes. The government promotes late

lian wǎnhūn. Nianqīng rěn yě    involvement and late marriage - Also,

d5u yao null xuěxi, null gong-    all young people should study hard

zuo, bū yao zǎo jiěhūn.    and work hard, and shouldn^?t get

married early.

A: Chěngshili nude duo da    At what age do most women get

jiěhūn?    married in the cities?

B: Chabuduō ěrshiwǔsui zuoyou.    After about twenty-five.

A: Nande ne?    And men?

B: Dagai ěrshibāsui zuoyou.    After about twenty-eight.

A: Jiěhūnde shlhour you shěnme-    What kind of ceremony is there when

yangde yishi?    someone gets married?

B: Měiyou shěnme yishi. Buguo    There is no ceremony. But on the

jiēhǔn něitiān qǐng qīnqi    day of the marriage relatives and

pěngyou lāi hēhe chā, chī diǎnr    friends are invited to come and drink

tang, diānxin shenmede. Yě you    tea, eat a little candy, snacks and

rěn song diǎnr xiǎo lǐwu zuo    so forth. Some people also give a

jinian.    small gift as a memento.

A: Nongcūnlǐde nianqīng rěn yě    Do the young people in rural areas

shixing wǎnhūn ma?    also practice late marriage?

B: Dui. Zai nongcurili wan    Yes - Late involvement and late

lian¹ai wan jiěhūn yě yǐjlng    marriage have already become a common

chěngle yizhong fēngqi.    practice in the rural areas.

A: Nongcūnli nuhaizi jiěhūnde    In the farm villages does the

shihou nānjia hai yāo song xǔduo    family of the husband still have to

lǐwu ma?    give a lot of presents when a girl

gets married?

B: Bū yao le. Ērqiě xianzai you    Not any more. Furthermore now

xiē nan qingnian jiēhǔn yīhou    there are even young men vho live

hai zhudao nūjiār qu. Zhě gēn    vith the wife¹ s family after they get

yǐqiānde fēngsu you hen dade    married. This is very different 'from

qūbiě. •    the customs of the past.

A: Kě bū shi ma! Zhēn shi    I^fll say!工t^fs really changed a

gaibianle bū shǎo.    lot.

Xiānzāi Zhōngguo lihūnde    Are there many people who get

duo bu du5?    divorced in China now?

B: You, keshi bijiǎo shǎo.^    Yes ₉ there are, but relatively few.

Yīnwei jiěhūn yǐqian nānnu    The man and the voman knov each other

shuāngfāng Idǐci bǐjiǎo liǎo jiě,    rather veil before they get married,

you jīngguo xiāngdāngde kǎolū,    and they give the matter quite a bit

su6yi lihūnde bu tai duo.    of consideration, so not too many

people get divorced.

A； Wo tingshuo ZhSngguo you    工 hear there are some couples in

yixiē fūfu IdŪ zai yige diqū    China who don^ft vork in the same

gōngzuo, bū zhuzai yige difang,    place. Do problems ever come about

zhě hui bu hui you wěnti ne?    because of this?

B： Fūfu bu zāi yige difang    If the husband and wife don’t work

gSngzuo ₅ suīrān me ini an you    in the sajne place, even though they

bānge yuěde tanqīnjia, danshi    get half a months leave every year

hai you hen du5 bu fāngbian,    to visit family members, it¹s still

Suoyi wěile rang tamen gěng    very inconvenient. So in order to

hǎode gōngzuo he xuěxi₅ yīng-    let them work and study even better,

dang bang tamen jiějuě zhěige    we should help them solve this

wěnti•    problem.

A: Duijlie. Fūfu zSngshi    You^fre so right. It¹s always

něnggou zāi yiqǐ bǐjiāo hǎo.    better if the husband and wife can

be together.

NOTES ON THE DIALOGUE

•    . .nan.jia hai yao son只 xǔdu5 lǐvu ma?: In traditional China, the groom¹s family gave gifts to the bride¹s family to compensate for the loss of their daughter. (For the loss of the daughter might also entail a substantial loss of property and servants.) In Taiwan, it is still the man¹s family who in most cases pays for the wedding arrangements. In the PRC today, these customs no longer exist.

Xianzai ZhSngguo lihūnde du5 bu du5?: Although allowed by law with the mutual consent of both parties, it is not easy to obtain a divorce in the PRC. With the exceptions of one party being either politically questionable or terminally ill, the majority of couples are asked to resolve their differences via study and group criticism.

•••yǒu yixiē fūfu bū zai yige difang gōngzuo: Many couples still have to be split up in order for each to have work. (Jobs are arranged for and assigned by the local government.) This is, of course, a great hardship since it is improbable that either will be able to arrange a transfer of job to the other¹s work-place. The splits are arranged in order to increase rural population and provide labor for rural jobs• The partner left in the city, usually the woman, can go to the countryside to join her spouse, but rural life is so difficult that this is not likely.

•    .. suiran měiniān you ban^e yuěde tanqīn,] ia: There are two types of leave for visiting one¹s family in the PRC. One is for unmarried children to return home to see their parents, the other is for couples who are assigned to different places for work. These trips are paid for by one ^fs work unit (but communes have no family leave provisions). If the person on leave is working relatively near his home, he is allowed a fifteen day visit once per year and a worker who is located relatively far from home can take a thirty day visit once every two years.

Vocabulary

bǐcǐ    each other, mutually; you too, the

same to you

bǐjiao (bījiǎo)    relatively, comparatively; fairly,

rather

"bū dan    not only

"bu shao    quite a lot, quite a few

chěng    to become, to constitute, to make

chěngshi    city

danshi    but

ěrqiě    furthermore

fēngqi    common practice; general mood *

fēngsu    custom

fūfu    married couple, hus"band and wife

gaibian    to change

hě    with; and

hui    might, to "be likely to, will

jiěhūn (jiěhūn)    to get married

jiějue    to solve

jīngguo    to go through, to pass "by or through

jinian    memento，memorial

kaolU    to consider; consideration

kě    indeed, really

kě bū shi ma!    工^fll say，yes indeed, that¹s for sure

lian^fai    to be romantically involved with;

love

liǎojiě (liSojie)    to understand; understanding

lihūn    to get divorced

lǐ\ni (lǐwu)    gift, present

nanjiā(r)    the husband^ family

nānnU    male and female

něnggou    can，to be able to

nianqīng    to be young

nongcūn    rural area, countryside

nūjiā(r)    the vife,s family

to be hardworking, to be diligent; diligently, hard

qingnian    youth, young person

qīnqi    relatives

qūbiě    difference, distinction

shixing    to practice, to carry out (a method，

policy, plan, 'reform, etc.)

shuāngfāng    both sides, both parties

song    to give (something as a gift)

tan qīn    to visit family

tānqīn    to visit relatives (usually means

immediate family)

tanqīnjia    leave for visiting family

tichāng    to advocate, to promote, to initiate

vanlian wǎnhūn    late involvement and late marriage

xiāngdāng    quite, pretty, very

xǔduo    many; a great deal (of)， a lot (of)

yingdāng    should, ought, to

yishi    ceremony

yizhi    all along， all the time (up until

a certain point)

zhěngfǔ    government

zhūdao    to move to, to go live at

zǒngshi    alvays

zuo    to serve as, to act as; as

Customs Surrounding Marriage, Birth， and Death: Unit 2

PART 工

1.    Houtiān shi nimen xiao,jie    The day after tomorrow is your

daxǐde rizi.    daughter^fs wedding day.

2.    Xīnlāng zai Taiwan Yinhāng    The bridegroom works at the Bank of

gōngzuo, rěn hen laoshi, yě    Taiwan. He’s very honest and very

hen shang.jin.    ambitious,

3.    Women Xiuyun gēn tā .jiaovang    Our Xiuyūn has been seeing him for

yǐjīng yīnianduS le, dui tā    over a year now, and she's very

hen imnyx.    pleased with him.

h. A: Nǐmen gěn nanfangde fumǔ    Did you know the groom’s parents

shou bu shou?    very well before?

B: Bu tai shou. Kěshi zǎo jiu    Not too well. But we¹d heard of

tīngshuōguo.    them long before.

B: Tāmen yi lai tiqin women    As soon as they came to propose the

jiu daying le.    marriage we agreed to it.

5.    A: Tāmen tanlāi tānqu tānle    They talked and talked for a long

hen jiǔ bu něng .juedinp;.    time and couldn't decide.

A: Kěshi honlai hāishi vo gao-    But later it was 工 who told them

su tamen yīnggāi zěnme    what they should do, after all. ban,

6.    Wo nuěrde hǔnlǐ zai Ěraěi Can-    My daughter’s wedding will be held

ting jǔxing.    at the Omei Restaurant.

T. Tlngshu5 ,1 iěhūn lǐfu shi    工 hear that the wedding gown was made

xinniāng ziji zuode, tā zhēn    by the bride herself. She’s really

něnggan.    capable•

8. Wo zhu yīyuande shihou nǐmen    When 工 was in the hospital you even

hai song huā lai， ai,    sent flowers. Thanks so much, zhēn shi tai xiěxie le.

NOTES ON PART I Notes on No. 1

xiāojie: ’daughter¹. You have seen xiāo.jie meanirfg ’Miss¹ or ’young lady¹ . Here it is used to mean ¹ daughter^r . Note，however, that it is used only in referring to someone else¹s daughter, not in referring to one’s own daughter(s).

Tā you jǐwěi xiāojie?    How many daughters does he have?

Nǐmen xiāojie zhēn piāoliang.    Your daughter is really pretty.

Xiaojie, meaning either ^fMiss¹ or ¹ daughter¹, is not in current usage in the PRC.

da xǐde rizi: bedding day¹ , literally ^fbig joyful day¹ . Xǐ_ ¹ to be glad, joyful¹, is used in several expressions having to do with weddings.

The character for xX is often used as a decoration. For weddings, two xǐ characters together are used as a decoration.

囍

Notes on No. 2

rěn hen laoshi:    s very honest¹. Rěn, ^fperson¹，can be used to

refer to a person^ character. It can be used with a noun or pronoun before it， for example Tā rěn hen laoshi, literally ^fAs for him, his person is very honest¹. The wording Tā rěn •.. is often used to talk about the way someone truly is:

Tā rěn hen āi bāngzhu biě rěn. He (is the sort of person who) likes

to help others.

Liu Xiānsheng rěn hen těbiě,    Mr. Liu is a different sort of

shěnme shiqing d5u yāo wen    person, he has to ask ^fwhy¹ about

yige wěishenme.    everything.

Tā rěn hen kěqi.    He¹s a very polite sort of person.

Sometimes rěn refers to a person¹s mental state of being:

Wo hēde tai duo, rěn hai you    工 had too much to drink and still

dianr b—u qingchu.    a little foggy.

Ren also sometimes refers to a person¹s physical self. This meaning is mostly used in situations where a contrast is implied, something like ^fAnd

as for the person himself, ...¹. For example:

Wo yizhi zhǐshi he tā t5ng    All along 工 had only talked to her

diānhuā， jīntiān zǎoshang,    over the phone, "but this morning

cai diyīci jiān miān, tā    工 met her for the first time,

rěn fēichāng piaoliang.    She，s very "beautiful,

Tamen jiěhūn bu dao yige yuě,    They hadn’t even been married for

xiānsheng jiu dāo JiāzhSu    one month when her husband went to

nian shū qu le, rěn zāi    California to go to school. He

Měiguo, xīn zāi Taiwan, shū    was in America, "but his heart was

zěnme niāndehǎo ne?    in Taiwan, how could he possibly

study well?

Notes on No. 3

_t]iāovǎng: ¹ to associate with, to have dealings with¹ , often said of "boyfriend-girlfriend relationships.

Wo he tā měiyou shěnme tě"biěde There¹ s no special relationship jiāowǎng.    "between him and me. (Said "by a

daughter in explanation to her mother•)

In the PRC jiāovǎng is not used this way; use renshi， 'to know (a person)¹ or jiao pěngyou> ^fto make friends¹ instead. In the PRC, you will hear jiaovang used in phrases such as ^lǐangguo rěnminde .jiaovang¹¹, ¹ the contact (association) "between the peoples of these two countries’，

Notes on No. h

nānfang: "the "bridegroom’s side", a phrase which often refers to the ■bridegroom himself, and sometimes refers to the ■bridegroom¹ s family, relatives, and friends collectively. Nānfāng, ^,fthe "bridegroon^s side¹¹, happens to "be a homonym of nanfǎng, ¹ the South¹ •

Zhongguo rěn jiěhūnde shihou，    When Chinese get married, the groom^fs

nānfāng da qǐng kě.    family hosts a "big feast.

V

Jiěhūn yǐqiān nānfāng nufāng    Before a marriage, the groom¹s side

Idici song lī.    and the "bride¹ s side give each

other gifts.

CNiifang means ^,fthe "bride¹ s side, referring either to "the 'bride¹¹ herself, or to ¹ the "bride ^fs family, relatives, and friends collectively¹ .1

shou: ¹ to "be familiar with •••’ Also pronounced shu. Shou is used with he_ for people and with dui for places.

Wo he tā hen shou.    工 know him very well.

Tā dui Tāiběi hen shou.    She knows Taipei very well.

Shou also means ¹ to be cooked sufficiently¹ and ¹ to be ripe¹.

zǎo: You¹ve learned this as the verb ¹ to be early¹, now you see it used to mean 'long ago’.    *

Wo zǎo zhidao nǐ bu huilai.    工 knew long ago that you wouldn’t

come back.

Wo zǎo tīngshuS le.    I heard about it long ago.

Zǎo is usually followed by jiu to stress the idea of ¹ as early as that¹.

Wǒ zao jiu gāosu tā něijiān    工 told him that long ago. (Said to

shi le.    correct an impression that he

didn¹t actually know it so early.)

Wo zǎo jiu xiǎng lai kan ni,    I’ve been meaning to come see you

yizhi měi shijiān.    for a long time，but I never had

the time.

tiqin: ^!to bring up a proposal of marriage¹ Traditionally, the man's parents would visit the parents of the woman they wished their son to marry in order to bring up the subject of marriage. The situation in Taiwan is changing rapidly today, but some marriages are still proposed in this way. More frequently, however, the children simply inform their parents of their own arrangement.

dāying: ¹ to agree (to something), to consent, to promise¹

Tā dāying gěi wo něijiaji dongxi, He agreed to give me that thing, zěnme tā xianzai you    How is that now he von^!t give it

bu gei le?    to me?

Nǐ dāying ta le, dāngrān    You promised him, of course you

yīnggāi pěi ta qū.    should go with him.

Nǐ dāying zuode shi, yiding    You must do what you promise to do. yāo zuSdāo.

Nǐ dāyinglede shi, wěishěnme    Why don¹t you do this thing that you

bū zuo?    have promised?

Nǐ dāyingguode shi, jiu    You ought to do things that you

yinggāi zuodāo.    promise.

Wo měi dāying gěi ni yige    工 didn't promise to give you a

huzhāo.    passport.

Dāyijng can also mean ¹ to answer¹ •

Tā jiao ni, nǐ zěnme měi dāying? He called you, how come you

didn^ft answer?

Notes on No, $

tanlai tanqū: ^fto talk over'.

Tānlai tānqū, yě "bū něng jiějuě We discussed it for a long time, but zhěige wenti.    still couldn’t solve the problem.

Tānlai tānqū, tande hen you    It got very interesting, conversing

yisi.    "back and forth.

.jueding: ^fto decide¹ .

WS juěding yāo qū.    I ^fve decided that I^fm going.

Wo yǐjīng juěding jiu zhěnme    1¹ ve already decided that it^f 11 "be

"ban.    this way.

Wǒ hāi měi Juěding gāi zěnme    I haven’t yet decided what should "be

ban.    done.

Notice that when you want to say can't decide whether (to do something)^f or ¹1 haven¹1 decided whether (to do something)¹ , the object of .iuědins is a choice-type question.

Wǒ hai měi juěding qu bu qu.    I haven^ft yet decided whether to

go or not.

WS bu něng juěding wǒ qū    工 can’t decide whether to go

bu qu.    or not.

Wǒ hen nān juěding rang bu    I^fm having a hard time deciding

rang ta qu.    whether to let him to or not.

Wǒ shi "bu shi gāi hulqu,    It*s hard to decide whether or

hen nan juěding.    not I should go back.

houl^i: ^fafterwards, later*. You have already learned another word which can be translated as ^tfafterwards^tf or "later": yǐhou. Yǐhou and houlāi are "both nouns which express time. Here is a brief comparison of them.

(1) Yīhou can either follow another element ^f in which case it is translated as ’’after . ..^tf) or it can "be used "by itself.

Tā laile yǐhou, women jiu zǒu    After he came, we left.

le.

Yǐhou, tā měiyou zāi laiguo.    Afterwards, he never came back again.

Houlai can only be used by itself.

Houlāi， tā shui jiao le.    Afterwards, he went to sleep.

(2) Both yīhou and houlāi may be used to refer to the past. (For example, in the reference list sentence, yǐhou may be substituted for houlāi. But if you want to say ”afterwards” or "later¹¹ referring to the future, you can only use yǐhou. When it refers to the future time, yǐhou can be translated in various ways, depending on the context:

Yǐhoude shiqing, děng yǐhou    Let¹s wait until the future to see

zāi shu5.    about future matters.

Yǐhou nǐ you kong, qǐng chāng    In the future when you have the time,

lāi wan.    please come over more often.

Wo yǐhou zai gāosu ni.    I’ll tell you later on.

Tāde hāizi shu5le， yǐhou tā    His child said that someday, he wants

yāo gēn yige Riběn rěn jiěhūn. to marry a Japanese.

Usage Note: Yǐhou has the meaning of "after that". It can imply that some past event functions as a dividing point in time, as a sort of time boundary, and yǐhou refers to the period from the end of that time boundary up to another point of reference (usually the time of speaking). In this usage it is often translated as ^l!since^!l.

Tā zhǐ xiěle yīběn shū, yīhou    He only wrote one book, and hasn't

zai měi xiěguo.    written any since.

Ranhou stresses the succession of one event upon the completion of a prior event.

Wo shāngwu zhǐ you liǎngjiě    I have only two classes in the

ke, ranhou jiu měi shī le,    morning, and after that 工 don’t

women kěyi chuqū wānr.    have anything else to do, so we

haishi: ^!in the end, after all¹ You have seen haishi meaning ¹ still¹ , that is, that something remains the same way as it was. Here haishi is used to mean that the speaker feels that， all things considered, something is the case after all.

Haishi tā dui.    He is right, after all.

Note on No. 6

juxlng: ^!to hold (a meeting, banquet, celebration, ceremony，etc. )¹ For this example you need to know that diǎnlǐ means ¹ ceremony¹.

Mingtiān jǔxlng bīyě dianlǐ.    Tomorrow the graduation ceremony

will be held.

Hotes on Ho. 8

h氐i: ¹ even, (to go) so far as to¹ You have seen hai meaning 'still¹•as in Nǐ hai zai zhěr!, ¹ You're still here!¹. You've also seen hai meaning 'also, additionally¹, as in Wo hai yao mai yiping qishuǐ., *1 also want to buy a bottle of soda.¹ Here you see hai meaning additionally in the sense of additional effort. The sentence Nǐmen hai song huar lai, h£i expresses the speaker¹s feeling that sending flowers went beyond what was expected or necessary.

zhēn shi tai xiěxie le: *1 really thank you so much!¹ You have seen tai used to mean 'very, extremely¹ ₉ as in Tai hao le!, 'Wonderful!¹ . Notice that here it is used with xiěxie.

Taipei:

A woman goes to visit her old friend    and to present her with a gift for

her daughter and future son-in-law.

A: G5ngxǐ, g5ngxǐ! Zhěge Xīng-    Congratulations! This Sunday is

qītiān jiu shi nimen ěr xiao-    your second daughter’s big day!

jiede daxǐde rizi! Zhěli shi    Here’s a present for the "bride and

songgei xīnlāng xinniāngde lǐwu.    groom.

B: Xiěxie! Xiěxie! Nǐ tai    Thank you! That¹s so nice of

kěqi le.    you.

A: Yidian xiǎo yisi. Nǐ yiding    It’s just a little something. You

hen mang bal Hūnlǐ dou ahǔnběi-    must be busy! Is everything all

hǎo le měiyou?    ready for the wedding?

B: Zui māngde shihou yǐjlng guo    The "busiest time has already

le, xianzai chābuduS d5u zhǔn-    passed; almost everything is ready

běihāo le.    now.

A: Xīnlang shi nāli rěn a? Zai    Where is the groom^?s family from?

nāli g5ngzuo?    Where does he work?

B: Xīnlang shi Hebei rěn, zai    The groom¹s family is from Hopei.

Taiwan Yinhāng gōngzuo. Tā rěn    He works at the Bank of Taiwan. He^?s

hen laoshi， yě hen shang j in.    very honest and anibitious,

A: Xiuyūn gēn tā shi tieren    Were Xiuyun and he introduced

jiěshao rěnshide hāishi zijǐ    someone else or did they meet "by

rěnshide?    themselves?

B: Shi Xiuyunde laoshi jiěshaode.    They were introduced "by Xiuyun¹s

Xiuyūn gēn tā jiāowang dāo    teacher. Xiuyun and he have been

xianzai yijīng liangniān le, dui    seeing each other for two years now,

ta hen mǎnyi.    and she¹ s very pleased with him.

A: Nimen gēn nanfangde fumǔ    Did you know the groom¹ s parents

yǐqian sh6u bu shou?    well before?

B: Bu shou, kěshi women zǎo jiu    No，"but we had heard of them long

tingshuSguo tamen le. Tāmen    "before. They both teach at Taiwan

liǎngwěi d5u zai TaiDā jiāo    University. As soon as they came to

shū. Taiuen yi lāi tlqin women    propose the marriage, we agreed to

jiu dāying le.    it.

A: Wǒ kanjian qingtiēshang xiězhe    I saw on the invitation that the

hūnlǐ zai Guobīn Dafandiān    wedding is being held at the

jǔxlng. Nāli difang you da you    AmlDassador Hotel. It¹ s very spacious

piāoliang. Zhen hǎo.    and "beautiful there. That¹ s great.

B: Shi a! Women gēn nanfangde    Yes. We discussed it back and

fumu tānlai tanqu tanle hǎo jiǔ,    forth for a long time with his

bu zhīdao zāi nali jǔxlng hūnlǐ    parents. We didn’t know where it

zui hǎo• Houlāi hāishi wo    would be best to hold the wedding,

juěding zai Guobīn Dafandian    Afterwards I was the one who decided

jǔxing.    that we would have it at the

Ambassador Hotel.

A: Ňg! Guobīn Dafandiān bu zhǐ    Oh! Not only is the Ambassador

shi difang piāoliang, nalide    Hotel a beautiful place, but the food

cai yě těbiě hǎo.    there is especially good too.

B: Dui le.    That’s right.

A: Xinniāngde jiěhūn lǐfu zai    Where did you buy the bride’s

nāli mǎide?    wedding gown?

B: Bu shi maide, shi Xiuyun zijǐ    It isn't bought. Xiuyun made it

zuode.    herself.

A: Nīmen er xiāojie zhēn něnggan.    Your second daughter sure is

capable.

Tiān "bu zǎo le, wo gāi zou le. It's getting late, I ought to "be

going.

B: Ni hai aijǐ song lǐwu lai, zhěn You even "brought the gifts your-shi xiěxie! Xīngqitiān yiding self. Thank you so much. Be sure lāi, ā!    to come on Sunday!

NOTES ON THE DIALOGUE

Guobīn Dafandiān bu zhǐ shi difang piaoliang, nalide cai yě těbiě hǎo. Traditional vedding foods included huāshēng, peanuts; lianzǐ， lotus seeds; and zǎozi， dates, all of which symbolize fertility in that shēng(zǐ) means "give birth to^!! (a son); lianzǐ sounds like part of the phrase lianshēng guizǐ, ’’have sons consecutively¹¹; and zǎozi sounds like part of zǎoshēng guī~ zǐ，ⁿhave an early son.¹¹ The wedding marked the beginning of that generation¹ s carrying on of the family line. Today few adhere to these symbols and food is served according to family preference.

Bū shi mǎide， shi Xiuyun- zi.jǐ zuode: Wedding gowns in Taiwan these days are frequently hand-made or tailor-made, as tailoring is affordable and the quality of work surpasses that of ready-made items • Brides may wear two gowns: a white one for the ceremony (which may be in a church nowadays) and a traditional Chinese red one at the celebration.

PAET II

9. Xīnlang jiā xīn Jīdū.1iao_>    The family of the bridegroom are

fumǔ xīwang tāmen zai    Christians and the parents hope

.liaotāng jiěhūn.    they will be married in church.

10.    Xinniāng jiā xīn F$, fumǔ bū    The family of the bride are Buddhists,

rang tamen zai jiaotāng    and -her parents won^ft let them be

jiěhūn.    married in church.

11.    Tāmen yao zai fǎyuan gSngzhěng    Are they going to have a civil

.jiěhūn ma?    marriage in court?

12.    Hūnlǐ yǐhou badiǎn zhong ru xi.    After the wedding ceremony the

banquet will start at eight.

13.    Zhěge went! hen fuza.    This question is very complicated.

Ik. Wǒde yi,1ian shi děng liāngge    My opinion is that we should wait

xīngqī women zāi tantan.    tvo weeks and talk about it again.

15.    Tāmen qǐng shěi zhěnghun?    Whom did they ask to witness the

marriage?

16.    A: Hūnlǐ yǐhou tāmen mǎshang    After the wedding are they going to

jiu qu dīi mīyuě ma?    leave right away to go on their

honeymoon?

B: Bu, yāo děng hui men yǐhou    No，they¹ re going to wait until

cai qu.    after the bride¹s first visit to

her family before they go.

1了. Houtiān yiding lai chī xǐ.liǔ!    Be sure to come to the wedding

banquet the day after tomorrow.

18.    A: Nǐmen xiaojie hūnlishang    Who are the two people who are going

.jieshaorěn shi naliǎngwěi    to be the introducers at your

a?    daughter¹s wedding?

B: Ylwei shi lai zuo měide Lǐ    One is Professor Li who was the go-

Jiāoshou.    between.

19.    Nawěi youzhěngjū Jūzhǎng shi    That postmaster is a friend of our

women jia du5niande lao    family from many years back, pěngyou.

20.    Tandao jiēhǔn, nǐ 垣 yīnggāi    Speaking of the wedding, you really

kuāi diǎn qu zu jiān jiěhūn    ought to hurry up and go rent a

lǐfu.    wedding gown.

NOTES ON PART II Notes on No. 9

xin Jidū,jiao: ^fto believe in (Protestant) Christianity' This is one way of saying ^fto be a (Protestant) Christian'.

Notes on No, 10

xīn Fo: ^fto believe in Buddha' This is one way of saying ^fto be a Buddhist^f.

Notes on No, 11

zai fǎyuan: ^fin court^f Zai is the verb ^fto be in, at, or on¹, in other words ^fto be located (someplace). Zai must be followed by a place word or a place phrase. Just what is considered to be a place word or phrase may be difficult for the non—native speaker to figure out. Words which are not considered to be place words or phases must have a locational ending such as -li or —shang added to them. (Ni zai chēshang mai piao.，^fYou buy the ticket on the bus.^f )

The names of institutions in Chinese are considered to be place words. The phrase ^fin court^f does not need a locational ending, zai fǎyuan• Here are some other words which can function as place words by themselves. Many of these end with syllables such as -shi (shi) 'house, apartment^f, -ju ^!office, shop，，-dian ¹ inn, shop*, -chǎng * field, open ground¹, -ting 'hall， room¹, -suo 'place, room', -jian 'house, rooms¹, guan 'public office, hall^f.

Jīntiān xiavu zai bangongshi    See you at the office this afternoon!

jiān!

Zāi běnshi you vuge youzhěng-    There are five post offices in this

ju!    city.

Nī zai cāifěngdian zuode ba?    You must have had that made at a

tailor^f s.

NĪ zai canting kāndao ta le ma? Did you see him in the dining room?

Other words which behave in a similar way are:

caishichang    market    fūjīn    area

cěsuo    toilet    fūvutāi    service desk

dafandian    hotel    GSngānju    Bureau of Public Security

shāngdiān    store    gSngsī    company

dalou    building    gSngyu    apartment

dāshiguan    embassy    gōngyuan    park

diqū    region    huikěshi    ;reception room

fandiān    restaurant    huochēzhān    railroad station

fangjiān    room    jǐngchaju    police station

fānguǎnzi    restaurant    kāfēitīng    coffeehouse

fānting    dining room    lǎojiā    hometown

fēijichang airport    and many more...including proper

names of Restaurants , "buildings , associations, organizations, etc.

g5ngzheng: ’notarization，government witness¹ . A gongzheng rěn is a notary public.

Note on No. 12

ru xi: ¹ to take one¹ s seat at a banquet¹ » literally ¹ to eirter the mat(ted area)¹.

'    Women kuāi dianr zhǔnběi,    Let¹s get ready a little faster,

tāmen liudian zhong jiu    the banquet starts at 6:00.

yāo ru xi le.

Note on No, 13

filza: ¹ to be complicated, to be complex¹ . Questions, problems, or situations can be fuzā if there are many pieces or factors figuring into the problem. It is also possible to use fuza to imply that the situation is messy, problem-ridden•

Tāmen jiāde qingkuang tai fuza, Their family situation is too wo gǎobuqīngchu.    complicated, I can’t make heads

or tails of it. (This sentence has an ambiguity in both languages.)

Zhěige wěnti tai fuzā, hen ndn This question is so complicated, it¹s shuo qingchu.    very hard to explain it clearly.

Zhěige juzi tai fuza, zui hao    This sentence is too complicated，

bu zheiyangr xiě.    it would be best not to write it

this way.

Fuza can also "be used in a complimentary way. (For this example you need to know that sixiǎng; means ¹ thinking, thought¹ .)

Tāde sixiang hen fuza.    His thinking is very complex.

This sentence might be said of an Einstein. The opposite of fuza in this

case would te .jiandān ¹ to be simple¹ , as in ¹ simple-minded¹ .

Fuza is also pronounced, fuza.

yījian: ¹ idea, view, opinion, suggestion¹.

Gāngcai tā tanle dui zhěiben    He just told us his opinions on this

shūde yījian, wo juěde dui    book, and 工 feel that they¹ re

women hen you bāngzhu.    really helpful to us.

Wo hen xiǎng zhīdao, zai zhěige I*d very much like to know what the wěntishang, ZhSngguo zhěng-    Chinese government¹s view is on

fǔde yijian shi shěnme?    this question.

Wǒ xiǎng xiān q.u Shanghai, zāi    I ^fd like to go to Shanghai first and

dāo Wǔhān, nǐde yij ian    then to Wuhan, what¹s your opinion? zěnmeyang?

Wǒde yxjian shi xiān q.u Wuhan,    My opinion is to first go to Wuhan,

zāi dāo Shanghai qu. Yīnwei    then to Shanghai, because after

zai guo yige yuě, Wuhan fēi-    a month, Wuhan will be extremely

chang rele.    hot.

Note on No, 1$

2hěnghūn: ^!to witness a marriage¹. Witnesses formerly were persons of good reputation and venerable old age. Today, familiarity is most important. The witness makes a brief speech during the ceremony and stamps the marriage certificate with his name seal. He receives no remuneration for this service, but is honored to have been asked.

Notes on No > 16

du miyuě: ^fto spend one^fs honeymoon¹. Du is the verb ^fto spend， to pass (something which is an amount of time, like a holiday). Miyuě is literally 'honey-moon*.

huiměn: ’the bride¹s first visit to her own family on the third day after the wedding¹, literally Return to the door*• When the newlyweds return home for this first visit, the family of the bride is given a chance to entertain the couple. More friends and relatives are invited and introduced to them. (It is the groom’s family which arranges the marriage ceremony.)

Note on No. 1了

xǐjiǔ: ’wedding banquet¹ . Notice that in the Reference List sentence the phrase lai chi xǐ.jiǔ is translated as ¹ to come to the wedding banquet¹ .

A more literal translation might be ¹ come to eat a wedding feast!. The verb chi could also be rendered into English by ¹ attend¹ or ¹ take part¹, as in ¹ Be sure to come take part in the wedding banquet the day after tomorrow¹.

Notes on No. 18

hūnlǐshans： ’at the wedding’. Notice that in English you say ’at the wedding¹ while in Chinese you say hunlǐshāng, literally ’on the wedding¹.

-Shang would also be the locative ending to use for ^fat the meeting (hulshang)•

.jieshaoren: introducer¹ . This is one person in the cast of people who play a part in getting two people together in marriage. Originally, the "introducer” functioned in much the same way as match-makers - finding a good mate for a friend or relative. Today, most young people find their own mates. The ’’introducers’’，however, still have a ceremonial function.

They accompany the bride and groom during the ceremony (one for the bride and one for the groom).

zuo měi: ^fto act as the go-between for two families whose children are to be married¹. This person arranged the details of the match. He acted as a go-between for the families of the bride and groom, settling points which were usually of a financial nature. Often the zuo měide was also the ,1iěshaorěn. Traditionally, the go-between was an older woman who made a profession of it. She was paid for her services in money if the family was wealthy or in the best pork legs if they were poor. Today any adult can act as the go-between, although the practice is becoming less and less common. During the wedding ceremony, the go-between places his stamp on the wedding certificate.

Wo gěi ni zuo měi， hǎo bu hǎo? I^fll act as go-between for you,

all right?

Zhāng Tāitai qǐng wo tǐ tāde    Mrs. Chang asked me to act as go-

nuěr zuo měi.    between for her daughter.

Notes on No. 19

•juzhǎng: ^fhead of an office or bureau¹ • Jūzhǎng is only used when the Chinese name of the office or bureau ends with the syllable -Ju, as in y$uzhěngjū, ^fpost office¹. You^fve also seen būzhǎng, Minister of a bureau¹ and kēzhǎng, ^fsection chief¹.

duoniān: ^fmany years¹. Here are some examples:

Women duōnian bu jiān le.    We haven^ft seen each other for many

years.

Women zai yiqǐ gSngzuole    We've been working together for many

duSniān le.    years.

Wo zhu zai zhěr duSnian le,    I’ve been living here for many years,

keshi měi tīngshuōguo zhěige    but I^fve never heard of this

rěn.    person.

Notes on No. 20

tandao: ^fto talk about, to speak of¹• This is used to refer to something that was just brought up in conversation. You have seen dao used as a main verb meaning ^fto go to， to arrive at*， and as a prepositional verb meaning ^fto towards¹. Now you see that dao is also used as a verb ending. Literally, it means ’to， up to¹， but its translation into English sometimes changes, depending on the meaning of the verb it is used with. When used with tan, ^fto talk，to chat¹, -dao can be translated as ¹ about¹ or ^fof^f.

Here are some other examples of -dao used with verbs you've already studied:

Women gāngcāi hdi shuo dao nǐ，    We were even talking of you just now,

nǐ jiu lĚ.i le.    and here you are!

Jīntiān nǐ gin ta jiangdao    Did you talk about me with him today?

wo měiyou?

Wo changchang xiǎngdao wode    I often think of my child,

haizi.

Notice that in the Reference List sentence, tandao is used at the beginning of the sentence to introduce a topic, like we use ¹ speaking of ...¹ in English. Here are some other examples:

Tandao jiěhūnde shi, wo hai    When it comes to talking about

děi xiangyixiang.    marriage, I have to think it over.

Tandao zěnme xiě Zhōngguo zi,    When we talk about writing Chinese

tā bǐ wo zhīdaode du5.    characters, he knows a lot more

than I do.

yě: ’really, after all¹. You have seen ^ meaning 'too, also¹.

Another common meaning of 适 is ⁹(even though) ••• nevertheless, still*•

For example:

Wo suīrān shi ZhSngguorěn wo    Although I am Chinese, I can still

yě hui shuo yidian Yingwěn.    speak a little English.

A: Zhěige diānyǐng zěnmeyang? How was the movie?

B: Bu shi hen hao, danshi yě    It wasn’t great， but it was pretty

hai kěyi.    good nevertheless.

Wo suiran měi daoguo Tiān Ān    Although I’ve never been to Tian An

Men, yě zāi diānshishang    Men, I^fve seen it on television,

kanjianguo.

In addition, often is used to contrast the thought expressed in the sentence with another thought. This meaning can be paraphrased something like this: ^Tlin spite of anything which' might be believed to the contrary, indeed what 工 am saying _is_ true." Sometimes, however, is used when there is not much to contrast it with, and means little more than ,Ve really ought to agree that what 工 am saying is true/’

There are many different possible ways to translate this into English. The following examples are meant to show some of its range of meaning and some of its possible translations.

Xiānzāi shiyidiān ban le, vo    It^fs eleven-thirty. 工 really have

yě yāo shang kě le, wǒmende    to be going to class. Let^!s talk

wěnti mingtiān zāi tan ba!    about our question tomorrow, okay?

Zhōngguo rěnkǒu tai du5,    The population of China is too large,

zhěngfǔ tichāng wǎnlian van-    it really is right for the govern-

hūn yě shi yinggāide.    ment to promote late marriage and

late involvement.

Tāmen wěishěnme yāo lihūn, wo    Why they wanted to get a divorce,工

yě bū zhidao.    really don¹t know.

A: Nǐ zěnme hai mei bǎ zhěxiē    How come you still haven¹1 finished

yifu xǐwān?    washing these clothes?

B: Wo yě bu shi nǐde yongren,    I^fm not your servant, after all; I

bāitiān wǒ yě shang ban,    work during the day too， and 工

wo měiyou zhěnme duo    don^ft have all that much time, shijiān.

Nǐ xianzai yě gāi mingbai le    Now you (really) ought to understand,

ba?    don^ft you?

Women liāngge rěnshi yě you    We have known each other for several

jǐniān le, nǐ yinggāi liǎo-    years, after all; you ought to

jiě vo.    understand me.

Taipei:

The day "before a young couple is to    "be married, a friend pays a visit to

the mother of the "bride:

A: Gōngxǐ, gSngxǐ! Mingtiān shi    Congratulations! Tomorrow*s your

nǐmen xiāojie daxǐde rizi!    daughter¹s big day! Who ^f s the

Xīnlāng shi shěnme rěn a? Tāmen    bridegroom? How did they meet? shi zěnme rěnshide?

B: Shi pěngyou jiěshāode.    They were introduced by friends.

Nanfangde fuqin gēn wǒ xiān-    The father of the groom is a

sheng zai youzhěngjū shi    colleague of my hustand^f s at the post

tongshi, būguo yǐqian "bū tai    office, but they didn’t know each

shou. Houlāi lingvai yige xing    very well before. Afterwards,

Lǐde tongshi jiu lai zuo měi,    another colleague "by the name of Li

jiěshao tamen rěnshi. Tāmen    came to act as the go-"between and

jiāowang dāo xiaxLzāi yě yiniān    introduced them. They have "been

duo le. Nage nānhaizi xianzai    seeing each other for over a year

ěrshibāsui, rěn hen laoshi， yě    now. The young man is twenty-eight

hen shangjin. Xianzai zāi    years old now. He^fs very honest and

Taiwan Yinhāng gSngzuo. Tā    amlDitious. He works at the Bank of

"bangongshilide rěn d5u shu5 tā    Taiwan. The people at his office all

něnggan. Xiuyun dui ta hen    say he^f s very capable. Xiuyun is

mǎnyi, ěrqiě Xiuyun yǐjīng    very pleased with him, and besides,

ershisisui le, yě daole gāi    she¹s twenty-four years old; she has

jiěhūnde shihou le, suoyi    reached the time when she should get

nānfāng yi lāi tlqīn women jiu    married. So as soon as his family

dāying le.    came to propose the marriage, we

agreed to it.

A: Wǒ kan qingtiēshang shu5    工 see it says on the invitation

wǔdiǎn zhōng zāi Guotin Da-    that the ceremony will be held at the

fandiān jǔxing hūnlǐ, liudian    Ambassador Hotel at five o’clock， and

zhong ru xi. Na dīfang hen da,    that the banquet starts at six.

cai yě hen hǎo, mingtiān yiding    It’s a very big place, and the food

hen rěnao.    is very good. It should "be very

lively tomorrow.

B: Tandao jǔxlng hūnlǐ a, yījian    As far as the wedding ceremony is

du5 le. Zhēn fuzā. Xiān shi    concerned, there were a lot of

liāngge haizi yao dao fǎyuan    different opinions. It was really

gSngzhěng jiěhūn, kěshi    complicated. At first the two

nanfangde fumǔ "bu dāying.    children wanted to go to court and

Tāmen xin Jīdūjiao, yiding yāo    have a civil marriage, but the parents

dāo jiaotāng qū. Women jiā    of the groom didn’t agree to that.

xin Fo, zěnme kěyi rang tamen    They*re Christians, and insisted on

dao jiaotāng qū jǔxlng hūnlǐ    going to a church- Our family is

ne! Houlāi, liǎngjiā tānlai    Buddhist; how could we let them go to

tanqu, zuihou cai juěding    a church to hold the wedding! Later,

hāishi zai Guobīn Dafandian    our two families discussed it back and

jǔxing hūnlǐ.    forth, and finally we decided it would

"be "best to hold the wedding at the Amliassador Hotel.

A: Shi qǐng shěnme rěn zhěnghūn    Whom did you ask to witness the

a?    marriage?

B: Zhěnghūnrěn shi Youzhěngjū    The witness is Postmaster Zhang.

Zhāng Jūzhǎng. Tā gēn nanfangde    He¹s an old friend of many years of

fuqin shi duSniande lǎo pěngyou,    the groom's father, so as soon as we

suoyi yī qǐng ta, tā mashang    went to ask him, he agreed right away, jiu dāying le.

A: You měiyou jieshaorěn? Jiě-    Are there any introducers? Who are

shaorěn shi shěi ya?    they?

B: Nanfangde jieshaorěn jiu shi    The introducer for the groom's side

lāi zuo měide nawěi Lǐ Xiān-    is the Mr. Li who was the go-lietween,

sheng. Women zhě"biān jiu    For our side we asked Professor Zhang

qǐngle Zhāng Zǐming Jiāoshou.    Ziming. He was a teacher of Xiuyun¹s

Tā shi Xiuyun niān daxuě    when she was in college. shihoude lǎoshī.

A: Xinniāngde jiěhūn lǐfu shi    Where was the "bride¹ s wedding gown

zai shěnme difang zuode?    made?

B: Bu shi zuode, shi zūde.    It wasn^ft (specially) made， it’s

rented.

A: Tāmen jiehun yīhou yao dao    After they're married, where are

nali qu du miyuě?    they going to spend their honeymoon?

B: Tāmen jihua yao dao Ālǐ Shān    They¹ re planning to go to Mt. Ali

qu wan yige xīngqī, "buguo    for a week, but they can^ft leave right

tāmen j iěhūn yǐhou "bu něng    after the wedding. They have to wait

mǎshang zou, yāo děng hui    until after the "bride's first visit

men yǐhou cai qu.    to her new parents¹ home "before they

go.

A: 0, hǎo hǎo hǎo. Wo xiǎng    Oh, okay. Well，you must "be very

nimen yiding hen māng. Wo    "busy, so 工 should "be leaving now. yīnggāi zou le.

B: Nǐ name kěqi, hai zijǐ lāi    You^fre so polite, you even "brought

song lǐwu lai. Xiěxie, xiexie!    presents over in person. Thank you!

Mingtiān yiding lāi chi xǐjiǔ.    Be sure to come to the "banquet

tomorrow.

A: Hǎo, mingtiān jiān.    Okay, see you tomorrow.

NOTES ON THE DIALOGUE

...liāngge haizi yao dao fǎyuan g5ngzhěng jiehun: Traditional wedding ceremonies were held at home or in ancestral halls (not in temples or pagodas). Modern ones are likely to "be held in hotels or restaurants, as there is more room and food is then easier to prepare.

Tāmen .iihua yao dao Ālī Shan qū: Ālī Shān and Riyuě Tan (Sun—Moon Lake) are the two most popular honeymoon spots on Taiwan• An average honeymoon stay might last one veek.

Vocabulary

āi    (sound of sighing)

dāxǐ    great rejoicing

daxǐde rizi    vedding day

dāying    to agree (to something), to consent,

to promise

dū    to pass

du mīyuě    to go on a honeymoon, to spend one¹s

honeymoon

duōnian    many years

fǎyuan    court of lav

Fo    Buddha

fuzā (fuzā)    to "be complicated

gongzhěng jiěhūn    civil marriage

hai    even， (to go) so far as to

hāishi    after all

houlai    later, afterwards

hui men    the return of the bride to her

parents¹ home (usually on the third day after the vedding) hǔnli    vedding

jiaotāng    church

jiāovāng    to associate with, to have dealings

with

Jīdūjiao    Christianity

j iěhun lǐfu    vedding gown

jiěshaorěn    introducer

juěding    to decide

jǔxing    to hold (a meeting, ceremony, etc.)

Juzhāng    head of an office or bureau (of

which the last syllable is ,jū)

...-lāi•..-qu    (indicates repeating the action

over and over again) laoshi (laoshi)    to be honest

Liǎnyi    to be pleased

miyuě    honeymoon

nānfāng    the groom¹s side, the groom¹s family

něnggan    to be capable

ren    person, self, body

ru xi    to take one's seat (at a gathering,

meeting, or banquet)

shāngjin    to be ambitious

shou    to iDe familiar (with), to know well

tandao    to talk alDOut; speaking of

tānlai tānqu    to talk back and forth

tlqīn    to bring up a proposal of marriage

xiāojiě (xiāojie)    daughter (referring to someone

else¹s daughter)

xijiu    wedding banquet; wedding wine

xin    to believe (in)

xin Fo    to be a Buddhist

xīnlāng    bridegroom

xinniāng    bride

ye    indeed, in fact， admittedly

yijian    opinion

zǎo    long ago

zhěnghūn    to witness a marriage

zhěnghūnrěn    chief witness at a wedding ceremony

zū    to rent

_zu§ _mei    to act as go-between (for the

families of a man and woman considering marriage)

Customs Surrounding Marriage, Birth, and Death: Unit 3

PART I

1.    Wo tingshuo Zhōngguo kongzhi    工 hear that population control work

rěnkǒude gōngzuo zuode hen    has been done very successfully in

chenggong.    China.

2.    Zāi chěngshili zhude rěn yao    People who live in the city, if they

you yige hāizi děi zuodao    want to have a child, must have

sān t5ngguo.    ^fthe three approvals ^f.

3.    Sān tSngguode yisi yě j_rushi    ^f The three approvals^f means that a

shuō děi you sānge difang    woman must have the consent of

tongyi zhěwěi fīlnū shēng    three places in order to have a

haizi.    child.

U. A: Něi sānge dānvěi ne?    Which three units?

B: Zhěwei funude gongzuo dan-    The woman’s work unit, the neighbor-

wěi, tā zhude difangde    hood committee of the place she

.iūmin věiyuanhui, he    lives, and the local police

paichusuo.    station.

5.    ZhSngguo zhěngfǔ gěnju shěnme    On what basis does the Chinese

pi zhǔn filnumen shēng xiǎo-    government give official per-

hāir?    mission for women to give birth?

6.    Gegě chěngshi meinian zhǐ kěyi    The various cities can only increase

zēngjiā yiding shumude hāizi.    by a specific number of children

every year.

了. Women shiqū jīnniānde chushēng- The birth rate in our municipal area

lu bu gāo.    this year isn^ft very high.

8. Wǒ zhǐ něng fēnpěigei nǐmen    工 can only assign a quota of eight

zhěiyiqū bābǎige ming^fě•    hundred to your area.

9_# ZhSngguo rěnkǒu tai duō,    The population of China is too large,

zhěngfǔ tichāng rěnmin shi-    so the government encourages the

xing biyun.    people to practice birth control.

10.    Biyun gongju dou shi miǎnfěide.    All contraceptive devices are free.

11.    Wǒ yǐjlng dědao pīzhǔn, kěyi    I have already received permission

you yijian xin fangzi.    to get a new room.

NOTES ON PART 工 Notes on No. 1

kongzhi: ^fto control; control¹. This can also be translated as ^fto dominate; to command*•

Zhěige fangjiānde wendū kong-    The temperature in this room isn^ft

zhude bu hao, yihuīr leng,    well regulated. 工t^fs cold one

yihuǐr re.    minute and hot the next.

Shijiān měi banfa kongzhi,    There is no way to control time; no

shěi ye banbudao.    one can do it.

Tāde bing yǐjlng kongzhizhu    His illness is under control now;

le, yěxǔ jǐtiān yǐhou, tā    maybe in another few days he will

huī haoqilai.    start to get better.

^v    You yixiē rěn kongzhile zhěi-    Some people have taken control of

jia fēijī, bu rang ta qǐfēi.    this airplane and won't let it

take off.

chěnggong: ^fto succeed; to be successful'.

Zhěiběn shū chěnggSng le.    This book was a success.

Zhěiben shū xiěde hen chěnggSng. His book was written very successfully.

(i.e.，His book came off very well.)

Zhěige tāng chěnggong le，    This soup is a success, everyone

dajiā dōu āi chī.    loves it.

Zhǐ ysto nǐ null, nǐde shiqing    So long as you work hard at it, your

yiding něng chěnggSng.    effort is sure to succeed.

Notes on No, 2

zuo dao: ^fto achieve, to make (a goal) V. In Unit 2, Part II, you saw tandao ¹ to talk about, to speak of¹ , with the ending -dao meaning literally 'to, up to¹ . Here you see -dao used as an ending after the verb zuo ^fto make^f. You may think of -dao in zuodao as conveying the meaning of reaching a goal.

Zhěijiān shi, wo yǐjīng zuodāo 工 have already succeeded in doing le.    this.

Ni shuōguo, zuotiān nǐ yāo qu, You said that you wanted to go nǐ zuodāo le ma?    yesterday. Did you do so?

sān tSn^guo: ^fthe three approvals¹. The ¹ three approvals¹ have been in effect since 19了3/了1. At that time, the minimuin marriage age was pushed upward, "but most recently it has "been relaxed to ages twenty-five for males and twenty-three for females. Most couples must still wait a number of years before they can have a child. The sāntonRKUo guiding for city residents effectively means that, without these three approvals for a child, a pregnancy must end in abortion or else the child will have to live without food rations. (A government slogan is Yi^e zui hǎo, liāngge goule, "One is best, two is enough.’’） Applications to have children are reviewed and permission granted or denied by one^fs work unit, based on the total allowable city quota. A third child is strongly discouraged and life would be very difficult for it should it be born. Special gifts, privileges, and awards are given to one-child families - In the countryside, one can find four to six children in a household, but they of course could not easily move to the city.

Notes on No. 3

ye jiūshi shuō: ^fto mean； in other words, that is to say¹ .

Jīhuā shengyu yě jiūshi shu5    Planned parenthood means having

yao you jihuade shēng xiao-    children in a planned way. hair.

^fHěbi¹ ye jiūshi shu5 ^fwei-    ¹Hěbi¹ means ¹why must¹. shěnme xūyao¹.

Tā bu něng zāi shēng xiaohāizi,    She can¹1 have children any more;

ye jiushi shuō women juěde    that is to say, we feel that she

tā zhibuhao le.    cannot be cured.

Tā bū gei ni da dianhua hao-    The fact that he doesn^ft telephone

xiang ye jiūshi shu5 tā bu    you would seem to imply that he

xīhuan ni.    doesn’t like you.

Dāifu shu5 tā bū něng chi rou, The doctor said that he couldn ^ft eat ye jiushi shu5 chī rou duī    meat, in other words, eating meat

tāde shēntī bu hao.    isn^ft good for his health.

When what follows is a more pointed explanation of what has just been said, .jiushi shu5 can be used in place of ye jiushi shu5， e.g.

Tā bū kěyi shēng hāizi, jiūshi She cannot have a child; that is to shuō tā hai měiyou zuodao    say, she has not yet gotten the

sān tSngguo.    three approvals.

tōngyi: ^fconsent, agreement; to agree, to agree with (what someone says or thinks)¹.

A: Tongyi bu tongyi?    Do you agree?

B: Wǒ bū tongyi.    工 don’t agree.

Wo "bu tongyi nǐde hua.    I don，t agree with what you say.

Although in English we can say ¹1 agree with you¹ , in Chinese it is wrong to say either Wo ^ēn nǐ tongyi or W5 t6ngyi ni. Tongyi can be used in two ways: without an object, or with an object like tā shuōde ^?what he said¹, tāde huě, ^fwhat he said¹ , tāde /jihua ¹ his plan¹ , tāde yi,jian ¹ his opinion¹.

If you want to say ¹1 don¹1 agree with you¹ , you can say Wo ~bū tongyi, Nǐ shuode, vo bu tongyi, Wǒ "bū tongyi nide hua. Wo "bu tongyi nǐde yi.iian, etc.

Notes on No. U

dānvěi: ¹(work) unit¹. This word is used in the PRC as a cover term for any organization or department of an organization. It may, for instance, refer to a factory, a school, a government organization, a store, or an army unit.

Nǐ zai něige dānvěi gōngzuo? is a common way of asking where someone works; compared with Nǐ zai nǎr gōngzuo?, the question Nǐ zāi něige dānvěi gōngzuo? sounds more official.

Women dānvěi you hen duo nu    There are a lot of women teachers in

lǎoshī.    our unit. (Here, dānvěi refers to

a school.)

To specify that you are talking about a place of work, you can say gōngzuo dānvěi, as in the Reference List sentence.

jumin věiyuanhui: * neighborhood committee¹. The official duties of a neighborhood committee are diverse, ranging from sanitation maintenance to political study. Its actual role and duty remain amMguous, as well as its relationship with the government. Although the government pays a committee¹s elected delegates, there is no official connection "between the two. The power of the committee in local affairs remains large.

paichusuo: ¹local police station¹. The local police station is the lowest level of the Bureau of Public Security. In addition to taking care of matters of a criminal nature, the paichusuo is familiar with the history and political situation of every one of its residents. Along with the gōngzuo dānvěi and the .iūmin věiyuanhui, it affects the daily life of each citizen.

Notes on No. ^

gēnju: ¹ according to, on the "basis of; "basis¹ .

Nǐ genju shěnme shu5 zhěige    On what "basis do you say this?

huā?

Nǐ shu5de hua you měiyou    Is there a "basis for what you're

gēnju?    saying?

pizhǔn: ^fto give official permission (to someone to do something)¹.

Dānwěi pīzhǔn ta jiěhūn le.    Her unit gave her permission to

marry.

Xuěxiao pīzhǔn ta qu Shanghai    His school gave him permission to go

le.    to Shanghai.

Wo mai zhěige diānshi shi dědao 工 got permission to "buy this pizhǔnde.    television.

funumen: ¹women¹. -Men is a plural ending for nouns and pronouns.

You have seen it in the pronouns vomen, zanmen> nǐmen> and tāmen. After a noun, however, -men is never obligatory. It is usually used with nouns which designate humans (although in literature you may sometimes see it used with nouns referring to animals as well).

s/

Nūshimen, xiānshengmen.    Ladies and gentlemen.

Note that the group referred to "by a noun phrase with -men must be of unspecified numlDer; it is wrong to say liāngge funumen or sānge •liaoshoumen， etc.

Notes on No. 6

gěgě: ¹ each and every, all of the various¹. The first (a specifier like zhěi-) literally means ¹ each...¹ or ^fthe various, the different•••*•

The second is the counter ge, as in yige rěn ^fone person¹.

Jiǔyuěli, gěgě xuěxiao d5u    In September all the schools open, kāi xuě le.

Měiguode gěgě zh5u d5u you    Each of the American states has its

zijǐde zhěngfǔ,    government.

zēnK.jiā: ^fto increase; to increase "by (such-and-such an amount)¹ .

Jīnnian women xuěxiaode xuě-    The students in our school increased

sheng zēngjiā le.    this year.

Zhěige yīyuande bingren bu neng The patients in this hospital cannot zai zēngjiā le.    increase any further.

Zhěijǐtiān nǐ mang "bu māng,    Have you "been busy the past few days?

zai gěi ni zēngjiā yidianr    Would it "be okay if 工 give you

gōngzuo, hǎo bu hǎo?    some more work to do?

Women dānwěi you zēngjiāle    They added two more offices on to

liāngge bangongshi.    our unit.

yiding: 'specific, certain, definite, set¹. In addition to the meaning of yiding which you already know, namely ¹ certainly, surely¹, it can also mean ^fset (by regulation, decision, or convention), fixed, particular,¹ as in

Tā ban shiqing you yiding banfa. He goes about doing things with a

definite method.

Měiniān zāi yidingde rizi, tā    Every year he goes back to see his

d5u huiqu kan māma.    mother on a set date.

Notes on No. 了

shiqū: ^fcity proper, municipal area¹, the area within a chěngshi where population and buildings are relatively concentrated. Shiqu is used when you are emphasizing the city proper or contrasting it to the suburbs E.1iāoqū!3 • It is an administratively more exact term than chěngshi• [The Peking municipal area, Běijīng shīq_ū, is made up of eight urban districts, chěngqū.]

chūshēnglū: ^fbirth rate¹. Chūshēng means ¹ to be born¹. The chūshēnglu is usually considered to be the number of births per one thousand population in one year.

Notes on No. 8

fēnpěi: ^fdistribute; allot; assign; distribution¹.

Wǒ tīngshuō xiāge yuě jiu kěyi I¹ve heard that you¹11 be assigned gěi ni fēnpei gSngzuo.    work next month.

Wǒ xīwang něng zǎo yidian    工 hope that housing can be assigned

fenpěidāo fangzi.    soon,

TīngshuS tā fēnpěi dāo DSngběi 工*ve heard that he has been assigned qu gSngzuo le.    to go work in Manchuria.

ming^: ¹ the number of people assigned or allowed; quota of people¹ . Ming^Te does not exactly correspond to ¹ quota¹. ¹ Quota¹ is a fixed number of places which must be filled. Mlng^t ě is (1) a fixed number of places which must not be exceeded, or (2) one such place. Bābǎige ming^ is literally ¹800 name given—numbers^f， i.e. ¹ a quota of 800 names.¹

Note on No. 9

biyun: Literally, ^favoid-pregnancy¹, i.e. ^fcontraception^f• Shixing

biyun ^ft〇 carry out (the government policy of encouraging) contraception, to practice birth control¹.

Note on No. 10

miǎnfēide: Literally ^fexempt from charge¹, i.e. ^ffree (of charge”•

Zhěige zhanlǎn kěyi miǎnfei    You can visit    this exhibit for free. cānguān.

Sānyuě Bahāo, fīinu he haizi    On March 8th,    women and children can

dao g5ngyuān qu d5u shi    go to parks    free of charge. miǎnfēide.

Lūxing bū pianyi a! Fēijīpiāo    Travelling is    not cheap. Plane

kě "bu shi miǎnfēide.    tickets are    certainly not free!

Notes on No. 11

dědao: ^fto receive, to get^f.

Tā dědao huzhāo yǐhou mashang    He left immediately after getting his

jiu zou le.    passport.

Tā dědao pīzhǔn kěyi liuzai    He has gotten permission to stay in

Běijīng gSngzuo.    Peking to work.

yijian xin fangzi: ¹ a new room¹. Notice that although you have seen fangzi meaning ^fhouse^f, it is being used here in the wider sense of ^fa place to live*. In this phrase it is preceded by the counter for rooms of a house, jiān. Thus the whole phrase means ^fa new room，，not ^fa new house^f.

Living quarters in Peking and many other Chinese cities are very scarce. (Housing in Shanghai is more critical than Peking.) When a newly married couple applies for housing, they will be assigned a room that does not exceed 8-10 square meters. Rarely do living quarters have private baths, toilets, or kitchens. Later, when children come along, they will continue to live in the same size room.

Peking:

A Canadian tourist talks with her guide:

A: Wǒ zai Jiānadade shihou jiu    When 工 was in Canada I heard that

tingshuo Zhōngguo kongzhi    population control work is being

rěnkǒude gSngzuo zuode hen    done very successfully in China,

chěnggōng. Nǐ kěyi bu kěyi gěi    Could you tell me about it? wo jiǎngyijiǎng?

B: Hǎo. Wǒ xiān shuōshuo zai    Okay. First I’ll talk about how

chěngshili shi zenme zuode.    it^r s being done in the cities. In

Zai chěngshili rūguo you rěn    the city if there^rs someone who wants

yao yǒu yige hāizi, děi zuodao    to have a child, they have to get

sān tōngguo.    the ¹ three approvals¹•

A： Shěnme shi sān tōngguo?    What are the 'three approvals¹ ?

B: Jiūshi děi you nǐ gSngzuo    It means that you must have the

dānwěi, nǐ zhude difangde jūmin    consent of your work unit, the neigh-

wěiyuānhui, he paichūsuode    "borhood committee of the place you

tongyi.    live, and the local police station,

A: Zhěi sānge dānwěi gēnju    On what basis do these three units

shěnme pīzhǔn funiimen shēng    give official permission to women to

xiǎohair?    have children?

B: Gěgě chěngshi meinian yǒu    Each year the various cities have

yidingde chūshēnglū, yě jiushi    specific birth rates; that is to say,

shuō meinian zhǐ keyi zēngjiā    each year they can only increase by

yiding shumude haizi. Zhěixiē    a specific number of children. These

ining^rě jiu an rěnkǒu fēnpěigei    quotas are distributed among the

gěgě shiqū. Gěgě shiqū zai _w    various cities according to population,

fēnpěigei yao shēng haizide nū-    The various cities then distribute

tongzhi , suoyi funu dōu shi    them to women comrades who want to

dědao pīzhǔn yǐhou cai    have children. So women don't get

huaiyunde.    pregnant until they receive official

permission,

A: Zai nongcūn, rěnmen yě    Do the people in the country also

shixing biyun ma?    practice birth control?

B: Yě shixing biyun, kěshi bu    They practice birth control too,

xiang chěngshili zuode name    but it isn’t as successful as in the

chěnggōng.    city.

A: Biyun g5ngju gui bu gui?    Are contraceptive devices expensive?

B: Zhěngfǔ tichāng rěnmin shixing    The government encourages people to

biyun, suoyi biyun yao he    practice birth control, so all

biyun gSngju dōu shi miǎnfēide.    contraceptive medicines and devices

are free•

PART工工

12.    Zāi Zhōngguo, yǒu g5ngzuode    In China working women get maternity

funu sheng haizi yǒu chǎnjiā,    leave when they have a child and

hai yǒu gōngzi■    they still receive their pay.

13.    Hen du5 ZhSngguo fūnū yong    Many Chinese women use various kinds

^ězhǒng biyun gSngjū shixing    of contraceptive devices to carry

.jihua shēngyu.    out family planning.

Ik. ZhSngguo ren zuo ,juěyu shoushu-    Are there many Chinese people who

de duō bu du5?    have contraceptive surgery

performed on them?

15.    Biyun shibāide rěn kěyi dāc    A person who fails at "birth control

yiyuan qu zuo rěng5ng liu-    can go to the hospital to have

chan, hai kěyi. you liāngge    an abortion performed, and they

xīngqide jia.    can also have two weeks of leave,

16.    Zai shǎoshu minzu diqu rěnkǒu    The population is relatively small

bǐjiǎo shao.    in the national minority areas.

1了. Zh5ngguo rěn xiāngxin hongtāng Chinese believe that brown sugar is dui chǎnfu shi yizhong hen    a very nutritional food for women

hǎode yingyǎngpǐn.    who have given birth within the

last month.

18.    Tā he "bieren ~bū tong, tā shi    She¹ s different from other people,

wǒ zui qin_tjinde pěngyou.    she^fs my closest friend.

19.    Shǒuxiān yāo qu gěi Māma mai    First 工 have to go buy fresh flowers

xiānhuā, ranhou hai yāo gěi    for your mother, and then I have

ni bǎ wān.jū xiūlihǎo.    to fix your toy for you too.

20.    Tandao ZhSngguode nongcūn,    As for the rural areas of China, the

gědide qingkuang dōu bu tong.    situation is different in various

places.

NOTES ON PART 工工 Notes on No. 12

chǎnjiā: •maternity leave¹. The syllable chan, literally ¹ to give birth to¹ is used in compounds meaning •maternity, delivery, birth¹. It can also be used outside the context of human reproduction in compounds meaning •to produce, production¹, as in chǎnpīn •product¹.1

g5ngzi: ¹wages, pay¹, literally ¹labor-capital¹.

...you chǎnjia, hai yǒu    : For a normal birth， a woman is given

fifty-six days of paid leave; for a difficult birth, seventy days; and for twins, ninety days after the birth. After this period, one hour per day is allowed off in order to nurse the baby.

Notes on No. 13

gězhǒng: ¹ various kinds, every kind¹. Ge_ ¹ each¹ is a specifier like zhěi- ^fthis^f or něi- ^fthat¹. As a specifier, it can be followed by counters. Here you see ge- used with the counter 一zhong ¹types, kinds, sort, species ¹. Here are some other ways gě- is used:

w

Tā něng dāo gěguo qu lūxing    It’s great that he can go to all

zhēn bu cuo.    sorts of countries.

Xuěshengmen yīnggāi yǒu gěrěn- Students should each have their own de xuěxi jihua.    plan of study.

Mingtiānde dianyīngr piao gěgě Each and every unit has movie tickets dānwěi d5u you.    for tomorrow.

Sometimes ge- is followed directly by the noun.

Jīntiān xiavu gě dānwěi d5u    This afternoon every unit is having

kāi hui.    a meeting.

biyun gōng.ju: * contraceptive devices¹ . This does not refer to birth control pills. EBiyunpǐn •birth control products¹ includes both biyūnyao ^fbirth control pills¹ and biyun gSngju.1

jīhua shēngyu: ¹ family planning, planned parenthood¹. Jihua means ¹plan; to plan¹. Shēngyu literally means ¹ to give birth to and raise¹-

Notes on No. 1总

.jueyu: ¹ sterilization,¹ or ¹ to sterilize, to be sterilized,¹ applies to operations for men and women. Sterilization for women is still much more common than for men; and more prevalent in the cities than in the countryside.

Tā juěding juěyu.    He has decided on sterilization.

Juěyu shi jiějuě ZhSngguo    Sterilization is one good way to

rěnkǒu wěntide yige hǎo banfa.    solve China¹s population problem.

shǒushu: ¹ surgery¹•

Dāifu gěi ta zuode shǒushu hen The surgery the doctor performed on chěnggong.    him was very successful.

Notes on No. 1$

shibai: ^fto fail¹.

Tā zuo maimai shībāi le.    He failed in business.

Nǐ genju shěnme shuō tā shibai On what basis do you say that he le?    failed?

rěng5ng liuchǎn: ¹ abortion¹, more literally, ^artificial miscarriage¹.

dao yiyuan qu zuo reng5ng liuchǎn: ,go to the hospital to have an abortion performed¹. Zuo rengong liuchǎn here means 'to have an abortion done*, not of course ^fto do an abortion*. Compare the following two sentences:

Yīsheng gěi ta zuole rengong    The doctor performed an abortion on

litichǎn.    her.

Tā zuole rěngSng liuchǎn.    She had an abortion.

In the first sentence, the subject of the sentence (yīsheng) performed the abortion. In the second sentence, the subject of the sentence (tā) had the abortion performed. In some cases, a verb-object in Chinese can mean either * to do something* or ^fto have something done *. Here are some more examples:

Zhěnme hāode yifu, shěi gěi nǐ Who made such nice clothes for you? zuode?

Zai Měiguo zuo yifu hen gui.    It’s really expensive to have clothes

made in America.

•jia: * leave, vacation* . You have seen this as part of the word chǎnjia 'maternity leave'. Here you see it used by itself.

Notes on No. 16

shǎoshū minzū: ¹minority natiionalities¹, often translated as ’national minorities'. Besides the Han people, China has over fifty national minorities which are spead out over fifty to sixty percent of the land area and make up six percent of the total population of the country. The largest minorities are the Mongols (mostly in the Něi Měn^ǔ Zizhiqū, ’Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region¹), the Hui (Chinese Muslims), Tibetans, Uighurs (in the Xln.jiāng Weivu-ěr Zizhiqū, ’Xinxiang Uighur Autonomous Region¹), and the Miao (found in several southern provinces).

Shǎoshu minzūde yīfu d5u hen    The clothing of the national minorities

hǎo kān.    is very beautiful.

ZhSngguo you wǔshijige shǎoshū- China has fifty—odd minority minzu.    nationalities.

Kotes on Ko. 1了

xiāngxin: ^fto believe (that),    to trust (someone), to believe in, to have faith in¹.

Wo xiāngxin， women liangguo    工 believe that the friendship between

rěnminde youyī yiding hui    the people of our two countries

būduan fāzhān.    will constantly grow.

Compare xiāngxin to the verb xin， which you learned in the last unit.

For the second example you need to know you is a verb meaning ^fit ^fs up to...¹.

Biě xin tāde huā.    Don¹1 believe what he says.

Xin bu xin you nǐ.    Believe it or not, as you like.

hongtang: ¹brown sugar¹, literally ^fred sugar¹. The Chinese often use brown sugar in cooking and for medicinal purposes. For example, a common remedy for colds is a hot drink made by boiling ginger root and brown sugar in water [jiāngtāng]， or simply brown sugar water [tāngshuǐ].

chǎnfu: ¹a woman who has given birth within the last month¹. [Contrast this word with yunfu ⁹ a pregnant woman¹.3 The birth of a child is celebrated on the successful completion of the first month of life.

ylngyangpǐn: ^fa nutritional food item¹ . Yingyǎng means ¹ nutrition¹, for example:

Doujiāng hen you yingyang.    Soy bean milk is very nitritious.

-Pin is a syllable used in many words to mean ¹ item, article, product¹,

[for example .iinianpīn ^f souvenir¹ , yongpǐn ¹ item of use¹，chǎnpīn 'produce¹, gōngyěpǐn ¹ industrial product¹3.

As the Reference List sentence shows, the mother¹s health continues to be an important consideration even after the child is born. Both mother¹s and baby¹s health are carefully attended to after birth, while Western medicine emphasizes the mother¹s health only as long as she is carrying the child.

邳otes on I^o • 18

bu tong: ^fto be not the same, to be different¹ . This is often used in

the pattern ...he ••• bū tong_a ¹... is different from ...¹.

Huzhāo he lūxingzhěng wanquān    A passport and a travel permit are

bū tong, nǐ bū yao nongcuo    completely different. Don^ft mistake

le.    them.

Zhěige g5ngchǎng jīnnian he    The situation in the factory this

qūniānde qingkuang hen bū    year is very different from last

tong.    year.

Bu tong can also be used as a noun as in

Tāde dānwěi he nǐde you hen    There is a big difference between

dade bu tong.    his work unit and yours.

You should be aware that tong ¹ same¹, cannot be used as the main verb of a sentence to mean ^fto be the same'. To say, 'These two things are the same'， you must say Zhěiliǎngge dōn^xi shi yiyangde.

qin.jin: ^f to be close (to), to be on intimate terms (with)^f .

Zhěiliǎngge rěn hen qīnjin.    These two are on intimate terms•

Dājiā dōu yuānyi qīnjin ta.    Everyone wants to be friends with him.

Notes on No. 19

shSuxiān: ^ffirst (of all), in the first place, first; first, before anyone/anything else、

Jīntiān dājiā kāi huī shǒuxiān The first thing we want to do at shi yao jiějuě women chǎng    today¹s meeting is to solve our

shēngchǎnshāngde wěnti.    factory^fs problems in production.

Zāi fandianli shǒuxiān yāo    A hotel must first of all pay attention

zhuyi jiějuěhao kěrenmende    to solving the dining and rest

chī fan he xiūxi wěnti.    problems of the guests.

Zuijin wāiguo pěngyou hen du5.    Recently there have been many foreign

Women shǒuxiān yao jiějuě    friends. We must first of all

zhūde wěnti.    solve the lodging problems.

xiānhuā: 'fresh flowers¹, as opposed to dried or artificial flowers, which the Chinese are also fond of.

vanjū: ^f(children's) toy¹.

Mingtiān ěrzi guo shēngri, gěi Tomorrow is our boy’s birthday, ta mai ge wānjū.    let’s buy him a toy.

Note on No. 20

gedi: ¹ each place； various places^T. Here you see the specifier -gě ^Teach^f used in another compound. Here are some more examples:

Wǒ hen xiǎng dao Měiguo gědi    I’d very much like to go visit lots

qu kanyikān, Měiguo shi ge    of places in America. America is

wěidade guojiā.    a great country.

Zai ZhSngguo gědi cānguān you- I^fve visited and sightseen lots of lǎnle sānge xīngqī， wǒ gāi    places in China for three weeks,

hui guo le,    it¹s time to go back home.

Peking:

A Canadian student in Peking interviews a population control worker:

A: Wo zāi Jiānadade shihou jiu    When 工 was in Canada 工 heard that

tīngshu5 ZhSngguo kongzhi rěn-    population control* work is being done

koude gāngzuo zuode hen chěng-    very successfully in China. Could

gong. Nī něng bu něng gei wo    you explain to me what you do? jiangyijiǎng nǐmen shi zenme zuode?

C: Shǒuxiān， zhěngfǔ tichāng    First, the government promotes late

wǎnhūn. Ērqiě, yibānde shuō,    marriage. Furthermore, generally

zai chěngli jiěle hūnde rěn    speaking, in the city, married people

liangniān yihou cai yao haizi.    don^ft have children until after two

Tāmen yāo xiǎohair yǐqian yīng-    years. Before they have a child they

gāi zuodao sān tōngguo.    should have the ¹three approvals ¹.

A: ¹Sān tōngguo¹ shi shěnme    What does the ¹three approvals¹

yisi ne?    mean?

C: 'Sān tongguo¹ ye jiūshi shu5    The ¹ three approvals¹ means that

yīnggāi dědao nǐ gSngzuo dan-    you should have the consent of your

wěi, nǐ zhude difangde jijinin    work unit, the neighborhood committee

wěiyuānhui he paichusuo zhěi—    of the place you live, and the local

sānge difangde tongyi.    police station.

A: Ge dānwěi gēn^u shěnme biāo-    According to what criteria do the

zhǔn pīzhǔn funumen shēng    various units give official permission

xiǎohair ne?    to women to have children?

C: Gě chěngshi d5u you yidingde    All the various cities have set

rěnkǒu chūshēnglū, meinian    population birth rates, and each year

meige chěngshi zhǐ kěyi zēngjiā    they can only increase "by a certain

yiding shumude hāizi. Zhěixie    number of children. These quotas are

mlng*ě jiu fēnpěigei gěgě    apportioned among women comrades in

shiqūde xiǎng shēng haizide    all the various cities who want to

nutongzhi. Funu d5u shi dědao    have children. Women do not "become

pīzhǔn yǐhou cai huaiyunde.    pregnant until they receive official

permission.

Bū xiǎng yāo haizide kěyi    Those who do not want to have

shixing "biyun; "biyun gongju he    children can practice birth control;

biyun yao dōu shi miǎnfeide.    all contraceptive medicines and

contraceptive devices are free.

A: Ruguo biyun shlbaile zěrrnie    What is done if birth control

ban?    fails?

C: Kěyi dāo yiyuan zuo rengong    One can go to the hospital to have

liuchǎn, shoushu bubi zi j ī gěi    an abortion. A person doesn^!t have

qian， hai you liāngge xīngqīde    to pay for the operation herself, and

jia, you you gōngzī.    there is tvo veeks¹ leave vith pay.

A: Wo hǎoxiāng tīngshu5 Zhōngguo    It seems to me I*ve heard that when

funu shēng haizide shihou you    Chinese women have children they get

wushi1iutiānde chǎnjiā， ěrqiě    56 days ¹ maternity leave, and they

kěyi du5 mai yixiē yingyǎngpǐn,    can also buy extra nutritional food

shi bu shi?    items. Is that so?

C: Dui le, chanjia you gSngzī.    That¹s right. The maternity leave

Chǎnfu hai kěyi māi yiliangjīn    is paid. In the month after

hongtāng, du5 mǎi yiliangjīn    delivery, a woman can also buy one

jīdan. ZhSngguo rěn dōu xiǎng-    or two catties of brovn sugar, and

xin hongtāng dui chǎnfu hen    one or two extra catties of eggs.

hao,    Chinese believe that brovn sugar is

very good for women during the month after delivery.

A: Rěnmen shēng haizide shihou,    When someone has a baby, do

qīnqi pěngyou song bu song    relatives and friends give presents? lǐwu?

C: Qīnqi he qīnjinde pěngyou    Relatives and close friends will

haishi hui song yixiē xiǎo    still give a few small gifts, like

lǐwu, xiang xiāohāizide yifu la,    clothes for the baby, little blankets,

xiao tǎnzi la, xiao maozi la,    little hats, toys, and so forth,

vānju shenmede. Ye yǒu rěn    There are also people who will give

hui song yixiē shuǐguǒ huozhě    a little fruit or fresh flovers. xiānhuā.

A: Yige jiāting kěyi you jǐge    How many children can one family

xiǎohair?    have?

C: Zāi chěngshili nianqīng fūfu    In the city young couples have two

zui duō yāo liāngge hāizi.    children at the most.

A: Nongcūnde qingkuang zěnmeyang?    What¹s the situation like in the

rural areas?

C: Gědi nongcūnde qingkuang "bu    The situation in rural areas is

tong. Rěnkǒu duōde difang    different in different places. Where

zhěngfǔ tichāng jihua shēngyu.    there¹s a large population the

Nongcūnlide rěn ye yong ge-    government promotes family planning,

zhong biyun g5ngju. Bū shǎo    People in the rural areas also use

rěn youle liāngge hāizi yǐhou    all the various kinds of contraceptive

jiu zuo juěyū shǒushu, nānde    devices. Quite a few people undergo

zuo, nude zuo, dōu kěyi.    contraceptive surgery after they've

Nongmin juěde zuo jueyū    had two children. Either men or

shoushu bǐ yong biyun gōngju    women may have this done. The

fāngbiande duō.    peasants feel that having contraceptive

surgery performed is much more convenient than using contraceptive devices.

Keshi zai shao shu minzu diqū,    But in the areas populated "by

yīnwei rěnkǒu shao, zhěngfǔ "bu    minority nationalities, "because the

tichāng jihua shēngyu, suoyi    population is smaller, the government

yi"bānde j iāting kěyi duo you    doesn’t advocate family planning, so

jige xiǎohair.    the average family can have a few

more children.

NOTE ON THE DIALOGUE

Rěnmen shēng haizide shihou, qīnqi pěngyou song ~bu song lǐvu?: As stated in the dailogue, friends and relatives in the PRC give useful items for the "baby, like clothes, hats, cups, or perhaps a chicken for the mother. These are presented casually.

Vocabulary

biyun    contraception

bu tong    to be different

chǎnfu    a woman who has given birth within

the last month

chǎnjia    maternity leave

chěngg5ng_s    to succeed, to be successful

chūshenglu    birth rate

dānwěi    unit

-dao    (indicates successful accomplishment

of something)

dědao    to receive, to get

fēnpěi    to assign, to apportion, to allot

gědī    the various places, each place

gěgě    various

gēnju (genju)    according to, based on

gězhong    various kinds, types

gSngzī    wages, pay

hongtang    brown sugar

jiā    vacation, leave

jiāting    family

jihua shēngyu    planned parenthood, family planning

juěyu    sterilization

jūmin věiyuanhui    neighborhood committee

kongzhi    to control

-men    plural suffix

miǎnfei    to be free of charge

ming’ě    the number of people assigned or

allowed, quota (of people)

nongmin    peasant

nu    female

paichusuo(r)    the local police station

pīzhǔn    to give official permission

qingkuang    situation

qīnjin    to be close (to a person)

rěngōng liūchān    abortion

sān tōngguo    "the three approvals^M

shaoshu minzu    minority nationality, national

^    minority

shēngyu    to give birth to and raise

shibai    to fail

shiqū    urban area or district

shoushu    operation, surgery

shǒuxiān    first

shumu    number

tongguo    to pass, to approve

tongyi    to consent, to agree

wanju    toy

xiāngxin    to believe

xiānhuā    fresh flowers

xiaohair    child, children

ye jiu shi shuō    to mean; in other words

yībān    ordinary, general， common

yibānde shuo    generally speaking

yiding    to be specific

yingyangpǐn    food items of special nutritional

value

zēngjiā    to increase

Customs Surrounding Marriage, Birth, and Death: Unit U

PART 工

1.    Nǐde fuqi zhēn hao.    You are really blessed with good

fortune.

2.    Zhāng Taitaide xifu touyitāi    Mrs. Zhang^fs daughter-in-law in her

jiu gei ta shengle yige da    first pregnancy presented her with

sūnzi•    a fine grandson.

3.    Wo zhěli you yige hongbāo shi    I have a ”red envelope" for the

gei xiǎo baobaode•    baby•

h. Bū gan dāng!    I^fm flattered. You shouldn’t have!

5.    Nǐ zhēnshi tai kěqi le. Hebi    You’re too polite.' Why should you

pofei ne?    spend so much money?

6.    A: Nǐde nūer shēngxialaide    How much did your daughter weigh

shihou you duo zhon^?    when she was "born?

B: Qibāng ban.    Seven and a half pounds.

7.    A: Wo gang veile ta bu jiǔ, tā    工 just fed him not long ago，and

you kū le.    now he’s crying again.

B: Dāgāi you yāo chi nai le.    He probably wants to nurse again.

8.    Tā zhǎngde hen piāoliang.    She is very pretty.

9.    A: Nǐ zhěge hāizi hen you    This child of yours has a lucky

fuxiang^ ěrduo zhangde    physiognomy• His ears are really

zhēn da.    big.

B： Tu5 ninde fu!    It’s because of your lucky influence. NOTES ON PART 工

Note on No. 1

fūqi: blessings, good fortune, luck¹.

Wo hen you fuqi, ěrzi bang wo    I’m very fortunate, my son helps me

bu shǎo māng.    a lot.

Ni zhēn mei fuqi, gang chū    You really have bad luck. You just

men jiu xia yǔ le.    leave on a trip and then it rains.

Notes on No. 2

xifu: ^fdaughter-in-law, son’s wife*.

Tā xifu hao piaoliang!    Her daughter-in-law is so beautiful!

Wo xifu g5ngzuo māngjlie.    My daughter-in-law is very busy,

tou-: ^ffirst^f, (literally *head” as in touyitiān, ^fthe first day*.

Tou- is used much like di-: before a number and a counter, which may or may not be followed by a noun.

touyicī    the    first time

touyige rěn    the    first person

touliāngge rěn    the first two people

tousānben    the first three volumes

In touyige, tou- is stressed and is in the neutral tone. Also notice that the word for ¹ two¹ is lian^- (not er_ as is usually the case when a counter follows).

Now here is a comparison of tou- and di~:

(1)    Touyige rěn and dīyige rěn are both translated as ¹ the first person*， and touyige is for the most part interchangeable with diyige.

(2)    Although the ^i_ in tōuyige is unstressed and written without a tone mark over it, the ^i_ in diyige is stressed and said with a second tone (or sometimes with a first tone)•

(3)    The word for ^ftwo^f is liǎng after tou-, but er_ after di~• Dierge means ^fthe second one¹, while touliāngge means ^fthe first two*.

(h) Tou- must be used with a counter， but di- can be used with just a number after it. Here are some examples of di- used with a number but no counter after it:

Wo yāo māi zhěge dōngxi.    I’m going to buy this. First, it^fs

Diyī, zuode hen hǎo; diěr,    very well made; second, it^fs

hen pianyi•    inexpensive.

Tā shi diyī, wǒ shi diěr.    He is first, I*m second.

But touyi-, touliǎng-, tousān- always have a counter word after the number•

tāi: This is the counter for pregnancies, whether carried to term or not• Literally tāi means * embryo*• The expression touyitāi can also be said toutāi.

Tousāntāi dōu shi nude, dao    The first three babies were all girls;

disitāi cai shengle ge ěrzi.    it wasn’t until the fourth that

she had a boy.

Tā shēng t6utāide shihou,    When she had her first baby, she

shēntī bū cuo. Sheng diěr-    was still in pretty good health,

tāide shihou jiu bu xing le.    But when she had her second, it

•    wasn^ft good any more.

shēng: ^fto give birth to...¹ Notice that the Chinese verb shēng is used in an active sense which is not always reflected in the English.

Compare the various translations of shēng in the Reference List, the above examples and the dialogue.

sunzi: ¹ grandson¹. This only refers to the son of one¹s son. The son of one¹s daughter and son-in-law is called vaisūnzi• Here is a chart showing how these terms relate to each other.

ěrzi xifu    nuer    nūxu

(son daughter-in-law)    (daughter son-in-law)

sūnzi    sūnnū    vaisūnzi    waisūnnu

(grandson) (granddaughter)    (grandson) (granddaughter)

Notes on No. 3

hongbāo: ¹ a red envelope with money in it, given as a gift or bribe¹. These gifts of money may be given to children by people at least a generation older. This usually happens at festive occasions, like New Years or a birthday. The amount given varies greatly but there is one thing to remember: 'Do not give an amount with the number four in it! The number four, si, closely resembles the verb "to die ,^f! sǐ, and is therefore considered unlucky. Chinese youth were without any real opportunity to make money in the past, so this is one way that it is made up for.

xiao bǎobao: Literally -^flittle treasure¹, in other words ’the little darling¹ or ¹ the baby¹. This word is usually used by women. Some people use the word bǎobao (with or without xiǎo) in addressing or speaking about babies or children.

The second bǎo in bǎobao is neutral tone; even though it was originally also third tone, it does not make the first bao change to a rising tone, as you might expect (e.g. nali). The first bǎo in bǎobao is pronounced low,

without any rise in pitch. (Some people also say bǎobao and xiao baobao•)

LThere are many other words used to refer to babies. Some terms used by both men and women include (xiǎo) bēibi, (xiǎo) guāiguai， xiao jialiuo.

Some terms used mostly by men include xiao bēibei and xiǎo budiǎnr,]

Note on No. k

bu gan dāng: flfrn flattered* . Literally, this means ’I dare not assume (the honor you pay me)*. This is a polite response to a compliment (such as ¹ You speak Chinese very well*), to a respectful gesture (such as helping someone put on their coat)， or to a respectful phrase (like ^īngjiao’),

Note on No. 5

pofei: ¹ spend money (on someone)¹, also sometimes translated as ^Tto spend recklessly¹.

Rang nin pofei. or^ Jiao nin    I have caused you to spend a lob of

pofei.    money. (i.e. , ^fyou shouldn’t have

spent all that money on me¹)

Tā shi wo sūnzi, wěi ta pofei    He¹ s my grandson, it¹ s only riglit

liāngge qian shi yīnggāide.    that 工 should spend a ].i tzle money

on him.

Tā shēngride shihou, Wang    For his birthday, Mr. Wang really

Xiānsheng pofeide zhēn bu    spent quite a bit of money on him.

shǎo.

Notes on No, 6

you duo zhong: ^ow heavy?¹ Zhong is the adjectival verb ¹ to be heavy¹. Notice the similarity between asking age, weight and height. In each the pattern is literally ^fhave how much (of some quality)*.

Ni you duo da?    How old are you?

Něizhāng zhuōzi you duo zhong? How heavy is that table?

Tā you duo gāo?    How tall is she?

This pattern is usually confined to measurements of some sort.

bang: ¹pound (unit of weight)¹. In addition to the tradibional Chinese units of weight such as dan ¹ picul (1〇〇 liters approximately)¹, jin ¹ catty (l 1/3 lbs.)¹> liang Hael (105 grams approximately)¹, and the metric system of weights, such as ^ongliǎng ^!100 grams¹ and gong,j in ' kilogram * ,also find customary American units such as ¹ pound* used。

Notes on No._ 7

gang veile tā bu jiu: This means ^TIt*s only been a short while SINCE I fed hirru , ₅ NOT ^!工 fed him for only a short while. ¹ Chinese can distinguish between the duration of a continued activity and the duration of something not happening by putting these two types of duration phrases in different places in the sentence.

Let^fs review time when and time spent, and take a look at how you express TIME WITHIN WHICH something didn’t happen and TIME ELAPSED since something happened.

1.    Simple duration phrases, that is phrases telling how long an activity went on, follow the verb. These contrast with phrases telling the time when something happened, which come before the vero.

Simp1e duration

Tā zāi Xianggang zhu liang— He¹s staying in Hong Kong for two tiān.    days.

Tā zuole wufēn zhāng, jiu    He sat for five minutes and then

zou le.    left.

Time when

Tā shi zuotiān daode.    She arrived yesterday.

2.    The amount of time something did not happen, that is the TIME WITHIN WHICH the activity has not taken place, is expressed in negative sentences with time phrases before the vert).

Time Within -with a Negative Verb

WSmen yinian měi jian le.    We haven^ft seen each other for a

year.

Wo yījīng yige yuě měi qu    I    been going there for a

nar le.    month now.

3- To express the time elapsed since an activity took place the duration phrase is again placed after the verb.

Time elapsed in an affirmative sentence

Wo zuowānle yǐjīng yige    I^fve been done for an hour already, zhōngtou le.

Tā cai zoule yige xīngqi.    It^f s been only a week since he left,

Wo gang likāi zhěige vuzi    I^fve been out of the room only a

bu jiǔ.    short while.

Note on No. T

chī nai: ^fto eat (mother¹ s) milk¹, in other words, ^,fto breastfeed¹¹ and by extension ^fto drink milk¹ , even from a bottle. Similarly, věi nai can mean ^fto feed milk (to a baby) ¹ without specifying mother^fs milk or otherwise. To distinguish between breast feeding and bottle feeding, one can say chi māmade nai，^fto eat mother¹s milk¹. And from the mother¹s point of view, one can say māma zi,1i gěi haizi věi nai, ¹ the mother nurses the child herself.¹

Note on No. 8

Tā zhǎngde hen piaoliang: ¹ She^fs very pretty.^f Zhǎngde piaoliang literally means ^fgrow pretty*, but it should be translated simply as ^fis pretty¹. Zhangde ... is often used in descriptions of the appearance of living things. In these cases, zhǎngde ... is absent of any meaning such as ^fhas grown . . .¹ , ¹ has come to be ...¹ or ^fhas become . . . ¹ ; it simply means ^fis, are¹.

Tā zhǎngde hen haokan.    She is very beautiful.

Tā zhǎngde gēn wo yiyāng gāo•    She is just as tall as I am.

Tāde lian zhǎngde gēn wo měi-    Her face looks just like my little

mei ylyāng.    sister.

There is almost no difference in meaning between Ta hen piaoliang and Tā zhangde hen piaoliang• Both are used frequently. But there is a difference in meaning between Tā zhangde hen gāo and Ta zhǎnggāo le: the former means ^fHe is very tall¹, and the latter ¹ He has grown tall¹.

Notes on No. 9

fuxiang: ¹ auspicious physiognomy¹. This phrase implies something more than ¹lucky face¹. The word fu expresses the destiny of a person to enjoy a life of good fortune• Xiang is a person^fs looks considered from the point of view of fortune telling. Traditionally, it was believed that a person's destiny could be determined from the individual variations of his hands, bones, face， ears, hair， and so forth. The xian^ includes the face, ears, hairline, and bumps on the head.

...erduo zhǎngde zhen da: Portraits of some of the most admired men in Chinese history depict them with long ears, (Long ears are thought to indicate wisdom. ) It was thought that rulers in particular were so endowed. Buddha is also pictured with long ears, as he appeared in Indian portrayals.

Taipei:

Mrs. Song*s daughter-in-law, Baolān,    has just recently had a baby. A

friend of the family, Mrs. Zhāng, comes to pay them a visit:

Z: Song Taitai, nin xifu shingle    Mrs. Song, has your daughter-in-law

meiyou?    had the baby yet?

S: Sheng le. Shengle ge nanhaizi.    Yes. It’s a boy.

Z: ōu! Nin fuqi zhēn hao. Tā    Oh! Hov lucky you are. She had

touyitāi jiu gei nin shengle    a nice big grandson for youand it

yige da sunzi. G5ngxī, gōngxi.    was her first! Congratulations.

S: Xiěxie, xiěxie! Lai kānkan    Thank you. Come see my daughter-

wo xifu gēn xiao baobao ba!    in-law and the baby!

Z: Hao.    Okay.

Baolan! Gǒngxǐ, gongxǐ! Nǐ    Congratulations, Baolan! How are

hao ma?    you?

B: Wǒ hen hao. Zhāng Bomǔ, nin    Well Mrs. Zhāng! I’m fine, thanks. lai le.

Z: ōu! Ni zhě haizi hen you    Oh! He^f s got a very lucky

fūxiang, erduo zhǎngde name da!    physiognomy. Such big earsj

B: Xiěxie! Tu5 ninde fū!    Thank you! It’s because of your

lucky influence!

Z: Tā shēngxialaide shihou you    How much did he weigh at birth? duo zhong a?

B: Qībang ban.    Seven and a half pounds.

Z: fig, zhēn bū xiao.    Hm. That^f s really pretty big.

S: Tā zhēn něng chī. Baolān    He eats like a horse. Baolān just

gang wěile ta bu j iu, xianzai    fed him a little while ago, and now

you kū le. Dagai you yao chi    he^fs crying again. He probably wants

nai le.    to nurse again.

Z: Tā kūde shěngyin hen da.    He cries so loudly. He must be

Shēntǐ yiding hen jiankāng.    very healthy.

B: Dui! Tā cong yiyuan huilai    Yes! In the week after he came back

yige lībāi j iu zhǎngle ylbāng.    from the hospital， he gained a pound.

Z: Wo lě.± yīqiān xiangzhe nǐ    Before 工 came 工 thought you should

yinggāi shengle, suoyi    have had the baby by now, so 工 got a

zhunběile yige hongbāo. Shi    ^!red envelope¹ ready. It¹s for the

gěi xiǎo bǎobaode.    baby.

B; Bu gān dang. Nin tai kěqi    You shouldn¹1 have. That¹s too

le. Hěbi pofei ne?    polite of you. Why should you spend

money?

Z: Bū shi kěqi• Zhǐ shi yidian    I'm not being polite. This is just

xiao yisi.    a little something to express my

feelings.

B: Xiěxie! Xiěxie!    Thank you!

PART II

10.    ZhSngguo ren xiāngxin chǎnfu    Chinese people believe that women

manyuě yīqiān *bu keyi    who have just given birth should

chul fēng.    stay out of drafts until the child

is a full month old.

11.    Chǎnfu zuo yuězide shihou yao    Women who have just given birth

těbiě xiaoxin •    should *be especially careful during

the month after delivery.

12.    ZhSngguo rěn dou shu5 chī    Chinese people say that when you

Zhongyāode shihou, *bu yāo    take Chinese medicine, you shouldn’t

chī shēnglěn^.    eat raw or cold things•

13.    Yīshēng shuo wo dele fēngshi,    The doctor says I^fve got rheumatism

zui hao *bu yao pěng lěngshuī.    and that it would *be *best for me

not to come in contact with cold water.

lH. Ni yinggāi duō tǎngzhe, zhuyi    You should lie down more and pay

xiūxi, zhěyang cai něng    attention to your rest; that’s

huifude kuai.    the only way you¹11 recover quickly.

15.    Jiāndao Wang BuzhSngde shihou    When you see Secretary Wang, *be sure

qiānvān dāngxin, *biě suibian    to watch yourself, don^ft *be care-

shu5 huā,    less in what you say.

16.    Tā jiěhūn yīqiān dui tā xiān-    Before she got married she didn’t

sheng liaojiěde *bugou,    understand her husband well enough

•1iěgu5 jiěhūn yǐhou hen    and as a result she suffered a lot

tongku.    after the marriage.

1了. Nǐ kan tā duo kuai，yixiazi    Look at how fast he is, he got dinner

jiu *bā fan zuohāo le.    ready in no time at all.

18. Nā shi Wān^.jiāde xifu, zhěnme    That is the Wang family’s daughter-

pang!    in-law, she^f s so fat!

NOTES ON PART 工工

Notes on No. 10

mǎnyuě: ’thirtieth day after a child is 'born¹ , literally,    •

(It also means ^f full moon^f .) This refers to a "baby’s completion of the first full month of life and is a cause of celebration.

Wāngjiā haizi kuai mǎnyuě le,    The Wang^fs baby is about to be a

qǐng dajiā qu chī mǎnyuě    month old, and they¹ re asking

jiǔ.    everyone to go take part in the

¹ full month¹ banquet.

chul fēng: Literally, ^fto blow vind¹, but actually ^fto be in a current of air, a draft, the wind¹. Although what blows is the wind, fēn^： ^fwind^f seems to be in the object position in this phrase. Chǎnfu bu kěyi chuī fēng does not mean "Women recently delivered of a child cannot blow wind", but rather, ^flWomen recently delivered of a child cannot have wind blow on them.” Traditionally, Chinese women were to stay out of drafts because of the very poor overall health situation of the country, and because of the importance of caring for the next generation. Of the three (Confucian) ways to be unfilial, the worst was to be heirless.

Nǐde bing gang hao, bū yao    You’re just over your illness,

chūqu chuī fēng.    don^ft go out in a draft.

Notes on No. 11

zuo yuězi: Literally, ^fto sit the yuězi¹， yuězi being the month after giving birth during which a woman is supposed to take special care of her health. There are different motivations underlying this custom. Woman¹s most important function (indeed her only one) was to aide in perpetuating the family line. Therefore it was essential to take special precautions for her own -health so that she would nurse a healthy baby. Another idea was that a woman¹ s body at this time vas ¹¹ dirty¹¹ and to avoid offending the door gods she should not go past them.

Tā zuo yuězide shihou, kě xiao- During the first month after delivery xīn， měi chūguo yitiān men.    she was extremely careful. She

didn^ft go out once,

xiaoxin: ^fto "be careful¹ , literally, ¹ small-heart¹. Xiaoxin is an adjectival verb which can be used with or without an object following.

Tā zhěige rěn bu zemneyāng, he This guy is nothing special, you^fd tā zuo pěngyou yao xiāoxīn.    better be careful making friends

with him,

Xiaoxin! Qiān'bianr shi hongdēng. Careful! There^fs a red light up

ahead,

Xiaoxin něige rěn!    Be careful of that person!

Xiaoxin guo mǎlu.    Be careful crossing the street.

Note on No. 12

shēngleng: ¹ raw or cold foods¹. Traditional Chinese medicine divides foods into yin and yang Yin are ’’cool” (liangxingde) foods, that is，foods that make the system cool; yan^ foods are ”hot^T’ (rěxingde)， that is，they ir.ake the system hot. These characteristics are not dependant on the degree temperature at which the food is eatery but are rather inherent in the food. For example crab， white sugar, and most vegetables and fruits are yin or cool, while hot pepper, lard, millet, brown sugar, and certain fruits such as canteloupe and lichee nuts are all particularly yan^ or hot• Generally speaking, yang foods harmonize with body temperature while yin foods shock the system. Nonetheless, a balance between the two kinds of foods must be maintained. Too much yang food can cause the body¹ s ^t!heat^fī to rise too much (shang huo)， minor symptoms of which might include a cough, fever, dry mouth, blisters on the tongue, and constipation. On the other hand, too much yin food is "bad for the stomach and can cause diarrhea.

The body¹s ”heat” (huo) can be regulated by eating one or the other kind of foods. Thus in hot weather, when the huo naturally rises, one should eat ’’cool” foods to lower the huo (qing huo)，and in the winter one should eat "hot" foods. Likewise, certain illnesses call for the eating of one kind of food, or the other: one should eat "cool" foods to counteract infections and fevers, while one should eat "hot" foods to build up one¹s strength if one has a disease which makes him weak. In particular, women giving birth should eat plenty of the "hot¹¹ type of foods.

Shēngleng, raw or cold foods, have also traditionally been considered bad for women who are pregnant or have just given birth• Given sanitary conditions in traditional China, this is oinderstanda'ble•

Chī shēnglengde dongxi yiding    When eating raw things, be sure to

yāo xǐgānjing.    wash them well.

Notes on No. 13

dě: 'to get，a catch (a disease)¹. De bin^ means 'to get an illness¹.

Wo dě bing yihou, měi banfa    After I got sick, I couldn't study

niān shū le,    any more.

Tā dě bing yiqian, shěntǐ hen    Before she got ill, her health was

hao.    very good.

Tā děde shi shěnme bing?    What illness was it that she got?

Here are some examples of d£ followed "by the name of an illness:

Ta dě ganmāo yǐhou, jiu měiyou He didn't go out after he got a cold, chūlaiguo.

Qunian dSngtiān, tā dele xuěyā Last winter, he got high blood gāo.    pressure.

Here are some more examples sentences showing various uses of dě:

Jīnnian guo shēngri wo dele    工 got a new book on my birthday this

yiben xīn shū.    year.

Xiǎodi jīntiān neng dě haojǐ-    Little brother will be able to get

ge hongbāo!    a lot of "red envelopes,, today!

Of course, d£ cannot be used in all cases when ve would say ^fget^f in English. For one thing， de_only means to receive passively, whereas English ^fget^f sometimes denotes actively seeking to obtain, as in ^fI^fm going to the supply room to get some paper and pens¹, or ¹1 got a package of cereal at the supermarket¹. In these cases, d£ would not be appropriate in Chinese.

To show you some other ways in which the English word ^fget¹ is expressed in Chinese, here are some Chinese sentences which do not use de_ although the English translation uses ^fget^f:

Zuotiān lāi nide diānhuā le.    Yesterday you got a phone call (but

you weren’t here to get it.)

Zuotiān wo jiēdāo tāde diānhuā Yesterday I got a phone call from le.    him (and was there to receive it.)

Tā zēngjiā gōngzī le.    He got a raise in wages.

Tā jiā xīnshuǐ le.    He got a raise in salary.

Wo sh5udāole yige zhāngdān.    I got a bill.

Wo cong tā nār ba jiěgei tade    工 got the book back which I lent him. něiben shū nāhuilai le.

Yě gěi wo na yige lai.    Get one for me too.

Cong shěnme difang wo něng    Where can I get (buy) one of those?

maidao yige xiang zhěiyangrde?

fēngshi: ¹ rheumatism^f, literally ¹wind-humid¹.

Tā you fēngshī, tiān yi leng    He has rheumatism, as soon as it gets

tuǐ těngde lihai.    cold, his leg hurts severely.

pěng: ¹ to touch* , only in the sense of one object coining into contact vith another. The verb pěng can also mean to come into contact with something in a violent way, ^fto hit, to bump into^f. Whether pěng means merely ^fto touch¹ or ^fto bump into* must be determined by context.

Nǐ biě pěng zhěige zhuSzi.    Don^ft touch this table.

Tāde chē kě budeliao. Biěrěn    His car is terrific! Other people

pěng dōu bu neng pěng, gěng    can*t even touch it, not to mention

bti yao shuo jiequ kāi le!    borrowing it to drive!

[Some other words meaning ^fto touch¹ are āi^ ^fto be close to, to be next to, to be touching*

Tā zui pa da zhēn. Zhen hai    She is extremely afraid of getting

měi āidao ta, tā jiu da jiao.    shots. She cries out before the

needle has even touched her.

dong: ^fto touch, to handle*

Nǐ biě dong wo zhuozishangde    Don^rt touch the things on my desk,

dongxi, děng yihuǐr wo hui—    in a while when I come back 1*11

laile zījǐ shōushi.    straighten them up myself.

mo: ^fto feel, to rub, to touch* Here you also need to know that ruǎn means ^fto be soft, yielding to the touch¹.

Zhěijiān yīfu zhēn hǎo, moshang- This piece of clothing is really nice, qu ruānruǎnde; chuānzhe yiding very soft to the touch; it must be hen shūfu.    very comfortable to wear.D

Notes on No. 1^

tang: ^fto lie down¹. This is an action verb. Under most circumstances , it requires some kind of complement: either a zai phrase telling where the subject ended up in a lying position, as in

Tā tǎngzai chuāngshang le.    He lay down on the bed.

or the durative apsect marker -zhe, as in

Tā zāi chuāngshang tangzhe.    He is/was lying on the bed.

or the directional ending -xia(lai)， as in

Daifu jiao wo tāngxia.    The doctor told me to lie down,

or the completion le， as in

Tangle bāntiān, haishi bu    工 lay down for quite a long time，

shūfu.    but still felt ill.

Tā tangle yihuǐr, jiu Juěde    After I laid down for a while,工 felt

hǎo yidianr le.    better-

huǐfu: ’to restore; to return to (an original state); to recover (one,s health)¹.

Zhěige gSngchǎng yǐjīng huīfu    This factory has already restored

shēngchan le.    production. (Production in many

areas was stopped during the turmoil of the Great Cultural Revolution.)

Tā qiěnjǐnian dao nongcūn qu    She went to the countryside several

le. Zuijin cai huīfu    years ago. Only recently did she

gSngzuo.    return to work.

A: Wo shāngge yuě sheng bing-    I was sick last month and only this

le, zhěige xīngqi cai    week am feeling like myself again, huīfu yidianr.

B: Kan nǐde yangzi, huīfude    Looking at your appearance I¹d say

bu cuo.    you^fre pretty well recovered.

Notes on No. 15

qiānvan:    all means, for sure¹, literally ¹ thousand ten-thousands¹.

Něitiāo jiēshang chē tai du5,    There are too many cars on that

nǐ qiānwan biě qu.    street, you are absolutely not to

go there.

Nǐ gang xuě kāi che, qiānwan    You¹ve only just learned to drive a

xiāoxīn.    car, be sure to be careful.

Qiānwan zhuyi, bu yao xiěcuo    Be sure to be careful, don’t write

le, xiěcuole kě mafan.    this incorrectly, if you do it’ll

be so much trouble.

dangxin: ¹ to watch out, to watch oneself, to "be cautious¹ . Not to "be confused with dānxin, ^fto worry¹•

Gang xiale xuě, chū men dāngxin! It’s just snowed, watch yourself when

you go out,

Kāi chē shang jiě dāngxīn yi-    Watch yourself when you go out

diǎnr a!    driving downtown!

Notes on Uo. l6

jieguS: ^fas a result, and so . ..^f . One of the uses of this word is to connect the thought of one sentence with the next• (Another is as the noun ¹ result(s)¹.) It provides a transition from one sentence to another, as in

'As a result，then …Below is a monologue which takes place in Peking, in which the apeaker uses the word .iieguo in this way several times. (This is not meant to be an example of eloquence; in fact, you should not use .iieguo as repetitively as this speaker.)

Wo tīngshuS Xiao Wang he Xiǎo    I heard that Xiǎo Wang and Xiao Lī

Lǐ tan lian¹ai le• Tande zenme yang are in love. How serious? Really ne? Tande bu cuo. Liāngge rěn d5u serious. The two of them had no měiyou yijian. Jiěguo Xiǎo Wangde    problems with the idea (of getting

fňqin "bū tongyi. Zhěijiān shi kě    married). But then Xiao Wang¹ s

jiu Idu hǎo Id各n le. Xiǎngle lDantian, father didn’t agree. The whole thing jiěguo hāishi Xiao Wang qu zhǎo    liecame difficult to arrange. They

jūmin věiyuanhui. Jūwěihuide gantu thought for a long time， and as a he Xiao Wang tānle    jiěguo    result it was Xiǎo Wang who went to

hai Idu xing. Zenme "ban? Xiǎo Wang seek out the neighlDorhood committee, you qu zhǎo paichusuo. Paichūsuode The neighborhood committee cadres you lāi he Lǎo Wang tānle    talked with Old Wang (Xiǎo Wang¹ s

■bāntiān, hāishi měiyou jiěguo.    father) for a long time. But then

Zuihou nǐ xiǎng zěnineyāng, Xiǎo Lǐ    it still didn't go over. What to do?

ziji lāi he Lǎo Wang tānle, shuo    Xiǎo Wang then went to seek out the

jiěhūn yǐhou 'bu iDanchuqu zhu, ta    local police station. And the police

zhāogu laorěnjiā. Zhěihuǐr Lao    station cadres went to talk with Old

Wang mǎnyi le. Jiěguo Xiǎo Wang    Wang too, "but still no result. Well

Xiao Li gāogāoxingxīng jiěhūn le_    what do you think happened in the end?

Xiǎo Lǐ vent herself to talk with Old Wang. She said that after they married they wouldn’t move out, that she would take care of the old gentleman. That¹s when Old Wang iDecame satisfied. So in the end Xiǎo Wang and Xiao Lī were happily married.

tongkǔ: ¹ to "be in pain, to "be suffering¹ .

Tā něi shihou hen tongkǔ.    She was in a great deal of pain at

that time.

Lian¹ āi shitaile tā hen tongkǔ. It was very hard on him when they

"broke up.

Zhěijiān shiqing rang ta    This matter pained him a great deal,

fēichāng tongkǔ.

Notes on No. 1了

duo kuāi: ^fhow fast\* Duo or the alternate form duome is used in exclamatory sentences to mean •how •••!’ Here are some more examples:

Nǐ kan cai shuole liǎngju hua, You see you only have to say two tā jiu Idu gāo xing le. Duo    sentences and she gets unhappy.

rang rěn bū hao yīsi!    It really makes a person embarrassed!

Zhěi kūzi zhěnme duan, chuān-    These pants are so short, when you

shang duo nanshou!    wear them they^f11 be so

uncomfortable.

Zhěiběn shū xiěde duo hǎo!    This book is so well written!

Wo bǎ chē yāoshi fangzi chuāng- 工 left the car keys on the bed. How shang. Duo ben!    stupid!

yixiazi: ^fin a flash，at one blow, at one fell swoop, all at once， in no time¹.

Wǒ huā hai měi shuSwan, tā    工 hadn^ft yet finished speaking when

yixiazi jiu shēngqi le_    he got angry all of a sudden. Who

Shěi zhīdao wěishěnme?    knows why?

Notes on No. 18

Wangjiā: ’the Wang family¹, referring either to the people, the social unit, or their home (in which case it can be used as a place word).

pang: ^fto be fat, to get fat^f. The verb pang can be used in two ways: one as an adjectival verb ^fto be fat¹, the other as a process verb ’to get fat¹ . To the Chinese, a fat baby is not only a healthy baby, it is a beautiful one. Plumpness and roundness are two features admired in babies and children.

Adjectival verb (state)

Tā hen pang.    He is fat.

Tā xiǎo shihou bu pang.    She vasn^ft fat vhen she vas little.

Wǒ hen pā pang, shěnme dou bu    I^fm afraid of being fat, I don* dare

gān chī.    eat anything.

Process verb

Zuijin shēntǐ hǎole, tā pang    Lately his health got better and he

duō le.    got very fat.

Nǐ shi bu shi pāngle yidiǎndiǎn, Haven*t you put on just a little bit Ērgē a?    of weight, Older Brother?

Taipei:

Mrs. Fang pays a visit to Mrs. Zhāng    and her daughter—in-law to see the

daughter-in-law's new baby:

F: Gōngxǐ, gōngxǐ! Zhāng Taitai,    Congratulations! Mrs. Zhāng, you're

nin zhēn you fuqi, nlnde xifu    so lucky! Your daught er-in-law had a

touyitāi jiu gěi nin shengle    big fat grandson for you~and it was

yige da pang sūnzi. Ninde xifu    just her first! Have your daughter-

he xiao baobao cong yiyuan    in-law and the little darling come

huilaile měiyou? Tāmen dou    back from the hospital yet? They're

hǎo ba?    both doing well, I hope?

Z ： Xiěxie, xiěxie! Tāmen dōu    Thank you! They're both fine. They

hǎo, jīntiān zǎoshang gang cong    just came back from the hospital

yīyuaji huilai.    this morning.

F: Wo zhěli you yige hongbāo,    I have a ’red envelope¹ for the

shi gěi xiǎo baobaode•    baby here•

Z: Ai! Bū gan dāng, nin zhēn    Oh! You shouldn't have. You're

shi tai kěqi le, hěbi pofei    really too kind. Why should you

ne?    spend all this money?

F: Nāli, nāli! Zhǐ shi yidian    Don’t be silly. This is just a

xiǎo yxsi. Haizi you duo    little something to express my

zhong a?    feelings. How much does the baty

weigh?

Z: Hāizi shēngxialaide shihou    He was eight pounds seven ounces

shi babāng qī. Zhěge haizi    at birth. He¹s really a healthy

shēntǐ zhen hao, zhēn něng    baby, and he eats a lot. Right after

chī. Gang wěibǎo, yixiazi    his feeding, in no time he^fs hungry

you ě le. Ni ting, ta you    again. Listen, he's crying again.

kū le, shěngyin zhēn da, dagai    What a loud voice! He probably

you yao chī nai le. Women qu    wants to nurse again. Let's go see. kajikan.

C: 0! Fāng Bomu, nin ye lai    Oh! Auntie Fang, you've come

le!    too!

F： Gōngxǐ, gōngxi\ Wo lāi    Congratulations! I've come to see

kan ni ěrzi lai le! Zhěge    your son! He looks so good! What

hāizi zhangde zhēn hao, du5    a lucky physiognomy! you fuxiang!

C: Xiěxie, xiěxie! Tuo ninde    Thank you! It*s all thanks to your

fu!    lucky influence!

F: Nǐ shēntǐ hao bu hao?    How are you feeling? You have to

Yuězili yao xiaoxin, bu yao    be careful for the first month after

chī shēnglengde dSngxi, bū    giving birth. Don^ft eat raw or cold

yāo chuī fēng, bu yāo peng    foods, stay out of drafts, avoid cold

leng shuǐ， yě bu yao chu    water, and don’t leave the house•

men. Ni kān, Liujia nāge    Look at Mrs. Liu who didn’t pay

xifu zuo yuězi bu zhuyi, chang    attention during the first month after

kāi diān bīngxiāng, yong    giving birth; she opened the refrig-

leng shuǐ, jiěguo dele    erator a lot and used cold water, and

fēngshī， tongkǔde hen.    ended up getting rheumatism. She

Xianzai hai yao tiāntiān    suffered so much. Nov she still has

chi Zhōngyāo. Nǐ qiānwan    to take Chinese medicine every day,

yāo dāngxīn.    Be absolutely sure you watch out.

Z: Shi a! Wo yijīng gaosu    Right! I^fve already told her. You

ta le, yuězili shěnme shi    shouldn’t do anything at all during

d5u bu yao zuo, du5 tangzhe,    the first month after giving birth,

duō xiūxi, du5 chi haode,    You should lie dovn a lot, get a lot

shēntǐ jiu huifude kuai    of rest, eat a lot of good food, and

yidian.    then your health will come back

faster.

F: Wo zou le， guo jǐtiān zāi    I^fm going to leave now. I¹11 come

lai kaji nī gin xiǎo bǎobao.    back in a few days to see you and the

baby.

C: Deng ylxia. Ni dai jīge    Wait a second. Take a few red eggs

hongdaji qu, manyuěde shihou    with you. We’ll invite you to the

zai qǐng ni chī mǎnyuě j iǔ.    celebration dinner when the "baby is

one month old.

F: Hǎo hǎo hǎo, wo yiding lai.    All right, I '11 be sure to come.

NOTE ON THE DIALOGUE

hongdan: Red eggs symbolize a combination of lucky influences: red is the color of happiness and dignity, while eggs are symbols of health and prosperity to the farmer. HSngdan are sometimes also used as gifts from a nevly-engaged couple to their friends.

Vocabulary

-bang    pound (unit of weight)

bǎobao (bǎobao)    baby, darling (term of endearment

for a young child) bīngxiāng    refrigerator, ice box

bu gǎn dāng    I’m flattered, You shouldn't have,

工 don，t deserve this

chi nai    to nurse, to suckle

chuī fēng    to have air blow on oneself, to be

in a draft

dāngxīn    to watch out

dě    to get

duo kuāi!    how fast!

ěrduo    ear

fēngshī    rheumatism

fuqi    blessings, luck

fiaxiāng    lucky physiognomy

hongbāo    a red envelope with a gift or bribe

of money in it

hongdan    eggs dyed red

huīfu    to recover

jiěguo (jiēguǒ)    as a result; result, results

manyuě    a full month after the "birth of a

baby

manyuějiǔ    celebration meal one month after a

baby is "born

pang    to "be fat

pěng    to touch

pofei    to spend a lot of money (on someone),

to go to some expense

qiānwan    by all means, be sure to; (in com

bination with a negative sentence) by no means, under no circumstances

shēnglěng    raw or cold foods

shēngxialai    to be born

sūnzi    grandson

-tāi    birth

tang    to lie,to recline

tongkǔ    to be painful

touyige    the first

touyitāi    the first pregnancy, the first baby

tu5 ninde fu    thanks to your lucky influence, many

thanks

Wangjiā    the Wang family

wěi    to feed

xiao bǎobao (xiǎo bǎobao)    baby, darling (term of endearment

fcr a young child) xiaoxin    to be careful

xifu    daughter-in-law

yixiazi    an instant, a moment, a while

yuězi    month of confinement after giving

birth to a child

zhāng    to grow; to be (pretty, etc.)

zhong    to be heavy

zuo yuězi    to go through the month of confinement

and special care after childbirth

Customs Surrounding Marriage, Birth， and Death: Unit 5

PART 工

1.    Wǒ zui,iin chūchāi qu le, měi    I We "been out of town on business

něng cān.jiā zhěge hui.    lately, so 工    able to

participate in this meeting.

2.    Wǒ zāi shang Xīngqīěr jiu    Last Tuesday I heard the news that

tīngdao tā zǔmǔ qushide    his grandmother had passed away,

xiāoxi.

3.    Mingtiān wǒ yāo qū diaosāng.    Tomorrow going to present my

condolences at the funeral.

鸟.Mingtiān wo yāo bang tāmen    Tomorrow I ^fm going to help them take

ban sānglǐ.    care of the funeral.

5.    Wǒ fuqin yixiang xǐhuan he    My father alvays liked to drink, but

jiǔ, shāngge yuě hūran    last month he decided all of a

juěding zāi yě bu he le.    sudden that he would never drink

again.

6.    Wo fuqin fanle xīnzan^in^.    My father had .a heart attack.

了. Women Ranjǐn bǎ tā laorěnjiā    We rushed him to Taiwan University

songdao TaiDā Yiyuan qu.    Hospital.

8.    Yīshēng shu5 jīngguo    The doctor said that she had been

yǐjīng jiuguolai le.    saved through emergency treatment.

9.    Nǐ zǔmǔ yixiang hen bǎozhong    Your grandmother always took good

shēntǐ.    care of herself.

10.    Tā guoqude shihou, nian.ji    She must have "been quite old when

yiding hen da le "ba?    she passed away.

11.    Wo tīngwānle yǐhou xīnli hen    After I listened to it I couldn't

jiǔ bu něng ping.jingxialai•    calm dovn for quite a while.

12.    Hen bāoqian, wǒ měi něng gǎnhui- I^fm sorry 工 couldn^ft rush back in

lai diaosāng.    time for the funeral.

NOTES ON PART 工 Notes on No. 1

zui.jin: ^flately, recently; in the near future¹. This word can either refer to the near past or the near future,

A: Ta zuijin zěnmeyāng?    How has she been lately?

B: Zuijin tā hen hao.    Lately she¹s. been very well.

Wo zuijin zai nian shū.    I^fve been studying lately.

Wo zui j in yao dao Jiāzhou qu.    going to "be going to California

in the near future.

chūchāi： ^fto go away on official business^f.

Mingtiān chūchāi, jīntiān hen    Tomorrow I^fm going away on business,

māng.    so today is a busy day.

Zhěci chūchāi, qū shenme    Where are you going on this business

difang?    trip?

Zhejian shi, děng wo chūle    I^fll get to this matter after my

chāi yihou zāi ban.    business trip.

Zhěci chūchāi huilai, kěyi dai When 工 come "back from this "business diǎn dongxi gěi ni.    trip, I’ll be able to bring you

back a little something.

can.jiā: ^fto participate in; to attend; to go to (a meeting, gathering, performance, etc.); to join、

Wo jihua xia Xingq.īyi yao dao    I’m planning to go to New York next

Niǔ Yue qu war. Nī xiang    week to relax. Do you want to

bu xiǎng can jiā?    join in?

Wo yao cānjiā mingtiān xiavude I^fm going to attend the meeting hui.    tomorrow afternoon.

Zuotiān women gěi Zhāng Taitai Yesterday vhen we gave the going—away songxing, nǐ yě cānjiā le    party for Mrs. Zhang, did you come

ma?    too?

Notes on No. 2

zai shang Xingq_īěr: ^fon last Tuesday¹ . Notice that zai is used here with an expression stating a time when something occurs. In this sentence, zai is optional. Here are some more examples:

Zhěge hui zāi xiāge yuě kāi.    This meeting will be held next month.

Zhěge haizi zāi qunian qiūtiān This child began studying at home kāishǐ zāi jiā nian shū le.    last fall.

Wǒ zāi shāngge lǐbāi mǎile    Last week I bought a wedding gown,

yijian jiěhūn lǐfu.

Zāi Yī j iǔliīisānnian wǒ rěnshi- 工 met him in 1963-le ta.

Zāi Yī j iǔvulingnian wǒ jiu    工 read this book back in 1950 -

kānguo zhěběn shū.

zǔmǔ: ¹(paternal) grandmother¹. Remember that this refers exclusively to the father¹ s mother. The mother¹ s mother is waizǔmǔ. [A grandmother is usually addressed by her son’s children as nainai.] Here is a chart showing these terms:

w    w w    v . w „ v    v . w w

zufu    zumu    waizufu_ waizumu

(yěye) (nainai)    (vaigōng)    (waipo)

fuqin    mǔqin

(baba)    (māma)

wo -----

qushi: ^fto pass away¹• Literally, this means ¹ to go (from this) world¹. It is a euphemism for ¹ to die¹, which is introduced in Unit 6.

Xiǎo Wangde fuqin qūshi yǐjīng It^fs been two years since Xiǎo Wang¹s liǎngnian le.    father died.

xiāoxi: ¹ news, information, tidings ¹.

Zhěiliǎngtiān bāozhǐshang yǒu    The past couple of days there¹s been

hen duo guanyu ZhSngguode    a lot of news about China in the

xiāoxi.    newspaper.

Jīntiān bāozhǐshang you shěnme What news is there in the newspaper xīn xiāoxi?    today?

Women jiā liāngge yuě měiyou    Our family hasn^ft sent a letter in

xin le, shěnme xiāoxi d5u    two months, there^fs no news at all.

měiyou.    (Said "by one family memlDer who is

separated from the rest.)

Xiāoxi can "be used with the counter -ge to mean ¹ a piece of news, an item of news¹ :

Wo you yige hǎo xiāoxi.    工 have a piece of good news.

Note on No. 3

diaosāng: ¹to present one¹s condolences at a funeral, to attend a funeral¹. At a traditional funeral, the guests, "by groups, present their condolences to the family of the deceased in a "brief formal ceremony.

Jīntiān wo qu diaosāng, jiāndao Today when 工 was at the funeral 工 nin jia laotāitai.    saw your grandmother.

Note on No. ^

sānglǐ: ¹ the funeral ceremony¹. [Sang- in some comMnations means ¹ funeral¹, for example, sāngfu ¹ funeral clothing¹, or sāngshi ¹ funeral¹.1 On a volunteer "basis, family, friends, and villagers help with funeral preparations. Members of the immediate family stay with the coffin to guard it during the day and sleep with it at night.

Notes on No. $

yixiang: ¹ always (up to now)¹. This advert indicates that something has "been so all along up until now (and may either continue the same way or else change).

Wo yixiang ai chī tiān dianxin. I^fve always like to eat sweet snacks.

Tā yixiang nian shū niānde    He has always done very well in his

hen hao.    studies.

Wū Laoshi yixiang xihuan haizi. Teacher Wū has always liked children.

Xia Xiānsheng yixiang hen kěqi. Mr, Xia has always "been very polite•

hūran: Suddenly¹ . This is a time word. It may go "before the verb, or at the front of the sentence.

Wo hūrān xiangqilai, wode xin    工 suddenly rememlDered that I hadn’t

hai měiyou ji.    mailed my letter yet.

Hūrān, tā pǎolai le, hǎoxiāng    Suddenly, he came running in, as if

you shěnme shi.    there were something wrong.

Hūrān tiān xia yǔ le, xiade    Suddenly it started raining, raining

hao da.    very hard.

Tā jinlai zuole yihuǐr, hūrān    He came in and sat dovn for a while,

jiu zou le_    and then left all of a sudden.

zai ye ~bu he le: ’will never drink again¹. Sometimes people ask what is the word for ¹ never¹ in Chinese. The answer is that ¹ never¹ is not expressed by one word, "but rather "by a combination of adverbs and negative. Not only is ¹ never¹ rendered into Chinese by several words, but the word patterns are different for sentences expressing completed action, habitual action, or planned action. For these examples you need to know that yongyuǎn is the word for ¹ forever¹.

Wo conglai měi chīguo ZhSngguo I’ve never eaten Chinese food, cai.

Wo conglai bu kān něiyangde    I’ve never read those kinds of books.

shū.

Tāde wenti yongyuǎn "bu něng    His problems can never be solved,

jiejue.

Wo zāi yě bu qu nāli le.    I’ll never go there again.

The adverb zāi and a negative, such as měiyou, can be used to express the idea of not doing something anymore.

Bing hǎole yǐhou, tā měiyou    After he got well, he didn't drink

zai he jiǔ.    anymore.

Yǐhou vo "bu zai zuo le.    In the future I von't do it again.

Bu yao zāi da ta le.    Don¹1 hit him any more.

If zai is placed in front of the negative, the meaning of the phrase is more emphatic.

Wo zai bu huilai le!    I’m never coming "back here again!

If is added "between zai and the negative, the meaning is approximately the same.

Wǒ zāi yě "bu chī tāng le.    I’m never going to eat candy again.

Neitiao lu bu hǎo zou, nǐ zai    That road is hard to go on, don’t

yě "biě zǒu něitiāo lu le.    ever take it again.

Nǐ zai yě biě kan zhě zhong    Don* t ever read this kind of book

shū le.    again.

Nage fandiande cai tai guī,    That restaurant is too expensive;

wo zhǐ qule yici, jiu zai    工 only went there once and then

yě měi quguo le•    I never went back again•

Women shi tongxuě, kěshi likāi We were schoolmates, but after we xuěxiao yǐhou, wǒ jiu zāi    left the school,工 never saw him

yě měi kanjian ta le.    again.

Sānge yuě yǐqiān xiāguo yichǎng Three months ago it rained once, and yǔ, yīhou jiu zāi yě měi    since then it hasn’t rained again,

xiāguo le.

More on * Again¹ : Up until now you^fve seen zai ^f again¹ used in sentences which did not express a completed event and you used in sentences which did.

Mingtiān zāi lai ba.    Come again tomorrow!

ou, ni you lai le.    Oh, you*ve come again!

But there are further qualifications on the use of ¹ again* in Chinese. While zai always refers to activities which have not yet occurred, that is future activities or events, you is not totally limited to activities or events which are completed or past. You may be used in present or future situations if the thing being talked about is so certain that it may be treated like something which has actually happened.

Mingtiān you shi Xīngqīyī le.    And tomorrow is Monday again.

Zhě you yao duSshao qian a?    And how much money is needed again

for this?

Zhěi yītiān you yāo wan le.    And this day is about to end too.

(Said at the end of a long busy day with many things left to do.)

Xianzai wo you you gSngzuo le. Now I have a job again.

Notes on No. 6

fan: ¹to have an attack (of a disease), to have a recurrence of， to revert to (an old habit)¹.

Tā you fan lǎo māobing le，    That old problem of his is acting

zhějītiān hen bu shūfu.    up again. He hasn¹t been feeling

well the last few days.

Shāngge yuě tā fan bing le，    Last month he had a recurrence; and

xuěyā hǎo gāo!    his blood pressure was really

high!

Biě fan nǐde lao māobing le，    Don't fall back into your old habit

kuai qu shang xuě qu ba!    (of skipping sthool), get yourself

to school.

xinzangbing: ^fheart disease*. Xinzāng is 'heart¹^

Notes on No. 了

gǎnjǐn: ^fin a hurry*. This adverb means that someone decided to hurry up and start doing something. It can often be translated as ’to hurry up and¹ , or ^!to rush, to (do something)' . Here are some examples:

Nabiān chū chēhuo le, nǐ gǎn-    There^fs been a car accident over

jǐn qīi kānkan I    there, hurry up and go look!

Jīntiān xiavu, tā zou le,    He was leaving this afternoon, so at

zh5nguǔ vo gǎnjǐn pěi ta qu    noontime I hurried to go out to

chi wufan.    lunch with him.

Kuai jiudian le, wo yāo gǎnjǐn It*s almost nine o*clock, I have to zou le.    hurry up and leave.

Gǎnjǐn means only that someone hurries to start the action. It does not mean that the action is finished quickly. For example, to say ^fHe made dinner in a hurry, so it didn't come out well¹, meaning that he finished cooking it in a very short time, you cannot use gǎn_tjǐn; you could say Yīnwei tā zuo fan zuode tai kuai， suoyi zuode bu hǎo.

tā lǎorěn.liā: Lǎorěn.jiǎ is a respectful way of referring to or addressing old people. When addressing someone directly, it is almost always preceded by ni_ or nin_a as in

Qǐngwěn nin lāorěnjia, dāo    Excuse me， sir, how do I get to

Zhongshān Lu zěnme zou?    Zhongshan Road?

Nǐ lǎorěnjia, zuijin zěnmeyang? How have you been lately? Have you Shēntǐ hao "ba?    been in good health, I hope?

A third party can "be referred to as tā lǎorěn.jiǎ:

Tā lǎorěnjia shuō le, zhě jiān    He said that we don^ft need to be in

shi būbi jizhe ban.    a rush to do this.

Wo gěi tā lǎorěnjia song    come to give him some pastries.

yidian dianxin lai.

Wo wěnguo wǒ zǔfu le， tā lǎo-    工 asked my grandfather, and he said

rěnjia shuō mingniān zanmen    our whole family is going to

quanjia q.īi Shanghai.    Shanghai next year.

Here are two examples of lǎorěn.lia "being used as a respectful word for ’old people¹:

Jīntiān, liǎngwěi lǎorěnjia    Today those two (old people) had a

tande hen gāoxing.    very pleasant conversation.

Lǎorěnjiamen d5u xǐhuan chi    Older people like to eat soft foods.

ruǎnde dōngxi.

In Peking, the syllable lǎo in lǎorěnjia receives the heaviest stress of the three syllables, and jia is in the neutral tone.

song: ¹ to take (someone somewhere), to escort (someone somewhere), to see someone off or out¹. The "basic meaning of this word is to accompany someone who is leaving, "but as you can see from the various translations given, song can "be used in a wide variety of circumstances. Here are some examples:

Wo qū "bǎ kěren songdao daměn    I’m going to show the guests out the

waitou.    front door,

Nǐ song ta hui jiā.    Escort her home, or^Walk her home.

or Take her home.

Tā mingtiān zou, women dao    She¹s leaving tomorrow and ve¹ re

jīchǎng qu song ta.    going to the airport to see her

off.

Wo song ta dao xuěxiao q_u.    工 took him to school. (E.g.,工 drove

him there or I walked there with him.)

To specify that you are taking someone in a car, you can phrase your sentence this way:

Wo kāi chē song ta dao xuěxiao I drove her to school. qu.

Notes on No. 8

.1 ingguo: You have seen jīngguo meaning ¹ to go thru¹ . Here it is used to mean •though¹ in the sense of ^f-by means of¹ . It can also "be translated •as a result of,， ,after,， ,through,， or ,via,•

Tā shēntī yizhi bu hǎo, danshi    His health has been bad.all along,

wǒ xiǎng jīngguo ylduān shi-    but 工 think after a short period

jiānde bǎoyǎng, kěněng hui    of taking care of himself, he

hǎo yidian.    might get a little "better,

\

Jīngguo sāntiānde kǎolū, wǒ    After three days of consideration,

juěding he tā jiěhūn.    I*ve decided to marry him.

Jīngguo dajiāde null, zhějian    As a result of everyone¹s hard work,

shiqing chěnggSng le.    this matter has succeeded.

Zhěge jihua bixii jīngguo tǎo-    This plan must go through discussion,

lun.

¹ emergency treatment; to administer emergency treatment, to receive emergency treatment¹ . Notice that    can mean to give or get

emergency treatment.

Jīntiān yǐjīng shi jijiude    Today is already the third day of

disāntiān le, bu zhīdao yǒu    emergency (intensive care) treat-

měiyou xīwang.    ment. 工 don’t know if there’s .

any hope.

Tāde chēzi yǐjlng wanle, rěn    His car is finished (totalled), and

zāi jijiū.    he himself is undergoing emergency

treatment.

Gāngcai chū chēhuo, you jǐge    There’s just been a car accident, and

rěn shoushāng le, yīshēng    several people were injured. The

zhěngzai jijiū,    doctor is administering first-aid.

Ji.jiu refers only to aid given in incidents of a relatively serious nature, usually those where life is in danger; for example, cases of severe injury or acute attacks of an illness -

.jiuffliolai: ^fto save、literally ¹ to save over¹ . The directional verb ending guolai ^ver* sometimes shows the recovery of an original desirable or normal state. For example, in ,jiu^uolai it implies the change from a condition in which death is imminent to one in which the patient can be expected to' live.

Daren qingkuang hai hǎo, haizi The adult * s condition is all right, jiubuguolai le.    but the child cannot be saved.

Zhěge juzi xiěcuo le, wǒ yāo    This sentence is wrong,工 have to

bǎ ta gǎiguolai.    correct it.

Zhěge dizhǐ xiěde "bu dui, nin    This address is wrong, you have to

děi gǎiguolai.    correct it.

Zuo huochē zuole s anti an lei-    After three days on the train, iPm

huai le, yāo shui yidā jiao    exhausted, 工 *11 have to have a

cai něng xiūxiguolai.    good long sleep before 工 can be

well rested.

Shāngwu mangle sivǔge zhongtou    In the morning I ran around for four

zhāngwǔ shui ge wǔjiāo, ren    or five hours， but then after a

•jiu xiūxiguolai le.    nap at noon, I felt very rested.

Tiān tai leng, he kou jiǔ jiu    The weather is too cold, a sip of

nuānhuoguolai le.    wine will warm you up.

Wo hǎoxiāng bing le， chuān    工 seem to be sick,    got on all

zhěnme du5 yīfu d5u měi    these clothes and 工 still can^ft

banfa nuānhuoguolai.    get warm.

Note on No, 9

"baozhong: ^fto take care of oneself, to take care of (one's health)¹ .

Hǎohao baozhong shēntī, biě    Take good care of your health, don^ft

lěihuai le.    wear yourself out.

In telling someone to "be sure to take care of himself, bao zhong is usually-preceded by du5 or du5du5 ^fmore (than usual)¹.

Yilu ping¹an, duō baozhong.    Have a good trip, and take good care

of yourself.

Nǐde bing gang hao, duōduS    You just got over your illness, take

baozhong.    real good care of yourself.

Notes on No. 10

guoqu: 'to pass away¹. Like English 'pass away¹, this is a euphemism for 'to die¹.

Tāde zǔfu zuotiān wanshang    His grandfather passed away last

guoqu le.    night.

Nī muqin shi shěnme shihou    When did your mother pass away? guoqude?

Wo mǔqin guoqude shihou, wo    工 was still very young when my hai hen xiǎo. mother passed away.

nianji: ¹(a person¹s) age¹. Here are some frequently used patterns you should learn by heart:

Nin duo da niānji le?    How old are you? (polite way of

asking an adult^f s age)

Tā nianji "bu xiǎo le.    She^} s not young any more.

Tā nianji da le. or Tā shāngle He¹ s getting on in years. niānji le.

[Although the adjectival verb da ¹ to be big¹ is used after nian.ji to mean ¹ to be old¹ , when you want to say ¹ to be young¹ , you should use the adjectival verb qing ^fto be light¹ rather than xiǎo ¹to be small¹; for example,

Tā niān_t1i hai qīng，bū yinggāi rang ta qū gōngzuo, ^fHe^fs still young, you shouldn¹t make him go get a job.¹^

Note on No. 11

pin^jin^: ^f to be calm¹ . Ping.lingxialai， ¹ to calm down*.

Shuishāng yizhī chuan dōu měi- There wasn^ft a single boat on the .you, ye měiyou fēng, hen    water, and there was no wind. It

pingjing.    was very calm.

Kanjian jiāli rěn dōu hen hǎo, When I saw that everyone in the xīnli pingjingdeduō le,    family was all right, I felt much

calmer.

As in the last example above, plng,jing is often used with xīnli ¹ in the heart¹ to describe one¹s emotional state.

Jīntiān tā hen shēngqi, wo měi He got very angry today and there banfa rāng ta pingj ingxiālai.    was no way I could get him to calm

down.

Notes on No. 12

mei něng: ^fwas not able to¹. Here you see the auxiliary verb něng used with the negative měi• You have learned that state verbs (auxiliary verbs are one type of state verbs) are negated with bū, (bu hǎo, bu zhīdao) not with měi • Here, however, you see měi něng instead of bū něng. This is an exception to the rule that all state verbs are always negated with bu. Actually, either bū něng or mei něng would be acceptable in this sentence.

Some speakers, however, feel that there is a subtle difference between bū něng and měi něng vhen referring to an event in the past. For example, one can say Wo zuotiān měi něng qū as well as Wo zuotiān bū něns qu.

Wo zu$tiān měi něng qu hints at the fact that there was a failure to attain the state of being able to go, whereas Wo zuotiān bū něng qū merely describes the state of being unable to go, without making any implications about failure (to attain the state of being able to go). Such a subtle difference

in implication may make very little difference in the actual import of a sentence in some contexts, although in other contexts it may be of some significance. (For the first example sentence， you need to knov that mīmi means •secret¹.)

Zuotiān nǐ wen wo, wo "bu něng    Yesterday when you asked me， I

gāosu ni， yīnwei zhě shi    couldn’t tell you, because it¹s a

*mimi.    secret.

Zuotiān, nǐ wen wo, vo měi něng Yesterday vhen you asked me， I gaosu ni, yīnwei Zhāng Sān    couldn’t tell you, because Zhāng

zhān zai pangbiān, wo bu    Sān was standing there, and I

xiǎng rang ta zhīdao.    didn’t want to let him know about

it.

gǎnhuilai: ^Tto rush back¹.

D5u liudian zhōng le，wo xiǎng It’s six o¹ clock already, I think tā dāgāi ganbuhuilai le.    she probably won’t make it back

in time.

Xiāwil wǔdiǎn zhāng, women you    At five in the afternoon we have a

ge huī, ni gǎndehuilai gǎn—    meeting. Can you make it back in

buhuilai?

Taipei:

A woman goes to visit her friend after hearing of her father¹s death:

A: Wǒ zuijin chūchāi qu le,    I vent away on "business lately and

jīngguo Tainande shihou tīngdao    I heard the news of your father¹s

nǐ fuqin qushide xiāoxi• Zhēn    death when I was passing through

■baoqian, wǒ mei něng gǎnhuilai    Tainan. I'm so sorry I couldn’t make

diaosāng.    it "back in time to go to the funeral.

B: Wǒ fuqin dele "bing, hen kuai    My father passed away very soon after

jiu guoqu le. Women you xie    he "became ill. We even have relatives

zāi waidide qīnqi dou měi něng    outside the area who couldn’t make

laidejl cānjiā sānglǐ.    it to the funeral.

A: Wo jide nǐ fuqin shēntǐ    As 工 recall your father¹ s health was

yixiang "bū cuo, zhěci dele    always pretty good, what illness did

shěnme bing?    he get this time?

B: 0, wo fuqin shēntǐ shi "bū cuo,    Well, my father¹ s health vas pretty

jiūshi xīnzaxig "bu tai hǎo,    good, only his heart wasn¹1 so good,

zhěci hūran fanle xinzangting,    This time he had a sudden heart attack,

women gǎnjǐn bǎ tā lǎorěnjia    and ve rushed him to Taiwan University

songdao TaiDā Yiyuan qu. Kěshi    Hospital. But even the emergency

jīngguo jljiu, hāishi měi    treatment didn’t save him. jiuguolai.

A: Wo zǔmǔ yě shi xinzangtiing    My grandmother also died of heart

qushide. Hao xiang nianji dalede    disease. Older people seem to "be

rěn dele xinzanglDing yǐhou, hen    very hard to cure after they get

nan zhihǎo. Lǎo xiānsheng    heart disease. When your father

guoqude shihou "bū tāi tongkǔ    passed away he wasn^ft in much pain,

"ba?    I hope?

B: Shide. Tā guoqude shihou    No. He was rather calm when he

"bijiao plngjing, haoxiang "bū    passed away. He didn’t seem to "be

tai tongkǔ*    in too much pain.

A: Nǐ zhěxiē tiān yiding mangde    You must "be very tired from "being

hen lei le. Nǐ yao "baozhong    so "busy these past few days. You

shēntǐ. Guo xiē shihou wo    have to take good care of yourself,

zai lai kan ni.    1*11 "be "back to see you again soon.

B: Xiěxie ni. Yǐhou you g5ngfu    Thanks. When you have time come

zāi guolai zuozuo.    over again and sit awhile.

A: Hǎo. Zāi jian!    Okay. Good-'bye!

B: Zaijian!    Good-bye!

PART II

13. Wo da chan^tū dianhua gaosu ta. 工 called him long distance to tell

him.

lU. Tā lǎo pěngyoude mǔqin shāngge His old friend^fs mother passed away xīngqī guoshi le.    last week.

15.    Tā shāngxinjlie.    He was terribly broken up.

16.    Nǐ fuqin yǐjīng qīshiwǔsui,    Your father was already 75 years old.

kěyi shu5 shi chan呙shou le.    That’s quite a long life, actually.

1了. Zai shuo ta guoshide shihou    Besides that, he wasn't in too much

ye "bū tāi tongkǔ.    pain when he died.

l8. Nǐ "bu "bi tāi nānguo le.    You don^ft have to feel too sad.

19 _ Wo mǔqin ^benlai xīwang ěrnumen Originally ray mother hoped that her yibeizi d5u zai tā shenbian.    children would stay with her all

her life.

20.    Wo dage jīnnian qubnliao Xiāng- My oldest brother can^ft go to Hong

gang le.    Kong this year any more.

21.    JiǎnRlai you jīhui zai qu "ba!    Go sometime in the future if you get

the chance.

22.    Wo mǔqin chang shuō tā bū yuanyi My mother often said that when the

jiānglai zangzai guowai.    time came she didn^?t want to be

buried abroad.

23.    Rang ta zai jiā ānxin xiūxi.    Let her rest without worry in her

home.

2U, A: Tā shuo tā qīishi yǐhou yao He says that after he passes away he huozang.    wants to "be cremated.

B: Bingqie xiwajig tade hāizimen Moreover he hopes his children will něng bǎ tāde gǔhui songhui    be able to take his ashes back to

guoněi.    his home country.

NOTES ON PART II Note on No, 13

dǎ changtū dianhua: * to make a long-distance telephone call *.

Qǐng nǐmen shěngyin xiǎo    "Would you all be a little quieter,

yidian, wo zāi da changtū    . please?    making a long-distance

dianhua ne!    call!

You saw in the Post Office-Telephone Module that dianhua can also be used with the meaning *a telephone call¹ as in You nǐde dianhua, *There¹s a telephone call for you*. Chāngbū dianhua can be used in the same way:

Wěi! Xiǎo Sānr! You nǐde    Xiǎo Sānr! There¹s a long-distance

changtū diānhuā!    phone call for you!

In the Meeting Module you saw the expression lai dianhua ¹ a telephone call is received¹ or ’make a telephone call here¹. Here is changtū dianhua used in the same pattern:

Jīntiān zǎoshang you rěn gěi    This morning someone called long-

ni lāi changtū diānhuā le，    distance for you, but you weren^

nī bu zāi.    here.

Note on No. 1总

guoshi: ^!to pass away, to die¹. You have now seen 'to die¹ expressed three different ways: guoqu, qushi， and Ruoshi. All may be used in conversation, although guoqu is probably the most common.

Note on No. 1^

shāngxin: Literally, ¹ to wound the heart’• ’To be grieved, to be hurt, to be sad, to be broken-hearted¹.

A: Tā zhěnme shāngxīn, wěi-    Why is he so broken-hearted? shenme?

B: Tā nūpěngyou zou le， zěnme    His girlfriend left, how can he not

něng bu shāngxīn?    be broken-hearted?

Women jiāde gou sǐle, wo    After the family dog died, I was

shāngxīnle hǎo chang shijiān.    broken-hearted for a real long time.

Name hǎode yige haizi sǐle,    It really grieves one for such a

zhěn rang rěn shāngxīn.    good child to die.

Note on No. l6

chāngshou: ’long life， longevity;    to live a long life¹.

Yāo xiang changshou, jiu bu    If you want to live a long life，

yīnggāi dūo he jiǔ.    you shouldn¹t drink excessively.

Beifāng changshoude ren bǐ    There are more people who live long

Nānfāng duō.    in the North than in the South.

Note on No• 1了

zai shu5: ^ffurthermore, moreover,    in addition, besides¹. Often following a clause with zai shu5，one of the adverbs 应 ¹ also¹ or you ¹ also¹ is used.

A: Zenmeyāng? Jīntiān nī    How about it? Can you come today? neng lai ma?

B: Zhěiliǎngtiān xia xuě, wo    It¹s snowed these two days, and I

ganmāo le， tiānqi you    caught a cold， and the weather is

zhěnine bu hao, zāi shu5    so bad. Moreover the child is too

hāizi tai xiǎo, bā tā yige    small to leave alone at home. I

rěn fangzai jiāli， wo    would worry. 1^11 come for sure

bu fangxīn. Gaitiān, wo    another day, okay? yiding lāi, hao bu hao?

Tā hen něnggan, zāi shu5 you    She*s very capable, and what^fs more,

name piāoliang, nī jiu tongyi    she¹s so beautiful too. So you

le ba?    will agree (to marry her), won¹t

you? (said by a matchmaker to a young man)

A: Wo děng ni bāntiān le, wo    I^fve been waiting for you for ages.

yāo he ni tan yixia.    I want to have a talk with you.

B: Wo gang xia kě. Zai shuo    I just got out of class. And further-

wo hai měi chī fan ne!    more I haven¹t eaten yet! Let’s

Gaitiān zāi shu5 ba!    talk some other day!

Note on No. 18

nānguo: ¹to be sad， to be distressed, to feel bad¹. This adjectival verb can be used to refer to either physical or emotional distress.

Yīshēng shu5 tā muqinde bing    The doctor said his mother¹s illness

hen lihai, women dōu hen    was very serious, and we were all

nānguo.    very sad.

Jīntiān 七a chile hao duō    He ate a lot of raw vegetables today,

shēngcāi， xianzai dūzili    so now his stomach hurts (he feels

nānguo le.    bad).

Bie nānguo le，rěn yījing sile Don¹1 be sad, he¹s already dead, and nānguo yě měiyou yong le.    it^fs no use being sad.

Jīntiān Song Lǎoshī hen nānguo. Teacher Song is very sad today.

Xiǎo Wangde jiāli you name du5    There¹s so much trouble in Xiao

mafan. Zhēn rang rěn nānguo.    Wang¹s family, it really makes a

person sad.

Notes on Mo. 19

běnlai: ¹originally, at first, in the first place¹.

Běnlāi wo xiang jīntiān xiawu    Originally I ■wanted to go see a movie

qu kān diānying. Houlai    this afternoon. Later 工 heard

tingshuo kāi hui. Suanle,    there vas a meeting. So I’ll

wo yihou zāi qu ba.    forget it and go another time.

Běnlāi wo jīntiān qū Guangzhou₉ Originally 工 was going to Canton tiānqi bu hao, dagai děi    today， but the weather is bad

mingtiān cai něng zou le.    so I^fll probably have to wait

until tomorrow before X can leave.

yibeizi: ’all one¹s life, in one¹s (whole) life, throughout one¹s life, as long as one lives, a lifetime¹.

Zhěngfǔ bang tā ba zāi wāiguo-    The government helped her get back

de qian zhaohuilai le. Tā    money she had outside the country,

yibēizi yě měiyou jiānguo    She had never seen so much money

zhenme duō qian, hao gāoxing.    in her whole life. She was really

happy•

Tā you sānge ěrzi, wěi zhěi    She has three sons and for these

sānge ěrzi mangle yiběizi•    three sons she was busy her whole

Xianzai lāole， gāi xiūxi    life. Now she is old and should

xiūxi le.    take it easy.

shēnbiān: ¹ at/by one¹ s side*, (have something) on one, with one¹ .

Wo you yige haizi zai nongcūn, 工 have one child out in the country yige haizi zāi shinbiān.    and one child here with me•

Rūguo tā shēnbiān you hao jǐge If she has several children at her hāizi jiu měiyou banfa chū-    feet, then she just can¹t go out

lai gōngzuo.    and work.

Notes on No. 20

dagē: *oldest brother¹. Remember that ¹ older brother¹ is 莒ēge，but the oldest of several children is dagē■ In addition dāgē can be used between men to show a friendly relationship of unequal status.

qubuliǎo: ¹ cannot go¹. This is a compound verb or result, like kanbu.jian ¹ cannot see¹ or chibubǎo ¹ cannot eat one¹ s fill¹ . The ending -liao is in compounds of potential result (those with -de- or -bu- between the main verb and the resultative ending) with the meaning of ^fbe able to*. You may be thinking (and rightly so) that this is just the meaning added by the use of -de- or -bu-. This has led some people to label -liao as a *dummy* resultative ending since it does not seem to add any additional information like other more specific endings do (e.g, van ¹ finish¹).

Wāimian shěngyin hao da.    It’s so noisy outside, 工 really

Shizai shuibuliao jiao.    can*t sleep at all.

Jīntiān ting diān, kanbuliao    Today they¹ re turning off the

dianyīngr.    electricity, so we can¹t watch the

movie•

Wo zuijin duzi bu shūfu, chī-    My stomach has been uncomfortable

buliāo shēngcāi.    lately,工 can*t eat lettuce.

Zhěnme du5 cai, chībuliao le!    So many dishes, we won¹1 be able to

eat them!

Xiāwu wo you shi， qubuliao    This afternoon I’m busy,工 can*t go

tūshūguanle, mingtiān zai    to the library, let’s talk about

shu5 ba,    it tomorrow.

Nǐ jiǔdiǎn zhōng xia ban,    You get off work at 9:00， can you go

jīntiān wanhui nǐ qudeliǎo    to the evening meeting? qubuliao?

Nī bu yao dāo jīchǎng lai song    Don^ft come to the airport to see me

wo, nǐ yi kū wǒ jiu zoubu-    off; as soon as you start to cry,

liǎo le.    工 won’t be able to leave.

Note on No. 21

.liānglāi: ¹ in the future¹ . Like other time words, jiānglai can be used between the subject and the verb, or at the front of the sentence before the subject.

Jiānglai ZhSngMěi guānxi yuě    In the future as Sino—American lāi yuě hǎo, women zai Měiguo relations get better and better, jiu bijiao rongyi mǎidao it will be easier for us to buy ZhSngguode dSngxi. Chinese goods in America.

Wo jiānglai yao dao Shanghai    In the future 工 want to work in the

līngshiguān qu gōngzuo.    consulate in Shanghai.

Note on No. 23

ānxin: 'to feel at ease, to set o*ne*s mind at ease, to be at peace;

to keep one¹s mind (on something)¹.

Tā xiānsheng null zuo shi, tā    With her husband working hard at

keyi ānxīn du shū.    his job, she could keep her mind

on her studying.

Wǒde hāizi gongzuode hen hǎo,    My child is doing veil at work, and

vo yě jiū. ānxīn le.    工 can now feel at ease.

Note on No. 2k

bingqiě: ^ffurthermore， moreover, and， besides'.

Wo yāo bǎ gSngzuo zuo hǎo,    工 want to do a good job at work and

bingqiě yāo bǎ Zhōngwěn    and do a good job studying Chinese. xuehao.

Zhěige hāizi hen null bingqiě    This child is very industrious and

hen cōngmīng.    intelligent too.

Wǒ jihua zhěige xīngqī bǎ    工 plan to finish writing this essay

zhěipiān věnzhāng xiěwān,    this week and furthermore translate

bingqiě fānyicheng Zhōngwěn-    it into Chinese.

Taipei:

After the funeral of an elderly man    who came to Taiwan from the mainland,

a friend comes to visit the family:

A: Wo zuijin chūchāi qu le,    "been away on "business lately,

zuotiān huilai cai zhīdao    and I didn*t find out until I got

lǎo xiānsheng guoshide xiāoxi,    "back yesterday that your father had

ěrqiě tīngshuā sānglǐ yě    passed away. And 工 hear that the

"banguo le, wǒ měi něng gān-    funeral has already "been held. I*m

huilai diaosāng, zhen shi    really sorry I didn*t make it "back

"baoqian.    in time to attend the funeral•

B: Wo fuqin xīnzaxig yixiang    My father *s heart was never too

"bū tai hǎo, zuijin liangniān,    good. The past two years, the doctor

yīshēng jiao ta tiāntiān chī    told him to take medicine every day,

yāo, jiěguo wěnti hǎoxiāng    and there didn’t seem to "be so much

shāole yidian, kěshi liāngge    of a problem any more, "but two weeks

xīngqī yǐqiān hūran fanle lǎo    ago he had a sudden attack of his old

"bing, wǒ dagē jiu gǎnjǐn "bǎ    illness. My oldest "brother rushed him

tā lǎorěnjia songdao TāiDa    to Taiwan University Hospital for

Yīyuān jijiū, "bingqiě da    emergency treatment. He also called

changtū dianhua "bǎ wo jiao-    me long distance to get me to come

huilai. Tā nianji da le,    "back. He was quite old, and even

suīrān jīngguo jǐtiān jijiu    after several days of emergency

hāishi měi jiuguolai, zai shang    treatment they still weren^ft able to

Xīngqīěr qūshi le; "buguo tā    save him. He passed away last Tuesday,

qushide shihou "bǐjiao plngjing,    "but at the time he was rather calm,

hǎoxiāng "bū tai tongkǔ.    and he didn’t seem to "be in too much

pain.

V

A: Fuqin qūshi, ěrnū yiding    When a father passes away, the

hen shāngxīn. Buguo lǎo    children always feel very grieved. But

xiānsheng qīshiduSsui qūshi    for your father to pass away at over

yě suan shi chāngshou le. Zāi    seventy is really quite a long life.

shu5 tā guěqude shihou "bū tai    Besides，he wasn’t in too much pain

tongkǔ, nīmen xiōngdi jiěměi    when he passed away, and all you

yě dōu zāi tā shentian, tā    "brothers and sisters were at his side,

yě jiu ānxīn le，nǐ yě "bu yāo    so he could set his mind at ease; so

tai nānguo. Lǎo xiānsheng    don’t "be too sad. Where will he "be

zangzai nali?    "buried?

B： Wǒ fuqin shuōguo, ya£> huo-    My father had said he wanted to "be

zang. Tā shuō tā zheyiteizi    cremated. He said that he protatly

kǒngpa hufbuliǎo lǎojiā le,    wouldn’t "be able to return to his home-

jiao women jiānglai "bǎ gǔhuī    town in his lifetime, and he told us

songhui lǎojiā qu, suoyi women    to take his ashes "back to his hometown

jiu zhuntei zhao tā shuōde    someday. So we*re planning to do as

■ban.    he asked.

Vocabulary

ānxīn    to "be without worry, to feel at ease,

to feel relieved

baozhong    to take good care (of oneself)

běnlāi    originally

"bingqiě    moreover， and

cānjiā    to take part in; to attend

chāngshou    long life, longevity; to live a long

time

chūchāi    to "be out of town on "business

dǎ changtū dianhua    to make a long-distance phone call

dagē    oldest "brother

diaosāng    to present one¹s condolences at a

funeral, to attend a funeral

ěrnū    children

fan    to have an attack (of an old

disease)

gāndeshang    to "be able to catch up, to "be able

to make it in time gǎnhuilai    to rush "back

gǎnjin    quickly

gǔhuī    "bone ashes

guoqu    to pass away, to die

guo shī    to pass away, to die

huozāng    to cremate; cremation

hūran    suddenly

jiānglai    the future, someday

jijiu    first aid; to administer emergency

treatment

jiuguolai    to save

lǎorěnjia    polite way of addressing or

referring to an old person (ni lǎorěnjia, tā lǎorěnjia)

-liao    can, to "be a"ble to

nānguo    to "be sad

nianji (niajiji)    age

pingjing    to "be calm

qutuliao    cannot go

qushī    to pass away, to die

sānglǐ    funeral

shāngxīn    to "be grieved, to "be sorrowful,

to be heartbroken

shinbiān    one^Ts vicinity, one^Ts immediate

surroundings

song    to escort, to take (someone to a

place)

xiāoxi    news

xīnzang    heart

xinzanglDing    heart disease

yitěizi    all one’s life

yixiāng    (have) always, (had) always,

consistently, all along

zai shuo    furthermore, "besides

zang    to bury

zuijin    recently; soon

zǔmu    grandmother (on the father^Ts side)

106

Customs Surrounding Marriage> Birth, and Death: Unit 6

PAET I

1.    Xiao Lǐde māma si le.    Xiao Li¹ s mother died.

2.    A: Nī shu5 women shi fǒu gāi    Do you think we should go to the

cānjiā tāde sāngli?    funeral?

B: Women yingdāng qu yixia.    We should go.

3.    Xiǎo Lǐde māma jīntiān chū bin. The funeral procession for Xiao Li¹s

mother is today.

k. Yibān rěnde sānglǐ měiyou name Most people^!s funerals don’t have so duōde gui.ju le.    many special customs anymore.

5.    Yibān cānjiā sānglǐde rěn dōu    Most people who attend a funeral

song vǎnlian huo huāquān.    send a funeral scroll or a flover

wreath.

6.    Xiě wǎnlian fǎnzhe^g laibuji    It¹s too late to write a funeral

le.    scroll anyway.

了. Women qu mai yige huāquān ruhě? How about if we go buy a flower

wreath?

8.    Nianqīng funu xǐhuan chuān    Young women like to vear multicolored

huā yīfu.    clothing.

9.    Nā něng rang ni pofei?    How could I make you spend money?

10.    Wo qu gei ta māi diān xiao    I¹11 just go and buy her a little

lǐwu .j iu shi le •    present.

11.    Zhi yao bū tai gui， wo hāishi    As long as it's not too expensive,

dā jichěngchē qu.    it would be best if 工 took a taxi.

12.    Ni shuō women liāngge rěn    What do you say the two of us give

hěqilai song ta yitao panzi-    him a set of dishes together? wan zěnmeyang?

13.    Nǐ xiǎode Yangmingshān Gongmu    Do you know where Yangmingshan Public

zai nali ma?    Cemetery is?

NOTES ON PART I Notes on No. 1

māma: Mother, mom* Although this can "be used as a term of address, like English ^om¹ or ¹ Mommy¹ , it can also be used in informal conversation to refer to one^fs own or someone else*s mother, as in wo maina ^fmy mother¹ , or tā māma* his mother^f. For the term of direct address ^fMom^f , Mā is probably more commonly used than Mama.

Wo māma shang ban qu le.    My mother has left for work.

Xiawǔ, Māma jiu zuo huǒche lai This afternoon, Mom came "by train kan wo le.    to visit me.

sǐ: ^fto die¹ This is a process verb, like ~bīng ^fto become ill, to get sick、and therefore corresponds more closely to the English ^fto "become dead¹ than it does ^fto "be dead¹. In English one can talk about a person who has a terminal illness, saying ^fHe is dying^f, "but this does not translate directly into Chinese. In Chinese one can say Tā kuai (yao) sǐle, ^fHe is about to die,¹ or Tā huo~buliǎo duo .jiǔ le， ^fHe won¹1 live much longer. ¹

Tingshuo Lao Liūde fuqin sǐ le. I heard that Lao Liū^fs father has

died.

Sǐ can "be used directly "before a noun as an adjective, meaning ¹ dead*. Shi side may "be used to mean ¹ is dead^f •

Zhě shi yitiao sǐ yu.    This is a dead fish.

Zhěitiao yu shi side.    This fish is (a) dead (one).

Notes on No. 2

shi fou: ^fis it (true) or isn¹1 it (true that) •••* This phrase is a more formal-sounding equivalent of shi ~bu shi; fǒu in literary Chinese means ^for not¹• In spoken Standard Chinese, the use of shi fou is more restricted than shi ~bu shi. First of all, shi f5u has a more educated, formal ring to it than shi ~bu shi • Secondly, shī fou is usually used only "before another verbal expression, as in the following examples:

Zhězhong tiān shi fou hui xia    Is (this weather) going to rain? yǔ?

Jīnnian d5ngtiān，nǐ shi fou    Are you hoping to go to Miami this

xiǎng dao Māi ami qu?    winter?

Nǐ shi fou zhunbei an zhao zhěge Are you planning to act according to jihua qīi zuo?    this plan?

Nǐ yīnggāi xiangyixiang, nǐ    You ought to think about whether you

dui zhěge rěn shi fou liǎojiě.    understand this person or not.

Nǐ nianji bū xiǎo le, nǐ shi    You^fre not young anymore, have you

fou kaoluguo jiěhūnde wenti?    considered the question of marriage?

Jīnnian, nǐmen xuěxiaode xuě-    This year did the (number of) students

shēng shi fou zēngjiā le?    in your school increase?

Wo bu zhīdao wode yijian shi    工 doVt know whether my opinion will

fou něng dědao tongyi.    be agreed with or not.

Zhěizhǒng dōngxi zāi zhěli shi Can this sort of thing be bought fou mǎidedāo?    here?

Note on No. 3

chū bin: ^fto transport the coffin to the burial place or to the tomb¹ .

Literally, this means ¹ take out the coffin¹.

Liujiā mingtiān chū bin.    The Liū^fs have the funeral procession

tomorrow.

Zuotiān, Liu Xiānsheng gěi tā    Yesterday, after Mr. Liu accompanied

fuqin chūle "bin yǐhou, hui    his father¹ s coffin to the cemetery,

jiā jiu bing le.    he went home and then got sick.

Note on No. h

guiju: ¹ fixed standards of conduct, regulations, or customs ¹.

Anzhao Zh5ngguode guīju, gěi    According to Chinese custom, after

sǐrěn chūle bin yǐhou hai    accompanying the coffin of the

yāo zuo shěnme?    deceased to the cemetery, what

else should be done?

Kěren lāi le, zāi māng yě yāo    When a guest comes， no matter how

he bei chā, zhě shi womende    busy he is， he should have a cup

guīju,    a cup of tea. This is our custom.

You guīju means ¹ to have manners¹:

Zhěge hāizi bu dong shi， měi    This child does not understand about

guiju, zhēn rang rěn bū hǎo    things, he has no manners. It

yisi•    really embarasses a person.

Wangjiāde lǎodā zhǎngde hǎokān, The Wang¹s oldest son is good looking you you guiju, zhen hǎo.    and he is well mannered. He^fs

really great.

Guīju as an adjectival verb means ^fto be proper, to be correct (of a person)¹.

Lǎo Wangde nūěr rěn hen guīju. Lǎo Wang¹s daughter is very proper. Notes on No, 5

dou: Some of the uses of d5u do not correspond to ¹ all¹. 'All¹ in English is often described as ’collective¹, that is, referring to all the menibers in a group. D5u in Chinese is often described as 'distributive¹, that is referring to the members of a group as individuals. This usage sometimes is translated as ¹ each¹. Notice that in the Reference List sentence d5u in com'bination with yi~bān and another noun produces this meaning.

Hen du5 ZhSngguo rěn dāole    A lot of Chinese want to study after

Měiguo dou xiang niān shū.    they get to the United States.

Qiānjǐniān, xǔduS xuěshēng    Several years ago many students went

bīyě yīhou d5u dāo nongcūn    to the countryside after they

qu le.    graduated.

Yībān ZhSngguo rěn dōu juěde    The average Chinese thinks that

xuě Yingwěn "bǐ xuě ZhSngwěn    English is harder to learn than

nan.    Chinese.

vǎnlian: ¹ funeral scroll, scroll of condolence¹, literally ¹ elegiac--couplet¹. [Lian is short for duilian ¹ a written or inscribed couplet (pair of parallel sentences)¹.1 Traditionally, white cloth scrolls in one to three strips were written for the deceased "by friends. More recently a new practice has developed which is to send scrolls or wreaths bearing one character: dian, ’’to sacrifice Sending flowers has been brought in by Western custom.

Xiawǔ wǒ dāo Liujiā qu, nǐ gěi This afternoon I ^fm going to the Liu¹ s, xiě ge wanliān hǎo bu hǎo?    could you write a funeral scroll

for them?

huo: ¹ or¹ . You have learned huoshi and huo zhě for ^for¹ . Huo is a more literary variant, but it can still be heard in conversation.

Jīntiān wǎnshang huo mingtiān    Come over to my house tonight or

wǎnshang nǐ dāo wǒ zhěli lāi    tomorrow night, okay?

yitang hǎo bu hǎo?

huāquan: ¹flower wreath¹, literally ¹ flower circle¹.

Wǒ xiǎng mǎi ge huāquān gěi    I want to buy a flower wreath to send

Liujiā songqu.    to the Liu¹s.

Note on No. 6

fǎnzhěng: ¹ anyway, anyhow, either way, in any case, all the same¹. Fǎnzhěng may come either before or after the subject of the sentence.

Nǐ ji shenme, fǎnzhěng gǎnbu-    What are you so anxious for, we won’t

shang kāi hui le, manmān zou    make it in time for the meeting

ba!    anyway, so let’s just take our time!

Fǎnzhěng wo bu nai, měi qian    I’m not going to buy it anyway, so

mei guānxi.    it doesn’t matter that 工 don’t have

any money.

Wo fǎnzhěng měi shi，women jiu 工 don’t have anything to do anyway, tantan zhěige wěnti ba.    so let^fs talk about this.

Fǎnzhěng wo yāo qu, nǐ bū qu    I’m going anyway; it¹s okay if you

yě kěyi.    dor^t go or It’s okay if you

don’t go; anyvay, I’m going.

Fǎnzhěng is often prefaced by a clause beginning with bu guǎn ’no matter whether...*:

Bū guǎn nǐ qu bu qu, fǎnzhěng    No matter whether you go or not, I’m

wo yāo qu.    going anyway.

Note on No. 了

ruhě: •how; how about; in what way*. This is a literary word which means about the same as zěnmeyang. In a more plain, colloquial style, the Reference List sentence could also be said as Women qu mǎi yige huāquān zěnmeyang? Spoken Standard Chinese draws more on the written style in an area like Taiwan, where a majority of the population learn Standard Chinese in school, rather than at home. A speaker from Peking might consider Women mǎi yige huāquān ruhě to sound a little stiff and unnatural. You should be able to understand ruhě， but use it yourself only in speaking vith people who use it, or in writing.

Mingtiān Lao Zhāng qǐng women    Tomorrow Lǎo Zhāng has invited all

dajiā chī fan, nǐ juěde rūhā?    of us to eat, what do you think?

Zhějiān shide jiěguo ruhě?    What was the outcome of this matter?

^MJiao wo ruhě bu xiǎng ta?”    ”(It malces me so that) How could 工

not miss her?’’ (name of famous popular song of the 30^fs)

Note on No. 8

huā: 'to be multicolored'•

Jīntiān tā chuānle yijian huā    Today she’s wearing a multicolored

yīfu, hǎo piāoliang!    dress. It’s gorgeous!

Note on No. 9

Nǎ něng rang ni pofei: Na or nar    (Peking) is used in rhetorical questions.

Tā měi qian, nǎ něng jiěhūn!    He has no money, how can he get

married?

Zāi Yěye nali nǎ(r) něng name    How can you talk like that in front

shuō huāl    of Grandpa?

Nī shi women jiāde rěn, na(r)    You're family, how could we not let

něng bu rang ni zhīdao zanmen    you know what's going on in our

jiāde shi ne?    family?

Wo shuōde shi jǐbǎiniānqiānde    I’m talking about something several

shi, nā shihoude Měiguo nǎ(r)    hundred years ago, how could

you shenme chěngshi!    America have had any cities at that

time?

A: Wǒ nā(r) mingbai:    Like heck I understand!

B: Nǐ name cōngmingde rěn,    You're such a smart person, how could

nǎ(r) hui bū mingbai!    you not understand?

Nǐ kān, na(r) you zhěyang ban    Look, how can you go about things

shide, bu jīngguo jūmin    like this? You want to have a

wěiyuānhui, jiu xiang shēng    child without going through your

hāizi, nā nǎ(r) xing?    neighborhood committee, how can

that be okay?

Tā yizhi zāi chěngli zhūzhe,    When has he ever been to the country-

nǎ(r) daoguo nSngcūn ne!    side I He，s always lived in the city!

A: Zenmeyang? Xiao Zhāng kuāi    How's it going? Is Xiǎo Zhāng going

jiěhūn le ba?    to get married soon?

B: Nar a! Nujiā fumu bu yuan-    You must be kidding! The girl’s

yi, mafan dā le!    parents don't want it. There's

a lot of trouble.

Note on No. 10

.jiu shi le: This phrase is used at the end of a sentence to mean '".that's all'. It can have several different implications, depending on the context:

(1)    "Don't worry, this matter can simply be taken care of like this•” (something is virtually taken care of)

Wo you wangle bǎ shū dailai,    工 forgot to bring the book again,

būguo wǒ yiding jiěgei ni    but I'm going to lend it to you

jiu shi le.    for sure, don’t worry.

Wo zhao nin shuSde ban jiu    I’ll simply do as you say,

shi le.

Děng yixia gěi ni ban jiu shi    工*11 take care of it for you in a

le, nǐ ji shenme!    moment, don’t worry, why are you

so anxious?

Anzhao zhěge jihua zuo jiu shi Do it according to this plan le, you shěnme hǎo tande?!    and that’s all there is to it!

What else is there to discuss?

(2)    ¹ Only, just this, nothing more than this ¹•

Zhěliǎngge haizi chabuduS,    These two children are about the

būguo Lǎo Da cSngming yidianr    same, but the older one is a little

jiu shī le.    more intelligent, that's all,

Tā lai, měiyou shěnme shi，    When he came he wasn't up to anything

būguo xiǎng yao naběn shū    special, he just wanted that book,

jiu shī le.    that's all.

(3)    'that¹ s all that can be done about it*.

Fǎnzhěng wo gēn ni shu5guo jiu In any case, I*ve told you, and that¹ s shī le-    all 工 can do.

Notes on No. 11

zhǐ yao: 'as long as, so long as,    if only¹.

Zhǐ yao wǒ jīntiān wǎnshang    As long as 工 have time tonight,工 can you kong, jiu kěyi ba zhěběn finish reading this book, shū kanwan•

dā: ^fto travel by, to take (a bus, car, train, boat, etc.)^f

Wo yě yao dao xuěxiao qu, dā    going to school too， can 工 get

ninde chē xing bu xing?    a ride with you?

Wo dācuole chē, jiěguo paodao    工 got on the wrong bus, and ended up

Beitou qu le.    in Běitou.

Meitiān wo dā silu chē shang    工 take the Route k bus to work every

ban.    day.

Note on No. 12

hěqilai: ^fto combine, to put together, to unite^f. H£ is a verb meaning 'to combine, to put together, to unite, to merge¹. You should learn to use he in the following combinations: hězai yiqT ¹ to combine (two or more things together)¹, hěqilai ^fto combine (forces)， to come together, to put together¹, hěchěng ^fto combine into, to merge into¹.

Women liǎngjiā hěqilai maixiale Our two families bought these six zhě liujiān fangzi.    rooms together.

Zhěliǎngge juzi hěcheng yige,    If you combine these two sentences

r6ngyi shu5 yidianr.    into one, it¹s easier to say.

Zhěliǎngbān hězai yiqi, zhī    If these two classes are combined,

you shige xuesheng, hai bu    there are only ten students; that¹s

suan tāi duō.    still not too many.

Notes on No« 13

xiǎode: ^fknow^f• This is a synonym of zhidao, and can be used in most of the same ways that zhidao can be used. Xiaode is not, however, commonly used in Peking; it is mostly used in southern areas.

g5ngmu: ¹ public cemetery¹•

Gāngcai tā you dao gSngmu qu    Just now she went to the cemetery

le， gěi tā māma song yiba    again and left a- bunch of flowers

huā,    (on her mother¹s grave).

Taipei:

Two friends who work together at the    Bank of Taiwan are having a talk:

A: Tingshuo Xiǎo Lǐde Māma sǐle.    I heard that Xiǎo Lǐ¹s mother died.

Ni xiǎng women shi fou gāi qu    Do you think ve should go to the

cānjiā tāde sānglǐ?    funeral?

B: Women gēn Xiao Li yǐjīng shi    We¹ ve been friends vith Xiǎo Lǐ for

shljǐniānde lǎo pěngyou le,    over ten years, hov could ve not go! na něng bū qu!

A: Sāngli you měiyou shěnme    Are there any apecial customs at

tebiě guīju? Wo zhǎngde zhenme    funerals? I^fve reached this age

dā le, hai měi cǎnjiāguo sānglǐ    without ever having been to a funeral! ne!

B: Zhǐ yao bu chuān hua yīfu    As long as you don^ft wear multi-

dagai jiu kěyi le.    colored clothes it should be okay.

A: Women gāi song diǎn shěnme    Should we send some kind of gift? dongxi ma?

B: Yibān rěn dōu song vǎnlian    Most people send a funeral scroll

huo huāquān. Women liāngge rěn    or a flower wreath. The tvo of us

kěyi hěqilai song yige huāquān.    can send a flower wreath together.

Ni kan ruhě?    What do you think?

A: Dāngrān hǎo....Ni zhīdao bu    Of course that would be good.... Do

zhidao tā mama nǎtiān chū bin?    you know what day his mother¹ s funeral

procession will be?

B: Xia Libaisān xiavm sāndiǎn.    Next Wednesday afternoon at 3.

A: Yāo zangzai nali?    Where is she going to be buried?

B: Yangmingshan Diyī Gōngmīi.    In Yangmingshan Public Cemetery No.

1.

A: Zenme qīi?    How do you get there?

B: Wo yě bu xiǎode. Fǎnzhěng    I don^ft know either. Anyvay,

dāo shihou women dā jichěngchē    when the time comes we^fll just take

q_u jiu shi le.    a cab there.

A: Xiǎng bu xiǎng xianzai qu    Do you want to go see Xiǎo Lǐ

kankan Xiǎo Lǐ?    now?

B: Bu xing. Wǒ jīntiān wanshang    I can’t. I’m busy tonight. you shiqing.

A: Najne mingtiān jian.    Then 1,11 see you tomorrow,

B: Mingtiān jian.    See you tomorrow.

PART工工

lk. Zāi Taiběi yǒu rěn rěnvei    In Taipei there are people who

Yangmingshan gongmu fēngshuǐ    "believe that the feng—shui in

hǎo.    Yangmingshan Cfemetery is good.

15.    Shěi dōu xīwang tāde zǐsǔn    Everyone hopes that his descendants

houdai fǎda.    will "be prosperous.

16.    Jiǎng.jiu fēngshuǐ hǎo "bu hǎo    To "be particular about whether the

haishi jiu ^uānnian•    fengshui is good or not is an old

way of thinking.

17.    Wo mǔqin bu mi xin, tā shuo    My mother isn¹1 superstitious; she

tǔzang, huo zang dōu kěyi.    says that either "burial or

cremation is okay.

18.    Women yidao qu Jilě Binylguǎn    Let^fs go to the Paradise Funeral

"ba!    Home together, okay?

19.    Wo kandao chū "binde rěn dadōu    工 saw that most of the people in the

zhǐ zāi shoubishang dai xiao.    funeral procession were only

wearing mourning on their arm.

20.    Wo conglai Idu chuān hui yifu.    工 never wear gray clothing.

21'. Kěren dōu yao zai qiānming"bu~    The guests are all supposed to sign

shang qiān ming, zhě shi    their name in a guest "book. This

womende xihuan.    is our custom.

NOTES ON PART 工工 Notes on No. Ik

renvěi: ^fto think (that)， to consider (that)， to "believe (that)¹• This is a very common verb used to express that someone has formed an opinion or made a judgment about a person or thing.

Wo rěnwěi zhě shi yige hen    工 think this is a very important

zhongyāode wěnti.    question.

W5 "bu rěnwěi nǐ yīnggāi zuo    工 don*t think you should do this.

zhějiān shi.

fēngshuǐ: Literally ^!vind and water¹， this means the geographical outlay of something to be built, such as a grave or the foundation of a house. The traditional Chinese science of fengshui, or geomancy, is concerned with the good and bad influences which the location of a grave or building are believed to exert over a family and its descendants. In particular, the dead are influenced by and able to influence the celestial bodies for the benefit of the living. Each family, therefore, is naturally interested in arranging the most auspicious placement for it’s family grave.

Zhěge fāngzide fengshui bu hao. The fengshui of this house is no good.

Zhělide fēngshuǐ bu cuo.    The fengshui here is pretty good.

Notes on No. 1^

zǐsūn： ¹ sons and grandsons¹, or used in a more general sense, ’offspring, descendants¹. For this example, you have to know that Huāngdi means ’the Yellow Emperor¹, a legendary ruler thought of as the father of Chinese civilization.

Zhōngguo rěn dōu shi Huāngdi-    The Chinese are all descendants of

de zisūn.    the Yellow Emperor.

houdai: •descendants, posterity, later generations ¹.

Womende houdai d5u yīnggāi jizhu Our descendants should all remember zhěijian shi!    this!

Tā měiyou houdai.    He is without descendants.

fādā: ^fto be prosperous, to be flourishing;-to be developed, to be well-developed*. For the first example, you need to know that gSngshāngyě means ¹ industry and commerce¹.

Meiguode gSngshāngyě fēichāng    America*s industry and commerce are

fādā.    very developed.

Zhěijiā rěnjiā hen fāda.    This family is prosperous.

Notes on No. 16    ,

,1 ian呙jiu: ^fto be particular about, to be meticulous about, to pay attention to, to strive for¹.

Zhěge rěn hen jiangjiu chī， hen This person is particular about what jiangjiu chuān.    he eats and what he wears.

Něige haizi tai jiangjiu chuān. That kid pays too much attention to

what she wears.

Jiǎngjiu can also mean * to be elegant*•

Nǐmen jiāde jiāju zhēn jiangjiu. Your furniture is truly elegant.

guānnian: ^fway of thinking, concept, notion, view, sense (of), mentality (of).    *

Meiguo rěnde guānniān gēn    Sometimes the American way of thinking

Zhongguo rěnde guānniān youde    and the Chinese way is the same,

yiyang, youde bū yiyāng.    sometimes not.

Nǐ kān "ba, zai guo jǐniān niān-    You watch, in more few years, it will qīngrěn yīnggāi wǎnlian wan- have become an accepted notion that hūn jiu hui biancheng yizhong young people should get involved guānniān. late and marry late.

Notes on No. 1了

mixin: ^fto be superstitious (about); superstition*.

Shāngchāode shihou Zhongguo rěn During the Shang Dynasty, the Chinese bǐjiāo mixin, xiānzāi bǐj iao    were relatively superstitious, now

bū mixin le.    they aren^ft so much any more.

Youde Zhōngguo rěn mixin fēng- Some Chinese are superstitious about shuǐ.    fengshui•

tǔzang: ¹to bury (a dead person)¹, literally ^fground-bury*. This word is used only in contrast to other ways of disposing of a dead body, for example cremation or burial at sea. 匚工f no contrast with other forms of disposal is implied, then the word for ^fto bury¹ is simply zang (for formal burials), mai (for informal burials), māizang, or anzang (literally ^fpeacefully bury¹ , a respectful term). II

Ēguo rěn shuōguo tāmen yao    The Russians said they wanted to

maizang Měiguo.    bury Americans.

huozang: *to cremate; cremation¹. In this word, you may think of zang ¹ to bury¹ as extended to mean ¹ to dispose of (a dead body) * . Huo means ¹fire¹.

Note on No. 18

yidao: ^ftogether¹. You have already learned yiqǐ and ylkuair for ¹together¹. Yidao is mostly used by speakers of southern Mandarin and is little used by northerners.

Yāohuā he tāde nupěngyou yidao Yao hua and his girlfriend went to kan dianyīngr qu le.    see a movie.

Hāizimen zāi yidao wānr.    The children are playing together.

Notes on No. 19

dad5u: ^ffor the most part, mostly¹. Another word with the same meaning which is probably used by more people than dad5u is daduō•

Zāi Yindu rěnmin dad5u (or    In India the people are mostly Hindu.

dadu5) xin Yindujiao.

ZhSngguo rěn dāduS shi nongmin. Chinese for the most part are rural

people.

shoubi: ^farm (from the wrist to the shoulder)，. Other words for used in different regions are gēbei and gēbo (Peking gēbe)_

Xiao Li gēbo shoule shāng,    Xiao Lǐ was hurt in the arm, and also

Xiǎo Wangde tui yě shoule    Xiao Wang was hurt in the leg. shang.

Gāngcai，wo bu xiaoxin pěngdao-    Just now 工 was careless and "bumped

le měnshang, dao xianzai    into the.door, and my arm still

shǒubī hai těng ne.    hurts now.

daixiao: ^fto wear mourning¹. Formerly, people wore certain types of clothes while in mourning (sackcloth or white from head to foot). Nowadays, customs differ widely, but some small item is usually still worn to indicate a death in the family. These include a white flower in the hair, a coarse cloth patch on the arm or in the hair, or a black armband.

Tā fuqin sile kuai sānnian le, Her father has been dead for almost tā hai daixiao ne!    three years and she is still wearing

mourning!

Notes on No. 20

conglai bu: ¹ never, never does".、 In the last unit, you saw the pattern conglai měi(you)，meaning ^fhave never...¹ or ^fhad never.■•，• Conglai means ’from the past up until now (it has always been this way)¹.

Wo conglai bū yuanyi zǎoshang    工 never want to study in the morning,

nian shū.

hui : 'to "be gray^!.

Zāi ZhSngguo daduōshu rěn dōu    The great majority of people in China

xihuan chuān lansě he huīsěde    like to wear blue or gray clothing,

yīfu.

Notes on No. 21

qiānmingbū; ¹ guest book¹, literally, ¹sign-name record book¹.

qiān ming:    ^fto sign one¹s name¹.

Qǐng ni zai    zhěli qiān ming.    Please sign here.

xiguan: ^fcustom, habit¹. The definition of xiguan in a Chinese dictionary reads: ^fbehavior, tendency, or social practice cultivated over a long period of time, and which is hard to change abruptly¹. Compare this with fēngsu ^fcustom¹， which you learned in Unit 1: ¹the sum total of etiquette, usual practices, etc. adhered to over a long period of time in the development of society¹•

Notice that xiguan may refer to the way of an individual or of a community, whereas fēngsu only refers to the way of a community.

Taipei:

An American student attending Taiwan    National University is talking

with a Chinese classmate and friend:

A: Tīngshuā Wang Lāoshīde fuqin    工 heard that Teacher Wang^fs father

qūshi le• Nǐ xiāng women shi    died. Do you think we should attend

fou gāi q_u cānjiā. sānglǐ?    the funeral?

B: Wo xiǎng women yingdāng qu.    工 think we ought to go.

A: TīngshuS sānglǐ zai Jilě    工 hear that the funeral is going to

Binyiguǎn jǔxing. Nǐ xiǎode    be held at the Paradise Funeral Home.

Jilě Binyiguǎn zai nali ma?    Do you know where that is?

B: Xiaode. Jiu zai Nanjing    Yes• it’s on Nanking East Road.

Dōnglīi.

A: Wo conglai měi cānjiāguo    never been to a Chinese funeral,

Zhongguo rěnde sānglǐ, bu    so 工 don’t know what special practices

zhīdao nǐmen you nǎxii guīju.    you have. Could you tell me about

Nǐ něng bu něng gēn wo    them? jiāngyijiǎng?

B: Kěyi. Xianzai yibān rěnde    Okay. These days the average person's

sānglǐ d5u hen jiandān, měiyou    funeral is very simple. There aren't

tāi duōde guīju. Būguo, nǐ    too many special customs. But you

bū yāo chuān h6ngde， lude,    shouldn't wear red, green, or multi-

huoshi huāde yīfu. Chuān    colored clothing. Black, gray, and

heide, huīde， iānde d5u kěyi.    blue would all be okay to wear. Most

Qu cānjiā sānglǐde rěn dādōu    people who attend a funeral send a

song wǎnlian huo huāquān. Wo    a funeral scroll or a flower wreath,

xiǎng women kěyi hěqilai song    工 think we could send a flower wreath

yige huāquān,    together•

A: Hao.    Okay.

B: Dāo binyiguǎnde shihou, nǐ    When you get to the funeral home, as

yi jin men jiu hui kandao    soon as you go in the door you'll see

zhuSzishang fāngzhe qianmingbu,    a guest book on the table. You should

nī yao zāi shāngmian qiān ming.    sign your name in it.

A: Ug. Wang Lāoshīde fuqin yao    Uh huh. Have you heard whether

tǔzang hāishi huozang, ni ting-    Teacher Wang^fs father is going to be

shu5 le ma?    buried or cremated?

B: Tīngshuō shi yao tǔzang.    工 heard he^fs going to be buried.

A: Yāo zangzai nali?    Where is he going to be buried?

B: Yao zangzai Yangmingshan    In Yangmingshan Public Cemetery,

Gongmu, yīnwei tāmen rěnwěi    because they believe that the

nalide fēngshuǐ hǎo, rěn    fengshui there is good， and that if

zangzai nali, tāde zǐsǔn    a person is buried there his

houdai jiu hui fādā.    descendants will be prosperous.

A: Taiwan xianzai yǒu xiē rěn    There are still some people in

hai you diǎn mixin, shi bu shi? . Taiwan who are a little superstitious,

aren^ft there?

B: Shide, būguo zhěxiē dōu shi    Yes. But these are all old notions.

jiu guānniān. Nianqīng rěn    For the most part, young people don¹t

dadōu bu jiangjiu zhěxiē le.    pay much attention to this kind of

thing any more.

A: Taiwan xianzai hai you dai    Does the custom of wearing mourning

xiaode xlguān ma?    still exist in Taiwan?

B: You. Nǐ měi kandao Wang    Yes. Didn¹t you see Teacher Wang,

tā shoubishang jiu daizhe    she^fs wearing mourning on her arm.

xiao ne. Yiqiānde rěn dai    Before, people had to wear mourning

xiao yao dai yiniān! Xianzaide    for a year! Now most people only

rěn duobān zhi dai yibǎitiān    wear it for a hundred days• le.

A: Mingtiān women shenme shihou    What time shall we go there

qu?    tomorrow?

B: Xiawu yidian zhōng wǒ zāi    工 ^fll wait for you at the gate of

TāiDa měnkǒu děng ni, women    Taiwan University at one o*clock， and

yidao qu.    we can go together.

A: Hǎo.    Okay.

NOTE ON THE DIALOGUE

Funeral procedures in the PRC today are very simple. In the interest of sanitation (bodies might have some communicable disease) and economy (ground burials are expensive and consume government agricultural land)， deceased city residents are required to be cremated. By government regulation the immediate family is allowed two days of paid leave，sang .1 ia.

The funeral involves someone saying a few kind words about the deceased in the presence of relatives and people from his work unit• Those present are dressed plainly, bearing a white flower. Ashes are placed in carved wood or porcelain boxes in a sǔhui cunfangchu, a building reserved for this purpose. It is not necessary to give anything to the family of the deceased

but people sometimes give money or other small items. In the countryside, there might be a large feast at the deceased’s home. There is an attitude which says a funeral is a time of gladness vhen the deceased enters the world of the non-living. [A funeral is a "white joyous event,” bai xīshi. A vedding is a "red event." Together they are sometimes referred to as h$ngbai xīshi, red and white joyous events.]

Vocabulary

binyiguǎn    funeral home

chū bin    to hold a funeral procession

conglai bu    never

conglai dōu    always (in the past)

conglai měi    have never

dā    travel by, take (a taxi, bus , train,

airplane, etc,)

dadōu    for the most part

dai xiao    to wear mourning

fāda    to be developed> to "be prosperous

fǎnzhěng    anyway, in any case

fēngshuǐ    the Chinese science of geomancy

(that is, the influence of landscape on people and their fortunes

gāi    should, ought to

gongmu    public cemetery

guānniān    concept， notion, view

guīju    special customs， established rules

hěqilai    to combine, to join together

houdai    descendants

huā    to be multicolored

huāquān    flower wreath

hui    to be gray

huo    or

huozang    cremation

jiangjiu    to be particular about; to be

elegant, to be tasteful

Jilě Binyiguǎn    Paradise Funeral Home (in Tapei)

jiu shi le    •••， that’s all

māma    mother, moni

mixin    to "be superstitious; superstition

nā (nāli, nǎr)    how (used in rhetorical questions to

deny something)

qiān ming    to sign one’s name

qiānmingbu    guest book

rěnwěi    to think that, to believe that

ruhě    how, in what way; hov (someone or

something) is; how is it (literary form)

shi fou    (literary form meaning shi bu shi)

shoubi    arm

si    to die

tǔzang    burial (the word used in contrast to

cremation or burial at sea)

vanlian    funeral scroll

xiaode    to know

xiguan    habit， custom

Yangmingshan    a mountain in suburban Taipei

yidao    together

zhi yao    as long as, if only

_z ǐsun    descendants

Vocabulary

bǐcǐ    each other, mutually

"bǐjiao ("bǐjiao) 比较    relatively， comparatively

bū dan    not only

bu shǎo 不少    a lot, many

chěng    to become, to constitute, to make

chěngshi 城市    city

danshi    but

ěrqiě    而且    furthermore

fēngqi    凡气    common practice

fēngsu    custom

fūfu 大U    married couple, husband and wife

gǎibian    to change

he *^CI    with; and

hui    might, to be likely to, will

jiěhūn (jiěhūn)    to get married

jiějuě    to solve

jīngguo    to go through, to pass by or through

jinian 乡已念^    memento, memorial

kǎolu 考處    to consider; consideration

kě 呀    indeed, really

kě "bu shi ma! 可不是吗    工*11 say, yes indeed, that’s for sure

lian^i    to be romantically involved with

liǎojiě (liāojie)    了鮮 to understand; understanding

lihūn    to divorce

lǐwu (lǐwu) 札物    gift, present

nānjiā(r) 男家    the husband's family

nannu ^    male and female

něnggou 能够    can, to "be able to

nianq.īng 年径    to be young

nongcūn 农村    rural area， countryside

nūjiā(r)    the wife¹s family

null    力    to be hardworking, to be diligent;

73 ^    diligently, hard

qingnian    ■年    youth, young person

qīnqi    $    relatives

qūbiě    区多¹J    difference, distinction

shixing    to practice, to carry out (a method, ^ policy, plan, reform, etc.)

shuāngfāng 认方    both sides, both parties

song    to give (something as a gift)

tan qīn ^■系半    to visit family

tanqīnjia    leave for visiting family

tichāng    to advocate, to promote, to initiate

vǎnlian vanhūn    late involvement and late marriage

xiāngdāng    quite, pretty, very

xǔduo 午多    many; a great deal (of)，a lot (of)

yingdāng 应当    should, ought to

yishi    ceremony

yizhi 一    all along, all the time (up until

a certain point)

zhěngfǔ    government

zhūdao 住到    to move to, to go live at

zǒngshi    灸    always

zuo 政/f    to serve as, to act as; as

Vocabulary

ai    (sound of sighing)

dāxide rizi 犬备的曰手    wedding day

daying    to agree (to something), to consent,

自to promise

du    to pass

du miyuě    ^ 0    to go on a honeymoon, to spend one¹ s

入"多 J    honeymoon

duōnian 多年    many years

fayuān    court of law

FS佛    Buddha

fuzā (fuza) rm    to "be complicated

gongzhěng jiěhūn    civil marriage

hai    even, (to go) so far as to

hāishi 遠足    after all

houlāi 後來    later, afterwards

hui men    the return of the bride to her

parents' home (usually on the third day after the wedding)

hūnlī mt    wedding

jiaotang    church

jiāowǎng    to associate with, to have dealings

丨    with

Jīdūjiao 凑督狄    Christianity

jiěhūn lǐfu    wedding gown

jieshaorěn 介■、絲人    introducer

juěding 决定    to decide

jǔxing 才十    to hold (a meeting，ceremony, etc.)

Jūzhǎng    head of an office or bureau (of

^d    which the last syllable is jū)

laoshi (lǎoshī)老to "be honest

nmnyx 滿意    to be pleased

miyuě 蜜    honeymoon

nānfāng ^ ^    the groom's side，the groom¹ s family

něnggan 能幹    to be capable

rěn    person, self, body

ru xi    to take one^fs seat (at a gathering，

'    meeting, or banquet)

shāngjin 上遂    to be ambitious

shou    to be familiar (with), to know well

tandao    to talk about; speaking of ...

tānlai tanqu 談來跋去    to discuss back and forth

tlqīn iAM    to bring up a proposal of marriage

xiaojiě (xiāojie)    、士a way of referring to someone else *s

daughter

xǐjiǔ    wedding banquet

xin J言    to "believe (in)

xin Fo    to be a Buddhist

xīnlāng 新郎    bridegroom

xīnniang 新碌    "bride

yě 也    indeed, in fact, admittedly

yijian    opinion

zǎo    long ago

zhěnghūn    to witness a marriage

zhěnghūnrěn fiS皆人    a witness for a marriage

zū    to rent

zuo měi 政媒    to act as go-between (for the

families of a man and woman considering marriage)

Vocabulary

biyun    contraception

bu tong 不同    to be different

chǎnfu 产文立    a woman who has given birth within

the last month

chanjia 户攸    maternity leave

chěnggong 成功    to succeed, to be successful

.chūshenglu 出生率    birth rate

dānwěi    unit

-dao    I    (indicates successful accomplishment

^J    of something)

dědao    to receive, to get

fēnpěi    to assign，to apportion

gědī    the various places, each place

gěgě 各乂f    various

gēnju (gēnju) mk    according to， based on

gězhong Ht    various kinds， types

gōngzī    wages, pay

hongtang    brovn sugar

jia    vacation, leave

jiāting    fami ly

jihua shēngyu    planned parenthood, family planning

juěyu #^>胃    sterilization

jūmin wěiyuānhui 音氏娄员^the neighborhood committee of the

place you live

kongzhi    to control

-腦们    plural suffix

miānfěi-    ^{to be free of cha}^ge

ming’ě    the number of people assigned or

allowed, q_uota (of people)

nongmin    peasant

rm    female

pāichǔsuo(r) 浓ilj所    the local police station

pīzhǔn 扣匕在    to give official permission

135

qingkuang 十青/j\^    ^s ituat ion

qīnjin    to be close (to a person)

rengong liuchǎn 人工流产    abortion

sān tSngguo    "the three approvals"

shāoshu minzu 少麩嫌    national minority

shēngyu 生 f    give birth to and raise

shibai 失武    to fail

shiqū 辛Ě    urban area or district

shoushu    operation, surgery

shǒuxiān 考先    first

shumu 麩S    number

tōngguo 通迷    to pass, to approve

tongyi    to consent, to agree

wānju    toy

xiāngxin 相竹    to believe

xiānhuā    fresh flowers

xiǎohair 小孩儿/    child, children

yě jiu shi shu5    to mean; in other words

yi"ban    ordinary, general, common

yibānde shuō 一數地说    generally speaking

yiding    to "be specific

yingyǎngpīn    food items of special nutritional

value

zēngjiā    a    to increase

Vocabulary

-"bang 4旁    pound (unit of weight)

bīngxiāng    • refrigerator，ice box

bu gǎn dāng ^    I’^m filtered! You. shouldn't have!

chī nai    to nurse, to suckle

chuī fěng    to have air blow on oneself; to be

in a draft

dāngxīn    丨^1»、    to watch out

de    to get

duo kuai!    how fast I

erduo At    ear

fēngshī 風洛、    rheumatism

fuqi ^$1^,    blessings, luck

fūxiang il相    lucky physiognomy

hongbāo 表i ^_t    a red envelope with a gift or bribe

of money in it

hongdan    eggs dyed red

huīfu    to recover

jiěguo (jieguǒ)    as a result

mǎnyuě    a full month after the birth of a

mǎnyuějiǔ 滿J湳    celebration meal one month after a

baby is born

pang    to be fat

pěng    to touch

pofei 破f    to spend a lot of money on someone

qiānwan    切 all means, be sure to; (in a ^ negative sentence) by no means,

under no circumstances

shěnglěng 生冷    raw or cold foods

shēngxialai 生下表    to be born

sūnzi m    grandson

-tāi    台    fetus，embryo

tang    to lie down

tongkǔ 痛苦    to be painful

touyige    the first

touyitāi 越-j抬    the first pregnancy, the first baby

tuō ninde fū    thanks to your lucky influence

Wang jiā 王f    ^{the Wang f31111 ly}

wěi    乞。

xiao baobao    baby

xiaoxin 小 <、    ^{to be} careful

xi fu    命    daughter-in-law

yixiazi 一 7手    an instant, a moment, a while

yuězi 月各    month of confinement after giving

birth to a child

zhang    to grow; to be (pretty, etc.)

zhong 重    to be heavy

zuo yuězi 里j手    to go through the month of confinement

Vocabulary

an xīn    iV^^N    to be without worry, to feel at ease,

to feel relieved

bǎozhong ^to take good care (of oneself)

běnlai 麥束    originally

bingqiě iL且    moreover

cānjiā    to take part in; to attend

chāngshou    long life, longevity; to live a long

P、ī    time

chūchāi 出差    to be out of town on business

dǎ changtū dianhua 打長遂4詁 to make a long-distance phone call dagē 大斧    oldest brother

diaosāng    to present one^fs condolences at a

funeral, to attend a funeral

ěrnii ^*3^    children

fan    to have an attack (of a disease)

gandeshang    to be able to catch up, to be able

d    to make it in time

gǎnhuilai    to rush back

gǎnjǐn m    quickly

gǔhuī 脅反    "bone ashes

guoqu 逷去    to pass away

guoshi 通&    to pass away

V ^

huo zang    to cremate; cremation

hūran    suddenly

jiānglai    the future, someday

jijiu ,令、扣C    first aid; to administer emergency

treatment

j iuguolai    ^{to save}

laorěnjia 老人家    polite way of referring to an older

person (nǐ lǎorěn.jiǎ^ tā lǎorěn.jiǎ)

-liao 了    can, to be able to

nānguo    to be sad

nianji (nianji) 斗紀    age

pingjing 手辨    to be calm

qūbuliǎo    cannot go

qūshi    to pass away

sānglǐ    funeral

shāngxīn 傷•&、    ^{to be} grieved

shenbian Jn    one^fs vicinity, one^ immediate

surroundings

song

to escort, to take (someone to a place)

xiāoxi 〉肖 I 良、    news

xīnzang    heart

xīnzang'bing    heart disease

yiběizi    ^{a11 onets life}

yixiang 一切    (have) always, (had) always,

consistently, all along

zāi shu5 HXj    furthermore, besides

zang    to bury

zuijin    recently

zumǔ 姐母    grandmother (on the father's side)

Vocabulary

"binyiguǎn 續4義fl    funeral home

chu bin    七玄蓄    to hold a funeral procession; a

^ !k    funeral procession

conglai    always (in the past)

conglai tu/mei    人 never

dā 打    travel by, take (a taxi, "bus, train,

airplane, etc.)

dadōu    for the most part

dai xiao 常孝    to wear mourning

fāda    to "be developed, to "be prosperous

fǎnzhěng 义正    anyway, in any case

fēngshuǐ    the Chinese science of geomancy

(that is， the influence of landscape on people and their fortunes)

gāi    should, ought to

g5ngmu    public cemetery

guānniān    concept, notion, view

gui ju    special customs, established rules

hěqilai 姨束    to combine, to join together

houdai 後代    descendants

huā 4JC    to "be multicolored

huāquān    flower wreath

hui    to be gray

huo 或    or

huozāng 火葬    cremation

jiangjiu    to be particular about

Jilě Binyiguǎn 極_.    Paradise Funeral Home (in Tapei)

jiu shi le 就足1    ...,that¹s all

māma    mother, mom

mixin    to be superstitious; superstition

nǎ (nali, nǎr)芳P (核    ) ^how (^{used in} rhetorical questions to

*    厂 I U    deny something)*

qiān ming    to sign one's name

qiānmingbu    guest book

rěnwěi    to think that, to believe that

ruhě    to "be how, how is it; how, in what

way (literary form)

shī fou    （literary form meaning shī bu shi)

shoubi 斗臂    arm

sǐ    to die

tǔzang    ^6    burial (the word used in contrast to

cremation or burial at sea)

vanlian    funeral scroll

xiǎode    to know

xiguan 智 *1^    habit，custom

Yangmingshan 陽明山    a mountain in suburban Taipei

yidao 一 讀    together

yingdāng    should, ought to

zhǐ yāo    as long as, if only zǐsūn descendants

Vocabulary

ai    (sound of sighing)    MBD 2

ānxīn    to be without worry, to feel at    MBD 5

ease, to feel relieved

-bang    pound (unit of weight)    MBD k

bǎobao (bǎobao) baby, darling (term of endear-    MBD k

ment for a young child)

bǎozhong    to take good care (of oneself)    MBD 5

"běnlai    originally    MBD 5

bǐcǐ    each other, mutually; you too,    MBD 1

the same to you

bǐjiao (bǐjiǎo) relatively， comparatively;    MBD 1

fairly, rather

bingqiě    moreover, and    MBD 5

bīngxiāng    refrigerator, ice box    MBD k

binyiguǎn    funeral home    MBD 6

biyun    contraception    MBD 3

bu dan    not only    MBD 1

bu gǎn dāng    I’m flattered, You shouldn’t    MBD k

have,工 don’t deserve this

bu shǎo    quite a lot, quite a few    MBD 1

bu tong    to be different    MBD 3

cānjiā    to take part in; to attend    MBD 5

chǎnfu    a woman who has given birth    MBD 3

within the last month

chāngshou    long life, longevity; to live    MBD 5

a long time

chanjia    maternity leave    MBD 3

chěng    to become, to constitute,    MBD 1

to make

chěnggōng    to succeed, to be successful    MBD 3

chěngshi    city    MBD 1

chī nai    to nurse, to suckle    MBD k

chū bin    to hold a funeral procession    MBD 6

chūchāi    to be out of town on business    MBD 5

chuī fēng    to have air blow on oneself;    MBD k

to be in a draft

chūshenglu    birth rate    MBD 3

conglai bu    never    MBD 6

conglai d5u    always (in the past)    MBD 6

conglai měi    have never    MBD 6

dā    travel "by, take (a taxi, "bus,    MBD 6

train, airplane, etc,)

dǎ chāngtu dianhua to make a long-distance    MBD 5

phone call

dādōu    for the most part    MBD 6

dāgě    oldest brother    "MBD 5

dai xiao    to wear mourning    MBD 6

dāngxīn    to watch out    MBD k

danshi    but    .MBD 1

dānvěi    unit    MBD 3 〜

-dao    (indicates successful    MBD 3

accomplishment of something)

dāxǐ    great rejoicing    MBD 2

daxǐde rizi    vedding day    MBD 2

dāying    to agree (to something), to    MBD 2

consent, to promise

dě    to get    MBD k

dědao    to receive, to get    MBD 3

diaosāng    to present one’s condolences    MBD 5

at a funeral

dū    to pass    MBD 2

dū miyuě    to go on a honeymoon, to spend    MBD 2

one's honeymoon

duo kuāi!    how fast!    MBD k

du5niān    many years    MBD 2

erduo    ^v    ear    MBD h

ěrnii    children    MBD 5

ěrqiě    furthermore    MBD 1

fāda    to "be developed, to "be    MBD 6

prosperous

fan    to have an attack (of an old    MBD 5

disease)

fǎnzhěng    anyway, in any case    MBD 6

fǎyuaji    court of law    MBD 2

fēngqi    common practice; general mood    MBD 1

fēngshī    rheumatism    MBD h

fēngshuǐ    the Chinese science of geomancy MBD 6

(that is, the influence of landscape on people and their fortunes)

fēngsu    custom    MBD 1

fēnpěi    to assign, to apportion, to    MBD 3

allot

Fo Buddha    MBD 2

fūfu married couple， husband    MBD 1

and wife

fuqi blessings, luck    MBD k

fuxiang lucky physiognomy    MBD k

fuza (fuza) to be complicated    MBD 2

gāi should, ought to    MBD 6

gaibian to change    MBD 1

gandeshang to be able to catch up， to    be MBD 5

able to maJce it in time

ganhuilai to rush back    MBD 5

gǎnjǐn quickly    MBD 5

gědi the various places, each place    MBD 3

gěgě various    MBD 3

gēnju (gēnju) according to， based on    MBD 3

gězhong various kinds， types    MBD 3

gSngmu public cemetery    MBD 6

gSngzhěng jiěhūn civil marriage    MBD 2

gSngzī wages, pay    MBD 3

guānniān concept, notion, view    MBD 6

gǔhuī bone ashes    MBD 5

guīju special customs, established    MBD 6

rules

guoqu to pass away, to die    MBD 5

guoshi to pass away, to die    MBD 5

hai even，(to go) so far as to    MBD 2

hāishi after all    MBD 2

he with; and    MBD 1

hěqilai to combine, to join    MBD 6

together

hongbāo a red envelope with a gift    or MBD k

bribe of money in it

hongdan eggs dyed red    MBD k

hongtang brown sugar    MBD 3

houdai descendants    MBD 6

houlai later, afterwards    MBD 2

huā to "be multicolored    MBD 6

huāquān flower wreath    MBD 6

huī to be gray    MBD 6

hui might, to be likely to, will    MBD 1

hui men the return of the bride to her    MBD 2

parents^f home (usually on the third day after the wedding)

huīfu    to recover    MBD k

hūnlī    wedding    MBD 2

huo    or    MBD 6

huozang    to cremate; cremation    MBD 5

huozāng    cremation    MBD 6

hūran    suddenly    MBD 5

jiā    vacation, leave    MBD 3

jiangjiu    to be particular about; to be    MBD 6

elegant, to be tasteful

jiānglai    the future， someday    MBD 5

jiaotang    church    MBD 2

jiāowǎng    to associate with, to have    MBD 2

dealings with

jiāting    family    MBD 3

Jīdūjiao    Christianity    MBD 2

jiěguo (jiěguo)    as a result; result, results    MBD U

jiěhūn (jiēhǔn)    to get married    MBD 1

jiěhūn lǐfu    wedding gown    MBD 2

jiějuě    to solve    MBD 1

jieshaorěn    introducer    MBD 2

jihua shēngyu    planned parenthood, family    MBD 3

planning

jijiu    first aid; to administer    MBD 5

emergency treatment

Jilě Binyiguǎn    Paradise Funeral Home    MBD 6

(in Taipei)

jīngguo    to go through, to pass by or    MBD 1

through

jinian    memento, memorial    MBD 1

jiu shi le    •••，that¹ s all    MBD 6

jiuguolai    to save    MBD 5

juěding    to decide    MBD 2

juěyu    sterilization    MBD 3

jumin wěiyuānhui neighborhood committee    MBD 3

jǔxing    to hold (a meeting, ceremony,    MBD 2

etc.)

Jūzhǎng    head of an office or bureau (of MBD 2

which the last syllable is jū)

kǎolū    to consider; consideration    MBD 1

kě    indeed, really    MBD 1

kě bū shi ma    1*11 say, yes indeed, that¹s    MBD 1

for sure

kongzhi    to control    MBD 3

."-lāi .. .-qu (indicates repeating the action    MBD 2

over and over again)

lǎorěnjia polite way of addressing or    MBD 5

referring to an old person ni lǎorěn.jiǎ, ta lǎorěnjia)

laoshi (laoshi) to be honest    MBD 2

liān^fāi to be romantically involved    MBD 1

with; love

-liao can， to be able to    MBD 5

liǎojiě (liāojie) to understand; understanding    MBD 1

lihūn to get divorced    MBD 1

lǐwu (lǐwu) gift, present    MBD 1

māma mother, mom    MBD 6

manyī to be pleased    MBD 2

mǎnyuě a full month after the birth    MBD k

of a baby

mǎnyuějiǔ celebration meal one month    MBD k

after a baby is born

-men plural suffix    MBD 3

miǎnfei to be free of charge    MBD 3

ming^?ě the number of people assigned    MBD 3

or allowed, quota (of people)

mixin to be superstitious;    MBD 6

superstition

miyuě honeymoon    MBD 2

nǎ (nāli, nǎr) how (used in rhetorical ques-    MBD 6

tions to deny something)

nānfāng the groom^?s side, the groc n^?s    MBD 2

family

nānguo to be sad    MBD 5

nānjiā(r) the husband^?s family    MBD 1

nānnu male and female    MBD 1

něnggan to be capable    MBD 2

něnggou can, to be able to    MBD 1

nianji (nianji) age    MBD 5

nianqīng to be young    MBD 1

nongcūn rural area, countryside    MBD 1

nongmin peasant    MBD 3

nū female    MBD 3

nujiā(r) the wife¹ s family    MBD 1

nǔli to be hardworking, to be    MBD 1

dilieent: diligently, hard

pāichūsuǒ(r) the local police station    MBD 3

pang to be fat    MBD k

pěng to touch    MBD k

pingjīng to be calm    MBD 5

pizhǔn to give official permission    MBD 3

pofei to spend a lot of money (on    IviBD U

someone), to go to some expense

qiān ming to sign one’s name    MBD 6

qiānmingbu guest book .    MBD 6

qiānwan by all means, be sure to; (in    MBD U

combination with a negative vord) by no means, under no circumstances

qingkuang situation    MBD 3

qingnian youth, young person    MBD 1

qīnjin to be close (to a person)    MBD 3

qīnqi relatives    MBD 1

qūbiě difference₉ distinction    MBD 1

qūbuliao cannot go    MBD 5

qushī to pass away, to die    MBD 5

rěn person, self, body    MBD 2

rěnF^ng liuchǎn abortion    MBD 3

r^.iwěi to think that, to believe that    MBD 6

ru xi to take one’s seat (at a gather-    MBD 2

ing, meeting, or banquet)

ruhě how, in what way; how (someone    MBD 6

or something) is; how is...?, how is it (literary form)

san tōngguo "the three approvals"    MBD 3

sānglǐ funeral    MBD 5

shāngjin to be ambitious    MBD 2

shāngxīn to be grieved, to be sorrowful,    MBD 5

to be broken-hearted

shǎoshu mlnzū minority nationality, national    MBD 3

minority

shēnbiān one’s vicinity, one’s immediate    MBD 5

surroundings

shēnglěng raw or cold foods    MBD 4

shēngxialai to be born    MBD k

shēngyu    to give "birth to and raise    MBD 3

shi fou    (literary form meaning shi bu    MBD 6

shi)

shibai    to fail    MBD 3

shiqū    urban area or district    MBD 3

shixing    to practice, to carry out    MBD 1

(a method, policy, plan, reform, etc.)

shou (shu)    to be familiar (with), to    MBD 2

know well

shoubi    arm    MBD 6

shoushu    operation, surgery    MBD 3

shǒuxiān    first    MBD 3

shū (shou)    to be familiar (with), to know

well

shuāngfāng    both sides, both parties    MBD 1

shumu    number    MBD 3

sǐ    to die    MBD 6

song    to give (something as a gift)-    MBD 1

song    to escort, to take (someone to    MBD 5

a place)

sūnzi    grandson    MBD k

—tāi    birth    MBD k

tan qīn    to visit family    MBD 1

tandao    to talk about; speaking of .. .    MBD 2

tang    to lie, to recline    MBD k

tanlai tanqu    to talk back and forth    MBD 2

tanqīn    to visit relatives (usually    MBD 1

means immediate family)

tanqīnjia    leave for visiting family    MBD 1

tichāng    to advocate, to promote,    MBD 1

to initiate

tlqīn    to bring up a proposal of    MBD 2

marriage

tSngguo    to pass, to approve    MBD 3

tongkǔ    to be painful    MBD k

tongyi    to consent, to agree    MBD 3

touyige    the first    MBD k

tou(yi )tāi    the first pregnancy, the first    MBD k

baby

tuō ninde fū    thanks to your lucky influence,    MBD k

many thanks

tǔzang    burial (the word used in con-    MBD 6

trast to cremation or burial at sea)

Wang jiā    the Wang family, the Wangs    MBD U

wanju    toy    MBD 3

wanliān    funeral scroll    MBD 6

vanlian wǎnhūn    late involvement and late    MBD 1

marriage

věi    to feed    *MBD k

xiānhuā    fresh flowers    MBD 3

xiāngdāng    quite, pretty, very    MBD 1

xiāngxin    to believe    MBD 3

xiǎo bǎobao    baby, darling (term of endear- MBD U

ment for a young child)

xiaode    to know    MBD 6

xiǎohair    child, children    MBD 3

xiǎojiě (xiāojie)    daughter (referring to someone MBD 2

else¹s daughter)

xiāoxi    news    MBD 5

xiaoxin    to be careful    MBD U

xifu    daughter-in-law    MBD h

xiguan    habit, custom    MBD 6

xǐ jiǔ    wedding banquet; vedding wine    MBD 2

xin    to believe (in)    MBD 2

xin Fo    to be a Buddhist    MBD 2

xīnlang    bridegroom    MBD 2

xīnniang    bride    MBD 2

xinzāng    heart    MBD 5

xinzāngbing    heart disease    MBD 5

xǔduo    many, a great deal (of)，    MBD 1

a lot (of)

Yangmingshan    a mountain in surburban Taipei    MBD 6

yě    - indeed, in fact, admittedly    MBD 2

yě jiu shi shuo    to mean; in other words    MBD 3

yibān    ordinary, general, common    MBD 3

yibānde shuo    generally speaking    MBD 3

yiběizi    all one¹s life    MBD 5

yidao    together    MBD 6

yiding    to be specific    MBD 3

yijian    opinion    MBD 2

yingdāng    should, ought to    MBD 1

yingyǎngpīn    food items of special    MBD 3

nutritional value

ylshi    ceremony    MBD 1

yixiang    (have) always, (had) always,    MBD 5

consistently, all along

yixiazi    an instant, a moment, a while    MBD U

yizhi    all along， all the time (up    MBD 1

until a certain point)

yuězi    month of confinement after    MBD b

giving birth to a child

zai shu5    furthermore, besides    MBD 5

zang    to bury    MBD 5

zāo    long ago    MBD 2

zēngjiā    to increase    MBD 3

zhang    to grov; to be (pretty, etc.)    MBD b

zhěngfǔ    government    MBD 1

zhěnghūn    to witness a marriage    ,    MBD 2

zhěnghūnrěn    chief witness at a wedding    MBD 2

ceremony

zhǐ yao    as long as, if only    MBD 6

zhong    to be heavy    MBD h

zhu dao    , to move to, to go live at    MBD 1

zǐsǔn    descendants    MBD 6

zǒngshi    always    MBD 1

zu    to rent    MBD 2

zuijin    recently; soon    MBD 5

zǔmǔ    grandmother (on the father^Ts    MBD 5

side)

zuo    to serve as, to act as; as    MBD 1

zuo měi    to act as go-between (for the    MBD 2

families of a man and woman considering marriage)

zuo yuězi    to go through the month of    MBD h

confinement and special care .after childbirth