Student Textbook

FSI - Standard Chinese - Module 08 TVL - Student Text and Workbook Foreign Service Institute CM 0310 S STANDARD CHINESE A Modular Approach MODULE 8: TRAVELING IN CHINA STUDENT TEXT AND WORKBOOK SPONSORED BY AGENCIES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADIAN GOVERNMENTS This publication is to be used primarily in support of training military personnel as part of the Defense Language Program (resident and nonresident). Inquiries concerning the use of materials, including requests for copies, should be addressed to: Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center Nonresident Instruction Division Presidio of Monterey, CA 93940 Topics in the areas of politics, international relations, mores, etc., which may be considered as controversial from some points of view are sometimes included in language training for DLIFLC students, since military personnel may find themselves in positions where clear understanding of conversations or written material of this nature will be essential to their mission. The presence of controversial statements—whether real or apparent—in DLIFLC materials should not be construed as representing the opinions of the writers, of the Defense Language Institute, or of the Department of Defense. In DLIFLC publications, the words ”he,” “him,” and “his” denote both masculine and feminine genders. This statement does not apply to translations of foreign language texts. DRAFT EDITION JULY 1982

Asking how to address someone: If you are not sure how to address someone, it is usually acceptable to ask the person himself. Most Chinese recognize that they have a complicated system of terms of address, and are happy to answer such questions. chenghu: “to address” or “form of address” Kuài gàosu wo, wǒ gāi zěnme chēnghu nǐde fùmǔ ne? Quick tell me: how should I address your parents? Xiàng “Xiǎo Wáng,” “Lǎo Zāng” zhèizǒng chēnghu xiànzài hěn liúxíng le. Forms of address like “Xiǎo Wáng” and “Lǎo Zhāng” are now very common. … hǎo ne?: “Would it be best to . . . ?” Wǒmen zěnme chēnghu nín acts as the subject of the verb hǎo. Here is a diagram: Wǒmen zěnme chēnghu nín hǎo ne? [For] us to address you how [would] be good? “How would it be best for us to address you?” For sentences with a similar structure, compare 2A and 8A below. Here sure three further examples: Zěnme zuò hǎo? What should I do? Zěnme chī hǎo ne? How should it be cooked (lit., “eaten”)? Wǒ zhēn bù zhīdào gàosu ta hǎo ne, háishi bú. gàosu ta hǎo? I really don't know whether I should tell him or not. Cānguān, literally, “enter-look,” and fǎngwèn. literally, “visit-interview,” are both sometimes translated as “to visit,” but there an important difference in their meaning: you cānguān a place (like a museum), but you fǎngwèn people. Thus, cānguān is translated as “visit and observe,” and fǎngwèn as ”visit and talk with.” By extension, you can also fǎngwèn a place, but this implies a formal visit to a country or visits to factories or offices where the visitors have a chance to talk with the responsible people and workers. In addition, fǎngwèn also sometimes translates the English verb “to interview.” Examples: Wǒ bù xǐhuan cānguān zhèiyangde dìfang, wǒ xiāng cānguān gòngchāng. I don’t like to visit this kind of place. I want to visit a factory. Duìbuqǐ xiānsheng, zhèli shi jūnshì dìqǔ, bù kéyi cānguān. I'm sorry, sir. This is a military zone; sightseeing is not permitted. Qùnián wǒ zài Zhōngguó fǎngwènle liǎngge gànbu jiātíng. Last year in China I visited tvo cadres’ families. Zài liǎngge xīngqīlǐ, tāmen fǎngvènle liùge chéngshì. They visited six cities in two weeks. (Implies that they talked with city officials.) Zhè zhēn shi yícì yǒu yìside fǎngwèn. This was really an interesting visit. Zuótiān tāmen qù fǎngwènle yíwèi yǒu míngde Zhōngguó xuézhě. Yesterday they vent to interview a famous Chinese scholar.

The structure of sentence 2A, which is similar to that of 1A, can be diagrammed this way: Zhèijiàn shì , zěnme ānpái bǐjiǎo hǎo? [As for] this matter how arrange [would be] comparatively better? ānpái: “to arrange,” “to set up” Tā zongshi bǎ shíjiān ānpáide hěn hǎo. He always arranges his time well. Nǐ xiān bǎ zhuōzi ānpaihǎo, kèren kuài lái le. First arrange the tables; the guests will be here soon. Tā Sānyuè yǐqián jiu bú zài zhèr, bèi ānpái dào biéde dìfang qu le. He had left here even before March, having been assigned to another location. bǐjiǎo or bǐjiào: “Comparatively,” “relatively,” “more” is the meaning in sentence 2A. bǐjiǎo also has the following meanings: “to compare”: Yàoshi bījiào zhè li&ngge chéng-shì, w8 háishi xīhuan Hāngzhōu. If you compare these two cities, I prefer Hángzhòu. Wǒmen kéyi bǐjiǎo yixià shéi zuòde hǎo. We can compare who did it better. “fairly,” “rather” Jīntiān bǐjiào lěng, duō chuān diǎnr yīfú. It’s rather cold today, put on some clothing. Context will often tell you whether bǐjiǎo as an adverb implies a comparison (in which case it should be translated as “comparatively,” “relatively,” or (in which case it should be translated “more”) or does not imply a comparison as “rather” or “fairly”). Tā shi bǐjiǎo ài jiǎng huàde rén. He is a rather talkative person. Zhèi liǎngge bànfa, něige bǐjiǎo yǒu xiào? Of these two methods, which is more effective? Dìèrge bànfa bǐjiǎo yǒu xiào. The second is more effective. Cóng zhèr dào chéngli qù, zuò dìtiě bǐjiǎo kùài yidiǎnr. To go into the city from here, it’s somewhat faster by subway. Shànghǎi fāngmian: Literally, “the Shànghái side,” meaning the concerned party in Shànghái. In this sentence, the best English translation is simply “Shànghái.” For more examples of this use of fāngmian, see the Society module, Unit 1, Notes on No. 8. liánxì: “to contact,” “to get in touch with,” or as a noun, “connection,” “ties.” liánxì can be between individual people, groups, or phenomena: Wǒmen yǐjīng yǒu liǎngsānniān meíyǒu liānxì le, bù zhīdào tā zuìjìn zěnmeyàng. We haven’t been in touch for two or three years. I wonder how he has been lately. Zhèi liǎngge wèntí méiyou shenme liánxì. There's no connection between these two questions. Zhèixiē nián lái, Zhōng-Měi liǎngguóde liánxì yuè lái yuè guǎng le. In the past few years, ties between China and the U.S. have been getting broader and broader. liánxì yíxià: Yíxià here is used the same way as in a sentence you learned in the Meeting module, Unit 8: Wǒ tì nǐ zhuǎngào yíxià, “I will pass on the message for you.” Yíxià means “one time,” and simply adds a casual feeling, similar to the effect of reduplicating a verb. (Yíxià here is not translated as “a while” or “a little bit.”) Reduplicating the verb has about the same meaning: liánxì lianxi. Děng , . zài shuō literally means “Wait until ... and then talk about it?” Zài shuō is often better translated as “see about it” or “deal with it.” Děng can sometimes be translated simply as “when.” Míngtiān zài shuō. We’ll see about that tomorrow. Děng tā láile zài shuō. We’ll see about that when he gets here. Wǒmen xiān shìshi kàn zài shuō. Let’s try it out first and then see about it.

-dài: “zone,” “area,” “belt” The original meaning of dài is a belt or band, as in pídài, “leather belt,” lùyīndài, “recording tape,” and xiédài. “shoelaces.” It is easy to see why it has also come to mean “belt” in a geographical sense, and by extension, “zone” or “area.” -Dài is used in such words as rèdài (literally “hot-zone”) “the tropics,” and dìdài. “zone,” “region.” It is also used in the common phrases zhèi yídài, “this area,” and yánhǎi yídài, “coastal region” (you will learn yánhǎi in Unit 5 of this module). Zhèi yídài wǎnshang hěn wēixiǎn. Nǐ yíge rén chūqu děi xiǎoxīn diǎnr. This area is dangerous at night. You’d better be careful if you go out alone. You can use names of regions in the pattern ... yídài: Tīng nǐ shuō huà, nǐ dàgài shi Shǎnběi yídài rén. From the way you speak, I'd guess you’re from the area of northern Shǎnxī. fāngyán: “dialect” (Fāng-, as in dìfāng. “place,” here means “local.” -Yán forms part of the word yǔyán, “language,” which is presented in sentence 9B.) In linguistics, the word fāngyán is used as we use the word “dialect.” In common Chinese usage, fāngyán also refers to the various Chinese languages (such as Cantonese) which are not intelligible to a speaker of Standard Chinese. See also the note on pǔtōnghuà under Number 5. liǎojiě: As a state verb, “to understand,” “to grasp,” “to comprehend,” and as an action verb, “to find out,” “to acquaint oneself with.” As a state verb, it can be used in the pattern duì . . . liǎojiě (see the fourth and fifth examples below). As a state verb Nǐ bù liǎojiě qíngkuàng. You don’t understand the situation. Tā hěn liǎojiě nàlide qíngkuàng. He understands the situation there quite well. Tāde guòqù, wǒ liǎojiěde fēicháng qìngchú. I am very familiar with his past history. Nǐ duì tā hái bù liǎojiě. You still don’t understand him. Duì Zhōngguó lìshì wǒ liǎojiě bú gòu. I don't know enough about Chinese history. As an action verb Ni dào nàr qù yǐqián zuì hǎo liǎojiě yíxià nàrde fēngsú. Before you go there, you would do well to acquaint yourself with the (local) customs. Wǒ xiāng liǎojiě liǎojiě rénmín shēnghuōde qíngkuàng. I would like to find out about the (daily) life of the people. When the word ”know’’ means to understand a person, it must be translated into Chinese as liǎojiě: Tā àiren zuì liǎojiě ta. His wife knows him best, (or “Her husband …” (Rènshi tā simply means “to be acquainted with him,” and zhìdao tā means “to know of him.”) tánbudào: “cannot speak of ...” A polite response to flattering comments. After tánbudào, you usually repeat the words of the first speaker, e.g., Nǐ duì Měiguō wénhuà hěn liǎojiě. You understand American culture very well. Tánbudào liǎojiě, wǒ zhǐ shi duì zhèifāngmiàn hěn yǒu xìngqu. It’s kind of you to say so (“One cannot speak of understanding it”), but I’m just very interested in it.

shíyóu: “petroleum,” “oil” (literally, “rock-oil,” which, incidentally, is also the meaning of the English word “petroleum ) Examples: shíyóu gōngyè. “the oil industry”; shíyóu huàxué, “petrochemistry.” dàbùfen: “the most part,” “for the most part,” “mostly.” The stress in this word is on the syllable dà-, and in conversation, the middle syllable, -bu-, is often neutral tone (you may even hear what sounds like dàbfen, with the u sound missing). Use dàbùfen to modify a verb or a noun: Měiguō rén dàbùfen dōu yǒu , zìjǐde chē. Most Americans have their own car. Dàbùfen Měiguō rén dōu yǒu zìjǐde chē. duì ba?: “isn’t that correct?” “isn't that so?” You have already learned to ask for the listener’s confirmation by using shì bu shì? or shì ma? and duì bu duì? or duì ma? at the end of a sentence. Shì ba? and duì ba? are also used in the same sentence position to ask for confirmation, but because of the marker ba, they imply that the speaker is fairly sure that his information is correct. quánbù: “entire,” “whole,” ”all” Zhèixiē shū wǒ quánbù dōu kànguo le. I’ve read all of these books. Tāde qián quánbù yōòg zài 1ǚxíngshang le. His money was all used up by the trip, (“used on the trip”) Tā gěi wǒde gōngzuò, wǒ hái méi quánbù zuòwán ne. I haven't finished all of the work he gave me yet. Tā shuōde huà quánbù méi yòng. Everything he said is nonsense (worthless, useless). Nǐ bù zhīdào tāde quánbù qíngkuàng zěnme néng hé ta jiēhǔn? How can you marry him without knowing his whole situation?

Bēifāng, “the north” of a country, and nánfāng. “the south” of a country: When used with reference to China, these terms usually mean the area north of the Huáng Hé (Yellow River) and the area south of the Chángjiāng (Yangtze River), respectively. The area between the rivers is usually considered central China. Béifāng rén xǐhuan chī miànshí, nánfāng rén xǐhuan chī mǐfàn. Northerners like to eat foods made from wheat, and southerners like to eat rice. Tāde Zhōngguó huà yǒu nánfāng kǒuyīn. His Chinese has a southern accent, pǔtōnghuà: ”the common speech,” the usual designation in the PRC for what we have called in this course ”Standard Chinese.” pǔtōnghuà is officially defined as consisting of the sound system of Běijīng speech, the vocabulary and idiom of northern speech, and the grammar of exemplary modem vernacular writings. It would be inaccurate to equate pǔtōnghuà with either běifāng huà (“northern speech”) or Běijīng huà (“Běijīng speech”), because pǔtōnghuà has absorbed many elements from other dialects, contributing to its richness. Conversely, such things as purely regional expressions (including those of Běijīng itself) and non-standard pronunciations are not considered pǔtōnghuà. Before the PRC, the term pǔtōnghuà already existed, but referred to the approximations of Mandarin spoken by the common people of northern China. (In Taiwan, the term guóyǔ. “the national language,” is used for the officially promoted standard language.) bù zhǐ shi běifāng rén: “not Just northerners” Bù zhǐ shi, “not only,” can be followed by a noun, verb, or clause. Sometimes you may hear bú jiù shi, bú dàn shi, bù guāng shi, or bù jǐn shi (which you will learn in the Life in China module), with the same meaning. The shi is necessary before a noun but may be omitted before a verb: Wǒmen bàngōngshì bù zhǐ (shi) yǒu Méiguo rén, hái yǒu jǐge Zhōngguó rén bāng wǒmen gōngzuò. In our office, there are not only Americans, but also some Chinese who help us.

Shēnzhèn, formerly known by its Cantonese pronunciation, Shumchun, is the border stop on the railroad from Hong Kong to Guǎngzhōu (Canton). lí jìng: “leave a country,” literally, “leave-boundary” You can also say chū jìng. yǐwéi: “to mistakenly think” Xiǎng and rènwéi, which you will learn in the next unit, both mean “to think that ...” Yīwéi adds the meaning that the subject's impression was wrong. Nǐ yǐwéi wǒ bù zhīdào?! Wǒ zǎo Jiu tīngshuō le! You thought I didn't know?! I heard about it a long time ago! Wǒ yǐwéi wǒ yíge rén kéyi nádedòng, shéi zhīdào nàme zhòng. I thought I could carry it by myself; who would have thought It was so heavy? Wǒ hái yǐwéi: “I thought (mistakenly)” You have learned hái as “still” and as “also, additionally.” This hái has a different meaning and is not translated. It emphasizes that the subject was under a wrong impression. This meaning of hái is most clearly seen with the verb xiǎng: Wǒ hái xiǎng means “I mistakenly thought,” whereas Wǒ xiǎng does not specify whether the judgment was right or wrong. Òu, shì nǐ ya! Wǒ hái xiǎng (OR yǐwéi) shi biérén ne! Oh, it's you! I thought It was someone else. A: Nǐ tīngshuōle ma? Tā shēngle ge érzi. Have you heard? She had a baby boy. B: Òu, wǒ hái bù zhīdào ne! Oh, I didn't know! (Here, it is not a mistaken impression but the previous lack of any information on the subject which hái emphasizes)

Dōngběi, Xīběl: Although you learned this is in the Directions module, it bears repeating that combined direction names (“northwest,” “southeast,” etc.) are said in the reverse order from English: xíběi (west-north) northwest xīnán (west-south) southwest dōngběi (east-north) northeast dōngnán (east-south) southeast Dōngběi: “the Northeast,” “Manchuria” The northeastern region of China, consisting of the three provinces of Liáoníng, Jílín, and Hēilóngjiāng, is sometimes called Manchuria because the largest indigenous minority is the Manchu, or Mǎn, nationality. Of China's 2.6 million Mǎn, most live scattered throughout these three provinces and Héběi; there are also smaller Mǎn populations in the cities of Běijīng, Chéngdū, Xi'ān, and Hohhot. The Mǎn, and before them their ancestors the Nǚzhēn (Nuchen or Juchen, an ancient nationality of the same region), were a major force in Chinese history from the Jīn Dynasty, in which the Nǚzhēn ruled northern China for over a century (1115-1234), to the Manchu-run Qīng Dynasty (1644-1911). After the Qīng dynasty established its capital in Běijīng, great numbers of Mǎn filtered south through Shānhǎi Pass in Héběi and intermixed with the Hàn Chinese. To this century, large-scale Hàn migration to the Northeast (hundreds of thousands every year) has caused the region’s population to swell to 99.4 million (1976 estimate), of which only 2.4 million are of the Mǎn nationality. Although their ethnic origins are distinct from the Hàn Chinese, the Mǎn today are virtually assimilated with the Hàn racially, culturally, and linguistically. Most, for example, speak only Chinese; the Mǎn language, which in the last dynasty was still used alongside Chinese in official court documents, is well on its way to extinction (some Mǎn speakers remain in Àihuī and Fùyù counties in Hēilóngjiāng). The three provinces of the Northeast Xīběi: “the Northwest,” a region which includes Níngxià, Xīnjiāng, Qīnghǎi, Shǎnxī, and Gānsù. qùguo le: “have gone to” Notice that new-situation le may follow a verb phrase with the ending -guo. Here are some other examples: A: Nǐ chīguo fàn le ma? Have you eaten yet? B: Chīguò le. Yes. A: Ta zuì xīnde diànyǐng nǐ kànguo le ma? Have you seen his latest movie yet? B: Kànguo le. Yes. Dàqìng: An oil-producing center (recently given the statue of a city) in the Sǒng-Nèn Plain of southern Héilóngjiāng province. Dàqìng is the nation’s leading producer of crude oil, accounting for more than one third of the crude oil volume. China’s oil industry has only developed since 1949, and it was the monumental exploration and drilling at Dàqìng, under extremely adverse conditions, that in large part enabled China to meet her own oil needs by 1963. In 1961:, Máo Zédōng called on the whole nation to learn from Dàqìng in industry (Gōngyè xué Dàqìng), a slogan which continued to be heard through the Cultural Revolution.

...hǎo le: The ending hǎo le, literally “and then it will be okay,” has a special meaning; the translation varies with the context. It is used when the speaker (1) agrees to something, permits someone to do something, or suggests that someone do something, or (2) gives in to something, doesn’t care if something happens. Wǒ qù hǎo le. I’ll go. (AGREEING TO DO SOMETHING) Zhào nǐ shuōde bàn hǎo le. We’ll do it your way, then. (AGREEING TO DO SOMETHING) Nǐ shuō Zhōngwén hǎo le, wǒ tīngdedōng. Go ahead and speak Chinese. I understand. (SUGGESTING) Nǐ náqu hǎo le, wǒ yòngwán le. Go ahead and take it. I'm finished with it. (PERMITTING) Nǐ bú qù hǎo le, wǒ bù gāoxìng. So don't go, then. But I'm not happy about it. Ràng tā shuō hǎo le, wǒ bù guǎn! Let him say what he wants to; I don't care! “Huí tóu(r) jiàn: “See you later This is a Běijīng expression. Huí tóu, literally, “turn one’s head,” is used colloquially to mean “later,” as in Huí tóu wǒmen zài tán. We'll talk it over later. Wǒ huí tóu jiù lái. I'll be there in a minute. Use Huí tóu(r) jiàn when you expect to see the other person shortly.

xuézhé: “scholar” You will find the ending -zhě in a number of words where it means -de rén, “a person who....” In Unit 4, you will learn gōngzuòzhé. “worker (in a certain field).” Other examples: dúzhě reader (dú, “read,” will be presented in the next module) jìzhě reporter, Journalist (lit., “one who records things”) huòdézhé recipient of a prize, etc. (huòdé means “to obtain”) zhǔyào: As an adjective, “major/main/essential,” and as an adverb, “mainly, “essentially”: Qù Xīběi, zhǔyàode mùdi shi xiǎng liǎojiě yidiǎnr guǎnyú nàrde nóngyè shěngchǎn qíngkuàng. The main reason for going to the Northwest is to find out about agricultural production there. Wǒmen zhèr zhǔyàode wèntí shi méi qián. Our main problem here is that we have no money. Nàr zhǔyào zhǎnlǎn xiē shénme? What are the main things they exhibit there? (”What mainly do they exhibit there?”) Néng bu néng qù, zhǔyào kàn shíjiǎn. Whether or not we can go depends mainly on time. Tā zhǔyào jjiǎngde shi Zhōngguóde shíyóu shēngchǎn qíngkuàng. He spoke mainly about China's oil production. There are times when zhǔyào must be translated as “essentially” rather than as “mainly,” for example: Wǒ jīntiān lái, zhǔyào shi yīnwei wǒde péngyou dōu lái le. I came today essentially because all my friends came. This sentence does not imply that there are any other reasons of lesser importance. yǔyán “language” The counter for a language is usually -zhǒng. “kind”: Xué yìzhǒng yǔyán bú shi yìtiān liǎngtiānde shì. Learning a language isn't something you can do overnight (”in a day or two”). Zhōngwén shi yìzhǒng bǐjiǎo nán xuéde yùyán. Chinese is a rather difficult language to learn. Tā chángcháng jiāo tamen yìxiē bù yīnggāi jiāode yùyán. He often teaches them language (words and phrases) that shouldn't be taught. -Yǔ can be used as the ending for the names of languages: Yīngyǔ English Xībānyáyǔ Spanish Hànyǔ Chinese Déyǔ German Rìyǔ Japanese Fǎyǔ French Ālābōyǔ Arabic Éyǔ Russian Mǎnyǔ Manchurian Yìndìyǔ Hindi wàiyǔ foreign language The ending huà (as in Zhōngguó huà) refers to just the spoken language. Wén can refer to the written, or the written plus the spoken. -Yǔ does not differentiate spoken and written.

Xīnjiāng: Formerly spelled Sinkiang in English. Xīnjiāng, an autonomous region (not a province) in northwest China, has the largest area of all China's provinces and autonomous regions. Population: 12 million (1981 est.), of which about 6 million are of the Uygur nationality. For a description of the region and its people, see Unit 6 Reference Notes. Nèiměng: Also Nèi Měnggǔ. Inner Mongolia (also called Nei Monggol) is an autonomous region in north central China, population 9 million. About twenty percent of the population are Mongols. The capital is Hohhot (in Chinese, Hūhéháotè). The facts as represented in exchange 10 need to be qualified. It is true that the minority nationality languages are still the most widely used in the vast rural areas of Xīnjiāng, Inner Mongolia, and other minority nationality regions. The larger cities in these regions, however, now have substantial Hàn Chinese populations, and in some cities the Hàn are even in the majority. shǎoshù: “minority” or “a minority of,” “a small number of” This is the opposite of duōshù. “majority,” which you learned in the Society module. Tāmen shi shǎoshù. They are in the minority. Zhǐ yǒu shǎoshù Mǎn rén hái néng shuō Mǎnyú. There are only a ^mall number of Manchurians who can still speak the Manchu language. mínzú: “nationality,” “a people,” or “nation” in the non-governmental sense: a people who share common origins, history, customs, and language. Examples: Zhōnghuá mínzú, “the Chinese nation”; Ālābó mínzú, “the Arab nation”; mínzú dúlì, “national independence.” Mèiguó shi yíge duō mínzúde guójiā. America is a nation of many ethnic groups. Shǎoshù mínzú is “minority nationality,” often translated as “national minority.” In the U.S., we more often speak of “ethnic minorities,” but the Chinese prefer the translation “minority nationalities.” zhàn: (1) “to occupy” a space, area, or position, (2) “to make up,” ”to constitute,” a proportion of an amount, or (3) “to take up” an amount of time Zěnme hái yǒu rén zhànzhe zhèige fángjiān? Gāi wǒmen yòng le! Why are there still people occupying this room? It's our turn to use it! Zhèizhāng zhuōzi tài zhàn dìfang le, bǎ ta bānchuqu. This table takes up too much space. Let’s move it out. Zhèige fángzi zhànde dìfang yǒu duō dà? How much space does this building take up? Zài wǒmen xuéxiàode xuéshēngzhōng, shǎoshù mínzú xuéshěng zhàn yíbàn zuǒyòu. Minority nationality students make up about half of the students in our school. Xianzài fùnǚ zài shèhuìshang zhàn yuè lái yuè zhòngyàode dìwei le. Now women are occupying a more and more important position in society. Zhen duìbuqlǐ zhànle nǐ bù shǎo shíjiān. Please excuse me for taking up so much of your time.

dìqū: “region,” œdistrict,” “area” Běijīng dìqū the Běijīng area Huáběi dìqū the north China region duō shān dìqū a mountainous district quán: (1) “to be complete,” (2) “whole,” œentire,” (3) “entirely,“completely” Zhèitào shū bù quán, dìsìběn méiyǒu le. This set of books is incomplete; the fourth volume is missing. Quán shìjiè yígòng yǒu duōshǎo zhǒng yùyán? How many languages are there in the whole world? Liǎngsānnián méi shuō Zhǒngwén le, chàbuduō quán wàng le. After not speaking Chinese for two or three years, (I) have almost completely forgotten it. Wǒ bǎ nèi jǐjiàn yīfu quán gěi tā le. I gave all those articles of clothing to him. Lǚxínghè: Short for Zhōngguó Lǚxínghè China Travel Service (CTS), or Zhōngguó Guójì Lǚxíngshè, China International Travel Service (CITS). These are the two government agencies through witch all travel arrangements in China are handled. Representatives from CITS accompany tour groups in China. gǎo: “to do,” “to carry on,” “to engage in,” “to work in” a certain field or endeavor. Gǎo shénme ne? What are you doing? OR What are you up to? Zhèijiàn shì wǒ gǎolai gǎoqù gǎobuhǎo. I've tried doing this all different ways and I just can't get it right. gǎo gǎo wèishēng to do cleanup gǎo shēngchǎn to engage in production gǎo shèhuìzhǔyì to practice socialism a task or endeavor gǎo Sìge Xiàndàihuà to carry on the Four Modernizations gǎo Tā shigǎo fānyìde. He's a translator. (”He works in translation.”) Tā shigǎo wénxuěde. He works in literature. Tā shigǎo xīnwénde. He's a Journalist/reporter/etc. a line of work Tā shigǎo nonyède. He works in agriculture. Gǎohǎo, which is especially common in political talk, means “to make a good job of (something), “or ”to handle (something) well”: Gǎohǎo shēngchǎn shi vǒmen zuì zhòngyàode gōngzuò. Handling production well is our most Important job. Gǎo is used with many resultative verb endings (in the following two examples gǎo is interchangeable with no nòng, “to do”): Shéi bǎ wǒde chē gǎohuài le? Who broke my bicycle/car? Hài, nǐ yòu gǎocuò le, zhèige zì bú shi “niǎo,” shi “wū.” No, you’ve got it wrong again. This character isn’t “niǎo,” it’s “wū.” Zěnme gǎode is an idiom, used as follows: Zěnme gǎode?! What went wrong?! OR What’s wrong?! OR Jíhat the ... ?! A: Tā shuō tā bù lái le. Nov he says he isn't coming. B: Zěnme gǎode? How come? A: Tā bù shūfu. He isn't feeling well. Nǐ zěnme gǎode?! What’s with you? OR What's the matter with you? OR What the heck are you doing? mǎnyǐ: “to be pleased, “to be satisfied” This is often used with the prepositional verb duì, “toward,” equivalent to English “pleased with”: Hěn duō rén duì Dǎngde yìxiē zhèngcè bù mǎnyì. Many people are dissatisfied with some of the Party's policies. Wǒde huídá, nǐ mǎnyì ma? Are you satisfied with my answer? Tā duì nǐ zhème hǎo, nǐ wèishénme hái bù mǎnyì? He's so good to you; why are you still dissatisfied? Yíge mǎnyìde huídá is an idiom for “a satisfactory answer.” Wǒ xīwàng néng géi nǐ yíge mǎnyìde huídá. I hope I can give you a satisfactory answer.

rènwéi: “to think (that),” “to consider (that),” “to believe (that)” This is typically used for considered opinions and judgments, as opposed to xiǎng, “to think,” which can be used for mere impressions and guesses. Also contrast yǐwéi. “to think mistakenly.” Wǒ rènwéi tā shuōde shi duìde. I consider what he said correct OR I believe that what he said is right Tā rènwéi zhèijiàn shì bù yīnggāi ràng wǒmen zuò. He does not think we should be allowed to do this. mùqián: “the present” or “at present.” Although both mùqián and xiànzài, “now,” refer to the present, xiànzài may mean “right now,” whereas mùqián must refer to a broader period of time. Mùqián wo3men chǎngde shēngchǎn shuǐpíng hái bú gòu gāo. At present our factory's production level isn't high enough. Mùqián tāde jīngjì qíngkuàng bú tài hǎo. At present his financial situation isn't too great. dà-, zhōng-, xiǎoxué: Short for dàxué, zhōngxué, xiǎoxué. gémìng: “evolution,” “revolutionary,” “to revolt.” In ancient China, gémìng, literally, “to change the mandate of heaven,” referred to the changing of dynasties, since the monarch was held to be ordained by heaven. The pattern Gé X-de mìng, literally, “to change X's mandate of heaven,” means “to revolt against X.” Wénhuà Gémìng or Wénhuà Dà Gémìng; The common terms for the Wúchǎn Jiējí Wénhuà Dà Géming. Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” (1966-1977). An even shorter abbreviation is Wéngé. shuǐpíng; “level,” “standard” Rìběnde gōngyè shēngchǎn shuǐpíng zhēn gǎo! Japan's industrial production level is really high! Měiguo rénde shēnghuó shuǐpíng hěn gāo! Americans have a very high standard of living! Tāde Déyú shuǐpíng bú gòu gāo. Hi» level in German isn't high enough.

tígào: “to raise,” “to improve” Dào Zhōngguó qù, kéyi tígào duì Zhōngguéde rènshi. By going to China, you can increase your understanding of China. Jiěfàng yǐhòu, fùnǚde dìwei tígào le. Since liberation, the status of women has improved. Shǎoshù mínzú shuō pùtōnghuàde shuǐpíng tígàole bù shǎo. The level of the minority nationalities in Standard Chinese has improved quite a bit. -bùfen: “part,” “section” Qǐng bǎ zhè yíbùfen fānchéng Zhōngwén. Please translate this part into Chinese. Tā xiěde nèibén shū, yǒude bùfen hǎo, yǒude bùfen bù hǎo. Some sections of the book he wrote are good, and some aren't. yíbùfen: “a part,” “a portion,” “some” Tā shuōde huà, yíbùfen shi duìde, yíbùfen shi cuòde. Part of what he said is right, and part is wrong. Qùde rén, yǒu yíbùfen hái xiǎng zài qù, yǒu yíbùfen bù xiǎng qù le. Of the people who went, some would like to go back again, and some do not want to. fēn: “to divide” As you learned fēnkāi. “to split up,” in the Society module, this word is not entirely new to you, but here you see it with the ending -chéng, “into.” Here's another example: Wǒ bǎ píngguó fēnchéng sìkuài, wǒmen yìrén yíkuài. I'll divide the apple into four pieces, one piece for each of us. -lèi: “category” Xiànzài lái Měiguóde Zhōngguo rén dàgài kéyi fēn liǎnglèi. The Chinese who are coming to the U.S. now can be roughly divided into tvo categories. Zhèilèi wèntí zuì hǎo hé Lǚxíngshèdm rén tán. You had best talk with the Travel Service people about this sort of question. “Hēi Wǚlèi,” “Hóng Wúlèi,” shi Wénhuà Dà Gémìng shíhoude shuōfǎ. The “Five Black Categories and the “Five Red Categories” were terns used during the time of the Cultural Revolution. ‘These terms, which arose la the first years of the Cultural Revolution (and are now obsolete), referred to the two ideologically “irreconcilable camps.” In effect, they were used to classify people by their family backgrounds. The Five Black Categories, or “bad” backgrounds, were landlords, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries, bad elements, sad bourgeois rightists. The Five Red (“good”) Categories were workers, poor peasants, lover-middle peasants, revolutionary army-men, and revolutionary cadres. Zhèi jiù shi... -de yuányín: “This is the reason that...” Here is another example of this useful pattern: Zhèi jiù shi tā méi qùde yuānyīn. This is the reason he didn’t go. Zhèi jiù shi... -de yuányīn le: This sentence exemplifies a use of new-situation le to emphasize the speaker's newly-reached understanding. You can think of this le as meaning “How I get it.*” Ò, nǐ yǐqián shuōguode Hóu Xiānsheng jiù shi tā le.! Oh, the Mr. Hóu you spoke of before is him! À! Suǒiyi nǐ nàne xiǎng qù le! Oh! That's why you want so much to go! Related uses of new-situation le include drawing a new inference, e.g., Nàme, nǐ yídìng rènshi Chén Kēzhǎng le? Then, you must know Section Chief Chén, I suppose? and settling on a course of action or reaching a decision: A: Tā zhīdao wǒde diànhuà ma? Does he know my telephone number? B: Zhīdao. Yes. A: Nà wǒ jiù děng tāde diànhuà le. Then I'll wait for his call.

jiàoshī: “teacher,” “schoolteacher” Wǒ shi yíge xiǎoxué jiàoshī. I'm an elementary school teacher. Nǐmen xuéxiào yígòng yǒu duōshǎo Yīngwén jiàoshī? How many English teachers are there in your school? shùliang: “quantity,” “number,” “amount” Nǐ néng bu néng shuōchū tāmende shùliang yǒu duōshǎo? Can you give an exact idea of their numbers? Cóng shùliangshang kàn, zhèige xuéxiàode nánshéng zhàn zhǔyàode dìwei. From the point of view of numbers, the male students occupy the main position in the school. pǔbiàn: “to be universal/widespread/common” Zài Měiguó, yíge jiātíng yǒu sānliàng qìchē shi hěn pǔbiànde shi. In America it is very common for one family to have three cars. Zài Zhōngguó, zuìjìn sānshinián, rénmende wénhuà jiàoyu shuǐping pǔbiàn tígāole. During the last thirty years, people's educational level in China has seen widespread improvement.

tiáojiàn: “conditions),” “circumstances” Zhèrde gōngzuó tiáojiàn bú cuò. Working conditions here are pretty good. Xīběide shēnghuó tiáojiàn bù zěnmeǎ ho. Living conditions are not so good in the Northwest. Zài mùqiánde tiáojiànxià, wǒmen méiyou bànfǎ zài kuài. Under the present circumstances, we are unable to go any faster. Hé tāmen zuò shēngyì zhēn bù róngyi, tāmen zǒngshi yào jiǎng hěn duō tiáojiàn. It's really hard to do business with them. They are always insisting on a lot of conditions. Tāmen rènwéi tā méiyǒu tiáojiàn zuò zhèige gōngzuò. They don't think he's competent to do this job. jīběn: “basic,” “fundamental,” “elementary” (For the first example, you need to know yǔfǎ, “grammar,” and cíhuì. “vocabulary.”) Xué liǎngnián Zhōngwén, jīběnde yǔfǎ hé cíhuì dōu zhīdao le. After studying two years of Chinese, (one) knows the basic grammar and vocabulary. Zhèige dìqū gǎo nóngyède jīběn tiáojiàn bú gòu. The basic conditions for farming are not good enough in this area. Jībenshang., “basically,” is often used in the PRC to mean “in the main,” “on the whole?” “by and large.” (This usage is not common in Taiwan, however.) Jībenshang tā shi yíge hǎo tóngzhí. On the whole, he is a good comrade, Jībenshang méiyou wèntí le. By and large, there are no more problems. Nǐ shuōde Yīngwén jībenshang wǒ dōu tīngdedǒng. For the most part, I can understand all your English. měi... yǒu...: “There is... for every...” Examples: Měi sānge rén yǒu yíge shi Měiguo rén. There is an American for every three persons. (One of every three people is an American.) Měi sāntiān yǒu yíge rén lái. (There is) one person (who) comes every three days. pǔtōng: “to be ordinary/common/regular” Tāmen liǎngge zhǐ shi pǔtōng péngyou, méi shenme tèbiéde guānxi. The two of them are just ordinary friends; they don't have any special relationship. Tā jiù shi yíge pǔtōng rén, hé nǐ hé wǒ yíyàng. He is just an ordinary person, like you or me. Pǔtǒngde hùzhào hé zhèige yǒu shénme qūbié? What's the difference between an ordinary passport and this?

zhòngdiǎn: “heavy-point”—“emphasis,” “focal point” or in some phrases, “key.” Also used adverbially. Nǐ yánjiūde zhòngdiǎn dōu yǒu něixiē fāngmiàn? What are the focal points of your research? Nǐmen yào cānguānde zhòngdiǎn shi něifāngmiàn? What is to be the focus of your visit? Nǐmen yào zhòngdiǎn fāzhǎnde dìqū yǒu jǐge? How many regions do you intend to focus on developing? Wǒnen yīnggāi bǎ zhòngdiǎn fàng zai jiàoyushàng. We should put the emphasis on education. Tāmende gōngzuò zhòngdiǎn shi gǎo wénhuà jiàoyu. The focus of their work is on culture and education. chābié: “difference,” “discrepancy,” “disparity” Contrast the word qūbié (additional required vocabulary), ”difference,” ”distinction.” Chābié stresses the idea of a distance, gap, or inequality between the things compared. Qūbié refers to differences, determined by inspection, between otherwise similar things. Zhèiyang zuò hé nèiyang zuò yǒu shénme chābié? What is the difference between doing it this way and doing it that way? Chéngshì hé néngcūn chābié hěn dà. There's a big difference between the city and the country. Nǐ shuōshuo zhèi liǎngge shōuyīnjīde qūbié zài nǎr? Tell me what the differences are between these two radios. Zhèi liǎngběn zìdiǎn yǒu shénme qūbié? What's the difference between these two dictionaries? shǒuxiān: “first,” meaning before doing something else. This is a movable adverb (can come either before or after the subject of the sentence, but always before the verb). Rúguǒ nǐ yào dào Zhōngguó qù,shǒuxiān yào xué yidiǎn Zhòngwén. If you want to go to China, you should learn a little Chinese first. Shòuxiān bǎ yào mǎide dōngxi kāi yìzhāng dānsi, rénhòu zài qǐng tā qù mǎi. First make a list of the things you want bought, and then ask him to go buy then. Shǒuxiān can also mean “first of all,” “in the first place”: Shǒuxiān vǒmen yào tántan nǐde cānguān fǎngwèn jìhuà. First of all we should discuss your sightseeing plans. In sentence 5B, shǒuxiān zhàogu, “first of all give consideration to,” can be idiomatically translated as “give first consideration to.”

zìrán: “natural,” “naturally” Dàzìrén means “nature” in the sense of the physical world. Tā hěn xǐhuan dàzìrén. He is very fond of nature. Ruìshìde zìrán huánjìng hěn tebié. Switzerland’s natural environment is very different. Zhèige shǎoshù mínzú dìqūde zìrán tiáojiàn bù hǎo. The natural conditions in this minority nationality region are poor. Tāde yàngzi hěn zìrán. Her appearance is very natural. Nǚér líkāi jiā, fùmǔ nánguò shi zìránde. When a daughter leaves heme, it is natural for her parents to be sad. Xuéle bú yòng, zìrán huì wàng. If you don’t use something after you learn it, you’re bound to forget it. Bú yòng guǎn, zìrán huì guòqude. Don’t worry about it; it will pass by itself. kēxué: “science.” Kēxuéjiā is a “scientist.” Měiguó shi ge kēxué jìnbùde guójiā. The U.S. is a scientifically advanced country. Nóngcǔn rén cóngqián méiyǒu shénme kēxué zhīshi. In the past, people in rural areas did not have any knowledge of science. Kēxué is also used for “to be scientific”: Zhèizhǒng zuòfǎ hěn kēxué. This method is very scientific. Nǐ nèizhǒng xiǎngfǎ bù kēxué! That’s a very unscientific idea. jìshu: “technique,” “skill,” “technology” Tā kāi chēde jìshu hěn hǎo. He's a good driver. Zhè shi wǒ zuòde Mápó Dòufu, nǐ kàn wǒde jìshu zěnmeyàng? I made this Mápó Beancurd. How do rate my technique? Zhōngguéde cháyè shēngchǎn jìshu fāshǎn dàole bǐjiǎo gāode shuǐpíng. China*a tea production technology is rather highly developed. Tǎ shi ge jìshu gōngren. He is a skilled worker.

chū guó: “to go abroad” Tā shi nǎinián chū guóde? In what year did he go abroad? Chū guó liúxuéde yánjiūshēng nǚde duō bu duō? Are there many women among the graduate students who go abroad to study? dānrèn: “to assume,” “to take up” a job or post Nǐ zài zhèr dānrèn shénme gonzuò? What is your job title here? Tā zuìjìn yào qù Ōuzhōu dānrèn lǐngshì gōngzuò. He will soon be going to Europe to do consular work. Tā dānrènguo Měidàsí sīzhǎng. He has been the chief of the Department of American and Oceanic Affairs. Dānrèn līngdǎo gōngzuò. as in sentence 7B, is an often used phrase for “to take on leadership work,” “to take up a leading post” (that is, to be in a job in which one is in charge of others).

jīngguò “to pass,” to go through” Zhèilù chī jīngguò Dōngdān ma? Does this bus go through Dōngd1n? Nèige dìfang wǒ méi qùguo, dànshì jīngguòguo. I’ve never been there, but I’ve passed through (OR passed by). Zhèi shi wǒ dìyīcì jīngguò zhèiyangde kǎoshì. This is the first time I’ve ever taken a test like this. “as a result of,” “after,” “through.” This is the way jīngguò is used in sentence 8A. (For the second example you need to know zhànzhēng, “war.”) Jīngguò tǎolùn, wǒmen juéding xià Xīngqīsì qù yěcān. After discussion, we have decided to hold the picnic next Thursday Tā yě bù jīngguó kǎolǜ jiù hé tǎ jiéhūn le. He married her without even giving it any consideration. Jīngguò hěn cháng shiJiande zhànzhēng, zhèige dìqū yǐjíng biànde bú rènshi le. As a result of the lengthy war, this area has become unrecognizable, “course (of events); what has happened” Tā huílal bǎ quánbù jīngguò gǎosule wǒ. When he returned, he told me the whole story of what happened. Shìqingde jīngguò shi zěnmeyàngde, nǐ zhīdao ma? Do you know how the whole thing went? null: “to make great efforts,” “to try hard,” “to exert oneself” Tā gōngzuò hěn nǔlì. He works very hard. Tā bú dàn nǔlì gōngzuò, rén yě hěn rèxīn. Not only does he work very hard, but he is also a warmhearted person. Contrast nǔlì gōngzuò, “work hard,” with yònggōng, “study hard. cáiliào: “material” Zhèige fángzide cáiliào kànqǐlái hǎoxiǎng bú cuò. This house looks like it's made of pretty good material. “data,” “material” Tā gěile wǒ hěn duō cáiliào, wǒ sāntiān yě kànbuwán. He gave me a lot of data (material). Even three days wouldn't be enough time for me to finish reading it. Nǐ nádào xīnde xuéxí cáiliào le ma? Míngtiān yào shàng xīn kè le. Have you picked up the new study materials yet? We start the new lesson tomorrow. “makings,” “material” Tà bú shi zuò jiàoshòude cáiliào. He doesn't have the makings of a professor.

shíxiàn: “to realize/achieve/bring about/accomplish/come true” Besides being used to talk about the Four Modernizations, shíxiàn is also used for realizing a wish, an ideal, a goal, self-sufficiency, a reform, industrialization, etc. Note that shíxiàn can be used in a causal sense (i.e., “cause to come about”): ”They realized their wish” [Tāmen shíxiànle tāmende yuànvàng]; or in a non-causal sense (i.e., “come about”): ”Their wish came about” [Tǎmende yuànwàng shíxiànle]. Zài Xīfāng, shíxiàn gōngyèhuà yǐjīng shi yìbǎinián qiánde shì le. In. the West, achieving industrialization is something which was done a century ago. Nánjīng jībenshang shíxiànle lǜhuà. Nánjīng has basically accomplished “greenification” (making the city green by planting trees, flowers, etc.). xiàndài: “modern times” or “modern,” “contemporary” Xiàndài rénde xiǎngfǎ dōu shi hěn kēxuéde. Modern man's ideas are all scientific. -huà: “-ize,” “-ify” Examples: gōngyèhuà to industrialize lǜhuà to make green (by planting trees, etc.) Jia3nhuà to simplify (JiZn is mZihuà short for jiZndàn) méihuà to beautify Méiguóhuà to Americanize èhuà to worsen (_è is a literary word for ”bad”) Xīfānghuà to Westernize xiàndàihuà: “to become modernized”; “modernized/sophisticated/modern” Caution: This is an intransitive verb (cannot take an object). Therefore, to say “modernize our country” you must phrase it as “make our country become modernized”: Wǒmen yào shǐ wǒmende guójiā xiàndàihuà. We must modernize our country. Zhèixiē xiàndàihuà yǔyán bú shi měige rén dōu zhīdaode. Not everyone knows these modern terms. Sìge Xiàndàihuà: “the Four Modernizations” These are the modernization of agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology. Comprehensive development in these areas by the end of the century was called for at the Eleventh National Party Congress in 1977, and again by Communist Party Chairman Huà Guófēng at the Fifth National People's Congress in 1978. (This theme had been enunciated twice before, in 1965 and 1975, by Zhōu Ēnlái.) Since 1979, the drive for the “socialist Four Modernizations” has been at the root of the Chinese government's domestic policy and have also had a broad influence on its foreign policy. zhěnggè(r): As an adjective (before a noun), “whole,” “entire,” referring to a single item. Zhěnggè shàngwǔ nǐ dōu zuò shénme le? What did you do the whole morning? Wǒ yào mǎi zhènggède huǒtuǐ, bú yào bàngede. I want to buy a whole ham, not a half one. Zhěnggè jìhuà dōu shi tā yíge rén xiǎngchūláide. The entire plan was his idea. As an adverb, zhěnggè(r) means “completely,” “in its entirety”: Zhèijù huàde yìsi nǐ zhěnggè nòngcuò le. You completely misunderstood the meaning of that sentence. Tāde mótuōchē zhěnggè bèi zhuànghuài le. His motorcycle was completely ruined in the collision. Zhèige fángzi zhěnggè dōu shi mùtou zuòde. This house is made completely of wood. gǎoshàngqù: Shàngqu, “to go up,” may be used figuratively to say that production “goes up” or work ”moves forward.” The resultative compound gǎoshàngqù. therefore, means “to cause to go up,” “to cause to move forward.” We have translated it here as “to push ahead” the economy.

tí: One meaning of the verb tí is “to lift,” “to raise.” In a more abstract sense, it can mean “mention,” “refer to,” “bring up” (a subject). Tí wèntí is “to ask questions.” Wǒ tí ge wèntí kéyi ma? May I ask a question? Qǐng dàjiā tí yíjian. Please give us your comments, everyone. Bié zài tí nèijiàn shì le, hǎo ma? Don't mention that again, okay? Tí měicì tídao zhèijiàn shì, wǒ jiu shēngqì. Every time he mentions that, I get angry. ”to raise,” “to bring up,” “to put forward” (questions, comments, demands,etc.): Tā tiíe nèi liǎngge tiáojiàn, wǒ méi bànfǎ shíxiàn. There's no way I can satisfy (fulfill) the conditions he put forward. Nǐ juéde wǒde bànfǎ bù xíng, kéyiū tích nǐde bànfǎ. If you don't think my way (of handling it) will do, you can propose a way of your own. Tā tíchū ràng Zhāng Tóngzhì zuò lǐngdǎo. He proposed having Comrade Zhāng be the leader. Tā tíchǔ yào dào Nánjīng qù yítàng yǐhòu cái néng xiě zhèipiān wénzhāng. He said that he had to go to Nánjīng before he could write this article. jiākuài: “to quicken,” “to speed up” (one's step, a process, the pace of doing something) Rúguǒ jiākuài zuò, sāntiān jiu xíng le. If we speed up, we can finish in three days. sùdù: (literally “fast-degree”) “speed,” “pace,” “tempo” Sānshinián lái, Rìběn jīngjì fāzhǎnde sùdù hěn kuài. For the past thirty years, Japan's rate of economic development has been very fast. jiākuài... sùdù, “to quicken the pace of...,” “to speed up”: Wǒmen yào jiākuài gōngzuòde sùdù. We must speed up our work. Zhōngguó yào jiākuài shíxiàn Sìge Xiàndàihuàde sùdù. China wants to speed up the Four Modernizations. [The opposite of jiākuài... sùdù is fàngmàn sùdù.]

zhīliàng: “quality” Also pronounced zhíliàng or zhǐliàng. Shùliàng duō, zhìliàng yě bú cuò. They are plentiful and of good quality. In some contexts, you can use the syllable zhì/zhí/zhǐ to stand for zhìliàng and the syllable liàng to stand for shùliàng: Zhǐ, liàng, dōu bú cuò. The quality and quantity are both good.

guǎn...jiào...: Guǎn A jiaò B means “to call A B.” Guǎngdōng rén guǎn qípáo jiào “chángshān.” Cantonese call qípáo (a kind of dress) “chángshān.” gōngshè: “commune” This is short for remain gōngshè, “people's commune” (the word remain is taught in exchange 6). Gōng means “public.” and shè is an “organized body.” People's communes, of which there are now over 52,000 in China, are the administrative units of the countryside. There are three levels of commune organization: the production team, with from eleven to over one hundred households; the production brigade, with from twenty to over one thousand households; and the commune itself, with from six to seventeen brigades or from fifty-six to 275 teams. A typical commune might have a population of 22,500 people, broken down into fifteen production brigades of three hundred families each, and each brigade would in turn be composed of ten production teams of thirty families. (Of course, no actual commune would be divided up so evenly.) A typical county might be made up of thirteen communes of this size. The people's communes were formed after a long series of changes in the organization of the countryside, beginning with the Land Reform Movement of 1950. This movement distributed the land to the peasants; the next step was to begin the coordination of their efforts in production. They did this in 1951 by forming mutual aid teams, also called work exchange teams. The peasants still owned their own land, plows, and livestock, but they pooled their manpower, tools, and other resources to get the work done. In 1953* elementary agricultural cooperatives were organized by merging several mutual aid teams. The land, tools, and livestock became the property of the cooperative, but the profits from the land were distributed, not retained by the commune for investment. In 1956, when advanced agricultural cooperatives were established, the distribution of profits was abolished. In 1958, the last step to communize China was taken. The people's communes were formed by the merging of several advanced agricultural cooperatives. What was formerly an advanced agricultural cooperative became, a production brigade. The original plan for communization had called for completion in 1967. Since no major problems were encountered, the plan was completed nine years ahead of tine. Today, commune members still live in individual houses. All the land, buildings, shops, clinics, large machinery, electrical power stations, factories, and so on, belong to the commune. However, the planning of the production and the payment of the members, which depends on the amount of production, is done on the production team level. All the teams have their own livestock, but they take turns borrowing large machines such as planters or tractors from the commune. Production teams often specialize in one type of activity, such as crop raising, machinery repair, or animal husbandry. Production brigades handle tasks which are beyond the capacity of a team, such as irrigation or the purchasing of a tractor. Truly large projects like road construction or the establishment of a large, well-equipped hospital, must be taken on by the commune. yǒu méiyou xiězhe: -Zhe is the marker of duration. Together with a verb, it describes a STATE, for example: Mén kāizhe. The door is open. The door is in the state of having been opened. Mén guānzhe. The door is closed. The door is in the state of having been closed. Thus, xiězhe, in exchange 1, means literally “in the state of having been written.” To make a verb plus -zhe negative, use méi(you) (not bù): Mén méi kāizhe. The door is not open. Mén méi guānzhe. The door is not closed. Dānzishang méi xiězhe. It isn't written on the list. To make a question, use one of the following patterns: Mén kāizhe ma? Is the door open? Mén yǒu méiyou kāizhe? Mén kāizhe meiyou? He is often added onto the end of a sentence with -zhe: Mén kāizhe ne ma? Is the door open? Kāizhe ne. Yes, it's open. Many speakers of standard Chinese do not use this -zhe; they would replace it hy phrasing such as Mén kāile and Dānzishang yǒu méiyou xiě (or xiě le méiyou). These sentences are also perfectly good Chinese. Sìjìqīng: A commune in rural Běijīng. Literally, the name means “four-seasons-green,” in other words, “green all year round.” Half the population of the municipality of Běijīng lives in rural areas, in 272 people’s communes. The principal crops are wheat, rice, and vegetables, including cabbage, eggplants, cucumbers, and tomatoes. There are also orchards producing apples, pears, peaches, and persimmons. About half the vegetables grown in Běijīng's communes supply the city's needs completely and half are shipped elsewhere.

dàduì: “(production) brigade,” short for shēngchǎn dàduì. chǎnliàng: “output, yield,” literally, “production-amount.” shāndì: “mountainous region; hilly area; hilly country,” literally, “mountain-land.” Aěrbā'níyà shi shāndì guójiā. Albania is a mountainous country. Zài shān Output is somewhat lower in mountainous regions. Nèige dìfang shi shān , kāi chè bú tài fāngbian. That's hilly country; it isn’t easy to drive there.

jiāoqū: “suburbs, outskirts” The bound form jiāo means “suburbs,” as in in Běijīng xījiāo. “the western suburbs of Běijīng,” yuǎnjiào. “the outer suburbs.” and jìnjiāo, “the close suburbs.” (Qū, “area, district,” will be introduced separately in Unit 5 of this module.) Běijīng jiāoqū yígòng yǒu èrbáiqīshièrge gōngshè. Altogether, there are 272 communes in the suburbs of Běijīng. Sìjìqīng gōngshè zài Běijīngde jìn jiāoqū. The commune Sìjìqīng is in the close suburbs of Běijīng. dàozi: “rice” in the paddy or after harvesting but before hulling. (After hulling, it is called mǐ, and when cooked it is called fàn.) Jīngxīdào: “Capital-West Rice,” a variety famous for its good taste. Běijīngde jīng: “jīng as in Běijīng” In conversation, you identify a word or character by giving a common phrase in which it is used. The pattern for doing this is Phrase -de Word e.g., yí èr sān sì -de sì “’four’ as in ’one two three four’” This pattern can be especially useful when you tell someone your Chinese name. If you were called Chén Dìngwén. ( ), for example, you could identify the characters of your first name by saying Yídìngde dìng, wénxuéde wén, “Dìng as in yídìng (’certainly’), and wén as in wénxué ('literature').” dōng-xí-nán-běi: While in English we usually name the directions of the compass in the order “north, south, east, west,” in Chinese they are usually named in the order dōng xí nán běi dōng nán xī běi or east west south north east south west north

quánguó: “the whole country” Wú Zuòrénde huà zài quánguó hěn yǒu míng. The paintings of Wú Zuòrén are famous throughout the country. Quánguó chǎnliàng zuì gāode dìqū shi Sìchuān. The area of the country with the highest output is Sìchuān.. Běijīng Yāo-líng-yào Zhōngxuéde jiàoyu zhìliàng quánguó dìyī. The educational quality of Běijīng's No. 101 Middle School is first in the country. miànji; “(surface) area” (For the second example, you need to know píngfāng gōnglǐ, ”square kilometer.”) Zhèige gōngshède miànji duó dà? What is the area of this commune? Zhōngguode miànji shi jiǔbǎi liùshiwàn píngfāng gōnglǐ. China's area is 9.6 million square kilometers. miànji bǐjiǎo dàde yǒu sìge: This is a useful structure with yǒu: Miànji bǐjiǎo dàde (píngyuán) yǒu sìge. As for the ones [flatlands] with a relatively large area, there are four. There are four with a relatively large area. Tā bú yuànyi qù Zhōngguóde yuányīn zhǔyào yǒu liǎngge. As for the reasons why he doesn't want to go to China, there are mainly two. There are mainly two reasons why he doesn't want to go to China. Zuótia1n mei2 la2ide (rén) yǒu duōsha3o? As for those [people] who didn't come yesterday, there were how many? How many people were there who didn't come yesterday? Zhōngwén shuōde nàme hǎode Méiguo rén méiyou jǐge. As for Americans who speak Chinese that well, there aren't a few. There aren't but a few Americans who speak Chinese that well. liángshi; “grain, cereals,” but in Chinese terminology this can also include other staples like beans and sweet potatoes.

hù(r): “household, family” The original meaning of this word, was “door.” Now it has become the counter for households. Besides its use in exchange 5, -hù can also be followed by the noun rénjiā, “people-home,” that is, “family”: Zhèige dàduì yǒu duōshao hù rénjiā? How many households are there in this brigade? Zài Měiguó, chàbuduō měihù dōu yǒu diànshì. In American, almost every family has a television. kǒu: Literally, “mouth,” this is the counter for people considered as making up a family as in Nǐ jiā yǒu jǐkǒu rén? How many people are there in your family? mài gěi guójiā: “sell to the state.” Every year, a production team must give a certain percentage (usually from five to seven percent) of its produce and cash income in taxes to the state. In addition, they must sell a quota of grain to the state, the quantity being established according to the population of the team, and the area and productivity of the land. If the team is left with additional grain after fulfilling their quota, they decide for themselves how much of it they will sell for cash to the state at a higher price and how much will be put into the team's grain reserves. The state sets quotas for grains; fruit and vegetable supply and demand are coordinated by local government authorities. ...bù shǎode cài na!: Ha is not a new word for you; it is just a contraction of ne and a. You have learned that ne is the marker of absence of change. Here it has a special function: to show that the speaker is trying to convince the listener of the greatness of an amount, the great extent of a condition, or a fact which surpasses ordinary expectations. Examples: Tāde shōurù bù shǎo ne! His income is not small (i.e., more than you would suspect)! Tā shuōle yào zuò dao hěn wǎn ne. She said she was going to work until very late. Hǎo rè'naode dìfang na! What a lively place! Kàn tā nàme niánqīng, hái néng qù zuò jiàoshòu ne! Isn't it something that someone as young as he can be a professor! Yào cānguān nàme duō dìfang, yíge xīngqī nǎr gòu? Liǎngge xīngqī hái bú gòu ne! How could one week be long enough to visit so many places? Two weeks wouldn't even be enough! Zhème dàde rén hái kū na! Imagine, such a grown-up person crying!

jiànshè: “to construct, to build up; construction” This is mostly used in a special sense: to construct or build up a country. The Jargon “socialist construction,” “the construction of China,” or “China reconstructs” conveys an attitude toward the “mission” facing the country: to build China from the ruins left by a semi-feudal, semi-colonial society into a socialist power and to create the conditions for the transition to Communism. “Socialist construction” includes the reform of the superstructure as well as the development of the national economy. Wǒmen yào bǎ Zhōngguó jiànshèchéng yíge xiàndàihuàde shèhuizhǔyì guójiā. We want to build China into a a modem socialist nation. rénmín ? “the people” You have seen this word already in Rénmínbì. “People’s currency.” Distinguish between remain and rénmín. Rénmen (with the plural ending -men) refers to any and all people, without class implications. It has approximately the same scope as dàjiā, “everyone.” Rémnín, on the other hand, refers to the broad masses and lower-level cadres, and excludes state and class enemies. Zhōngguó rémnín xīwàng néng shēnghuóde āndìng. The Chinese people hope to be able live peaceful and settled lives. Quánguó yígòng yǒu wǔwàn èrqiānduō rénmín gōngshè. There are over 52,000 people’s communes in the whole country. fāzhǎn: “to develop, to grow.” In the Society module, you learned the adjectival verb fādá. “to be developed.” Now you see the action verb for “to develop.” Zhèi èrshinián lái, Rìběnde qìchē gōngyè fāzhǎnde bǐjiǎo kuài. Over the past twenty years, Japan’s automobile industry has developed rather quickly. Zhōngguó zhèngfǔ zài nǔlì fāzhǎn gōngyè. The Chinese government is working hard to develop industry. Tā yánjiū fāzhǎnzhōng guó'iāde jīngji qíngkuàng. He studies the economic situation of developing countries.

càidì: “vegetable plots” or “vegetable fields” (large or small). shǒu; “to harvest” Lǎo Wángde càidì měinián shǒude fānqié dōu hěn duō. Lǎo Wáng harvests a lot of tomatoes from his vegetable plots every year. Shōubudào liángshi, zěnme chī fàn ne? If we can't harvest any grain, how will we eat? (rhetorical question said by farmers when working in the fields) mǔ: A Chinese unit of area equal to 1/15 hectare. In English this is simply written “mu” (or sometimes mou). dì: “land,” “ground,” or “fields Zhèikuài dì yǐqián shi wǒ fùqinde. This piece of land used to belong to my father. Tā cóng dìshang zhǎodàole nèizhī bǐ. He found that pen on the ground. Shuì dìshang ba! Lián jiàoshòu dōu shuì nàr ne! Sleep on the ground! Even professors sleep there! Zhème zlǎ nǐmen jiù dào dìli qù gōngzuó la! You're going to work in the fields so early! shōude bù shǎo: “harvested quite a lot” Here are some more examples of the pattern “Verb -de Quantity:” Nǐ chīde tài shǎo. You're eating too little. Guānyú zhèige, wǒ zhīdaode bù duō. I don't know much about this. Tā kàn xiǎoshuō kànde bǐ wǒ duō. He reads more fiction than I. Wǒ bú shi jiào nǐ shǎo mǎi yidiǎnr ma? Nǐ mǎide tài duō le! Didn't I tell you not to buy very much? You bought too much!

jīxièhuà: “to mechanize; mechanization” Jīxiè means “machinery,” “mechanics,” or “mechanical.” -Huà is the syllable which corresponds to “-ize” (make into), which you learned in the previous unit in xiàndàihuà. “to modernize.” Nóngyè jīxièhuà xiànzài shi nóngcūnde zhòngdiàn gōngzuò. Agricultural mechanization is now the key task in rural' areas. Nǐmen dàduìde jīxièhuà shuǐpíng xiāngdāng gāo a. The level of mechanization in your ' brigade is quite high! yíbàn duō yidiǎn: “a little more than half” [The opposite, “ a little less than half,” could be said as chàyidiǎnr yíbàn, yíbàn shǎo yidiǎnr, or yíbàn bú dào yidiǎnr.] bǎifēnzhī wǔshiyī: “fifty-one percent”- Chinese does not have a separate word for “percent,” expressing percentages with the same pattern used for all fractions. First, therefore, you should learn how to express fractions. In Chinese, the two parts of a fraction are stated in the reverse order from English, with the word -zhī in between. (-Zhī is a literary word with the same use as -de: possessive or modification marker.) sānfēn zhī èr 3 parts 's 2 “two parts out of three,” i.e., “two thirds” Here are a few more examples: 1/2 èrfēnzhī yī Normally, of course, you would say yíbàn. 1/3 sānfēnzhī yī 1/4 sìfēnzhī yī 1/20 èrshifēnzhī yī 5/4 sìfēnzhī wù 5/8 bāfēnzhī wǔ 17/19 shíjiúfēnzhī shíqī Percentages (hundredths) are expressed like this: bǎifēn zhī wǔshiyī 100 parts ’s 51 “fifty-one parts out of one hundred,” i.e., “fifty-one one hundredths” or “fifty-one percent” “One hundred percent,” therefore, is bāifēnzhī bǎi: Tā shi bǎifénzhì bǎide Méiguo rén. He is one hundred percent American.

biéde jǐge...: “the other few” Compare: Nǐ jiù cānguān gōngshè ma? You're only visiting communes? Bù cānguān biéde shenme dìfang? You're not going to visit any other kinds of places? xiānjìn: “advanced” This is used to describe people, work units, or methods of a high level, worthy of emulation. Individuals may be designated as advanced workers (xiānjìn gōngzuòzhé) by their unit leaders or elected by their fellow workers, and units such as factories and communes may be designated as advanced by government authorities. To qualify as advanced, a unit must have carried out all political movements successfully, successfully put into effect each policy directive, and completely met the quota for its product under the national plan. guò jitiān: “in a few days” (literally, “pass a few days”) Qǐng nǐ guò yihuǐr zài dǎlai. Please call back in a while. (In this case, guò yihuǐr means děng yihuìr.) Zài guò jìge xīngqī, tǎmen jiù yào shōu dàozi le. In another few weeks, they are going to harvest the rice. Bàba māma xiān dào le. Yòu guòle yihuǐr, dìdi mèimei yě lái le. Mother and father arrived first. Then after a while, younger brother and sister came too. zhuānjiā: “specialist, expert” The ending -jiā enters into many words describing people. It has a slightly different meaning from -zhě, which you learned in unit. 1. -Zhě is only added to verbs; -jiā can be added to nouns as well as verbs. -Zhě means simply “a person who...,” but -jiā is used for professionals or specialists in some activity. Thus, zuòjiā is “professional writer, author,” but zuòzhě is just “writer” (not specifying whether writing is the person's career). The ending -jiā is added to subjects of study, as in zhèngzhixuéjiā, “political scientist,” and jīngjixuéjiā, “economist.” In the PRC, some words with the ending -jiā carry elitist overtones and are sometimes replaced by other terms.

yǒu shénme tèdiǎn ma?: “does... have any distinctive points?” is here translated more idiomatically as “is there anything distinctive about...?” shìzhe zǔzhile...: “trying-ly organized...” i.e., “organized on a trial basis” Nǐ shìzhe nèiyang zuò xíng bu xíng. Try doing it that way and see íf it works. Zhèishuāng xié wǒ shìzhe chuān, chuānbushàng. I tried to put these shoes on, but couldn't get them on. Do not overuse shìzhe; there are other more common ways to express English “try.” Sometimes the idea of trying is implicit in the verb itself, as in Zhèipiān wénzhāng wǒ kànle, kànbuxiàqù. I tried to read this article, but I couldn't. Wǒ gěile, tā bú yào. I tried to give it to him, but he didn't want it (wouldn't take it). Sometimes, “try” can be expressed by reduplicating the verb: Nǐ chuānchuan. Try it on. Wǒ chuānle chuān, chuānbushàng. I tried to put it on, but couldn't get it on. Wǒ kāile kāi, kāibukāi. I tried to open it, but couldn't get it open. or by a reduplicated verb plus kàn: Wǒ méi zuòguo jiǎozi, zuòzuo kàn ba. I've never made jiǎozi (dumplings), but I can try. zǔzhi: “to organize; organization” Zhèipiān wénzhāng zǔzhide hěn hǎo. This article is well organized. Wǒmen zǔzhile yíge lǚxíngtuán, xiǎng dào Ōuzhōu qù wánrwanr. We organized a tour group; we want to go on a trip to Europe. Zhèige zǔzhi yǐjīng yǒu wǔshiwàn rén le. This organization already has 500,000 people. zhuānyè: “special line/field/discipline; specialization” This is used in the PRC for one's “major” subject in college, or for one's professional specialization. Wǒ zài dàxué xuéde zhuānyè shi zhèngzhixué. My major in college was political science. Shùxué zhuānyè zhēn méi yìsi, nǐ wèishénme hái yào xué ta? Majoring in math is really boring; why do (did) you want to take it? Zhèige zhuānyè zài Zhōngguó hèn shǎo yǒu rén xué. Very few people study this specialization in China. zhuānyèhuà; “specialized; specialization” Gōngchǎngde zhuānyèhuà yuè lái yuè pǔbiàn le. The specialization of factories is becoming more and more connon. Zhuānyèhuà(de) rémnín gōngshè yǒu tāde hǎochù. Specialized communes have their advantages.

tuōlājī: “tractor” This word may be a sound borrowing from the English word ”tractor,” but it also makes good sense in Chinese, since the parts mean literally, “drag-pull-machine.” píngjūn; “average” This can be used as an adjective, an adverb, or a verb: Zhōngguó gōngrénde píngjūn shōurù bù duō. The average salary of Chinese workers is not much. Píngjūn yíge rén shíge jiǎozi zěnme gòu.' How could an average of ten jiǎozi (dumplings) per person be enough! Píngjūnqilai wǒmen mèige rén yǒu shíkuāi qián. When you average it out, each of us has ten dollars. -tái: Literally, ’“platform” (as you learned in zhàntái, “station platform”), this 1s the counter for machines. (The word for “machine,” jīqì. is number 14 on this reference list.) měige dàduì èrshitái: “twenty for each brigade” No verb is necessary here. Compare: Yíge rén yíkuài. One piece (e.g., of cake) per person. mèige xīngqī yícì once every week Wǒmen xuéxiào píngjūn wùge xuésheng yíge lǎoshī. In our school, there is one teacher for every five students on the average. hái xiǎng duō mǎi jǐtái: “still want to buy a few more” English “more” sometimes contains' the meaning of “still, additionally” (hái), so the word “still” is not absolutely necessary in the English translation for US. Look at other examples of the common pattern hái... duō...: Zhèige xiǎo nánháizi hái xǎáng duō chī yíge píngguǒ, kèshi tā mama bù gěi! This little boy (still) wanted to have another apple, but his mother wouldn't give it to him! Wǒ hái xīwàng duō xué jǐge yuè Zhōngwén. I would like to study Chinese for another few months. Tā hái děi duō děng jǐtiān cái néng zǒu. He still has to wait another few days before he can leave.

túpiàn: “picture, photograph” This is usually used for photographs, as in túpiàn zhǎnlǎn, “photo exhibition” (but some people use it for any kind of illustration). xīnkù: “to be arduous, tiring, hard” (literally, “pungent-bitter”) Tā báitiān zuò shì, wǎnshang niàn shù, tài xīnkǔ le. It's too tiring for her, working during the daytime and studying at night. Nǐ zhème xīnkù yào lèibìngde. You're going to get sick from fatigue by working so hard. zhòng: “to plant” or “to grow” things: Zhèikuài dì zhòng shénme yě bu shōu. You don't harvest anything you plant on this land! Zhèng liángshi shi nóngmínde shi. Growing-grain is the business of the peasants. Zhèige shǎoshù mínzú zèi shānshang zhòngle bù shǎo qíguàide dōngxi lái chī. This minority nationality grows a lot of strange things on the mountain to eat.

zhuānyè special line/field/discipline (See Notes on No. 10) jíqì (jīqi) (yìtái) machine

lǐ: A Chinese unit of length, equal to one-half kilometer. lǐ is often used to measure the noun lù (“road,” but here meaning simply “walking or riding distance”): Cóng nǐ jiā dào xuéxiào yǒu jǐlǐ lù? How many 11 is it from your house to the school? The unit of distance lǐ is often used in rural areas, but rarely in the city. Wànlǐ Chángchéng: You learned Chángchéng, “the Great Wall,” in the Meeting module. The descriptive term Wànlǐ Chángchéng comes from the fact that the wall is over twelve thousand lǐ in total length (approximately 6,700 kilometers). yǒu yívàn lǐ cháng: “is ten thousand lǐ long” Use the verb yǒu (not shì) in sentences telling or asking length, height, area, time, age, etc. In such sentences, yǒu has the special meaning “to attain, to come up to (a certain level).” Cóng zhèr dào huǒchēzhàn ! yǒu duō yuǎn? How far is it from here to the train station? Chàbuduō yǒu yìlī lù. It’s about one lǐ. ǐde háizi yǒu duō dà? How old is your child? Tā yǒu sānsui duō. He is over three years old. Nǐ yǒu duō gāo? How tall are you? Wǒ yǒu yìmǐ bā. I’m one meter eighty (cm). Shànghǎide dōngtiān zhǐ yǒu liǎngge yuè. Winter in Shànghǎi is only two months (long). The negative of such sentences uses méiyǒu: A: Dào huǒchēzhàn zhēn yǒu wǔlǐ lù ma? Is it really five lǐ to the train station? B: Méiyǒu wǔlǐ, hěn jìn. No, it isn’t. It’s very close. Tā méiyǒu wǔsilsuì, tā cái sìshijǐ. He isn’t (as old as) fifty years old; he’s only forty-something. jīngguòle hǎojǐge shěng: “goes through many provinces.” This sentence illustrates well that completion -le is completely different from English past tense. Eves with completion -le, the verb still means “goes through,” not “went through.” The completion of an event in the past can result in a present state (for example, the Great Wall was built in the past and is still standing), and so -le must sometimes be translated into English with the present tense. Other examples: Wǒ xiànzài dǒngle tā wèishénme méi gēn tā jiéhūn. Now I understand why he didn’t marry her. Wǒ dàile yǎnjìng, nī dōu bú rènshi wǒ le, shì ma? You don’t recognize me with glasses on, eh? (I am wearing glasses.) Zhèiběn shū jièshàole Mèiguóde zhèngzhi qíngkuàng. This book introduces the American political situation. shěng: “province” Shěng takes the counter -ge. or is sometimes used without a counter. Zhōngguó yígòng yǒu èrshièrge shěng. China has twenty-two provinces altogether.

xiū: “to repair” roads, structures, cars, radios, shoes, etc. Also, “to trim” hair, fingernails, or ”to prune” trees, shrubbery, etc. Also, “to build, to construct” reservoirs, railroads, roads, irrigation ditches, etc. xiūguo hǎo jǐcì le: “has been repaired a great many times” The -le at the end of the sentence adds on the meaning “so far.” Here are other examples of the pattern ...-guo ...-le: Zhèige diànyǐng tā kànguo liǎngcì le, hái bù zhīdào zěnme huí shì. He has seen this movie twice, and he still doesn’t know what it’s all about. Tā kǎoguo liǎngcì le, dōu bù xíng. He has taken the exam twice, but didn’t make it either time. Qíncháo: “the Qín Dynasty” (221-207 B.C.) yìzhí zài xiū: Literally, “all-along in-process-of repair,” i.e., “it has been being repaired all along.”

Bādálǐng: A mountain seventy-five kilometers northwest of Běijīng, over which passes a section of the Great Wall dating from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). This is the usual spot to which tourists are taken to see the Great Wall. (Some people pronounce this with different tones: Bádàlǐng.) hǎoxiàng: “to seem,” but here meaning “it seems to me,” as in Wǒ hǎoxiàng zài nǎr jiànguo zhèige rén. It seems to me I’ve seen this man somewhere before. Nǐ hǎoxiàng gàosuguo wǒ zhèijiàn shi. It seems to me you’ve told me this before. jiànzhù: As a verb, “to build, to construct”: Zhèige dàlóu shi něinián jiànzhùde? When was this building constructed? As a noun, “a structure” or “architecture”: Zhèi shi Qíncháode jiànzhù. This is a structure from the Qin Dynasty. Tā shi xué jiànzhùde. He studied architecture. chóngxīn: “again, afresh, anew” Zhèixiē pánziwǎn xǐde bù gānjing, qǐng nǐ chóngxīn xǐ yícì. These dishes were not washed clean; please wash them again. Chóngxīn is often followed by zài, “again”: Zuòde bù hǎode huà, chóngxīn zài zuò. If (we) don’t do it well, we’ll do it all over again.

zài lìshǐshang: “in history, down through history” Chinese often uses -shang, “on,” where English would use “in,” especially for the meaning “in such-and-such a field or area”: zài jíngjishang, “in economy, eco“omically”; zài xuéxíshang, “in (one’s) studies”; zài shēngchǎnshang, ”in production”; and, of course, bàozhǐshang, “in the newspaper,” etc. yòng... zuò...: ”“o use... as...” Tā yòng tāmen jiāde kètíng zuò bàngōngshì. He uses their living room as an office.

qínlüè: As a verb, “to invade”: Sūlián wèishénme qīnluè Āfùhàn? Why did the Soviet Union invade Afghanistan? As a noun, “invasion” or “aggression”: Wǒmen bìxū fángbèi Sūliánde qinlüè. We must guard against Soviet aggression. běifāng láide: “coming from the north” The word cóng, “’from,” is often omitted from phrases such as the following: A: Nèige xuéxiàode Zhōngguo xuésheng dōu shi Táiwān láide ma? Are the Chinese students in that school all from Taiwan? B: Bú shi, yě yǒu dàlù láide. No, there are also some from the mainland. Cóng Shànghǎi qù Xīběi zhùde rén hěn duō, Běijīng qùde yě yǒu. There are many people who have gone to live in the Northwest from Shànghǎi, and there are also some who have gone there from Běijīng. Rén shi hóuzi biànde. Man came (“changed”) from the monkey.

yǒulǎn: “to sightsee,” “to tour” Dào Běijīngde wàiguo rén dōu xiǎng qù Shísānlíng yóulǎn. Foreigners who go to Beijing all want to go to the Thirteen Tombs to sightsee. Dào Chángchéng qùde yóulǎnchē měitiān sìbān. There are four tour buses to the Great Wall every day. Shísānlíng; “the Thirteen Tombs,” also called “the Ming Tombs,” because they date from the Ming Dynasty. These are located outside of Běijīng. gōngzuòzhě: “worker” in a particular field, e.g., jiàoyu gōngzuòzhě, “educational worker,” xīnwén gōngzuòzhě, “journalist,” yǔyán gōngzuòzhě, “language worker.” Such terms are PRC usage, sometimes created to replace titles with elitist connotations. Do not confuse this with the general term for “worker,” gōngren, which will be introduced in Unit 6.

gǔdài: “ancient,” the opposite of xiàndài. Gǔ-, “ancient,” is used mainly in compound words: Běijīng shi yíge gǔchéng. Běijīng is an ancient city. Gǔrén yǒu yíjù huà, “Jiāozhě bì bài.” The ancients had a saying, “Pride goeth before the fall.” Zài gǔshíhòu zhèige guōjiāde wénhuà yǐjīng hěn fādá le. This country’s culture was already well developed in ancient times. Gǔdài is also used as a noun meaning “ancient times, antiquity.” yìshu: “art,” meaning either “the arts” or “skill.” Yìshujiā is an “artist.” Wǒ tīngshuō nǐ zài zhèr xué yìshu, nǐ shi xué xiàndài yìshu háishi gǔdài yìshu? I understand you study art here; do you study modern art or ancient art? Jiāo shū shi yìzhōng yìshu. Teaching is an art. Jiàotáng: “church,” literally, ”religion-hall”

kě: Notice that kě, “indeed, certainly, really,” is often accompanied by le at the end of the sentence: Wǒ xiànzài zài kàn tā zuì xīnde shū, kě yǒu yìsi le. I'm reading his latest book now. It's really interesting.

gài: “to build,” only used for buildings. (Another common use of this word is as the verb “to cover,” which was the original meaning.) Zhèige fángzi gàile duōshǎo nián le? How old is this house/building? (lit., “How many years has it been since this house was built?”) Shí Dà Jiànzhù; The “Ten Great Structures” in Běijīng were designed and built in the 1950s by the Chinese themselves. The authorities wanted to modernize the layout of the capital and at the same time to commemorate the revolutionary victory and its heroes. The architectural styles include Western as well as traditional Chinese. The buildings are as follows: Běijīng Railroad Station, Museum of Art, Museum of History, Great Hall of the People, Revolutionary Military Museum, Telegraph Building, Nationalities Cultural Palace, Agricultural Exhibition Hall, Workers Stadium, and the Monument to the People's Heroes.

juédìng: “to decide” a course of action, or a “decision” Tāmen juédìng yào bàn dào Niǔ Yuē qù zhù le. They decided to move to New York. Wǒ juédìng míngtiān zài zuò zhèijiàn shì. I’ve decided not to do this until tomorrow. Wǒ juédìng qù le. I’ve decided to go. (Note that le is not attached to juédìng here even though “decided” is a completed action. The verb which follows juédìng prevents this.) Wǒ yào hé Huáshèngdùn fāngmian shāngliang yíxià cái néng zuò juédìng. I have to discuss this with Washington before I can make a decision. chuānguò: “to cross through” Cóng zhèr chuānguoqu jiù dào le. We Just cross through here and then we’re there. guǎngchǎng: “square” in a city (the literal meaning is “wide-field”)

Gùgōng: The full name is Gùgōng Bōwùyuàn, “the Former Imperial Palace Museum.” This was the palace of the ruling families of the Míng and Qīng dynasties. It is located in the center of Běijìng. In conversation it is usually referred to simply as the Gùgōng (literally, “Former-palace”). kàndewán kànbuwán?: “can (one) finish seeing (it)?” This is the compound verb of result kànwán, “finish seeing,” with the syllables -de- and -bu- inserted between the action and the result. Notice that in the question form, the affirmative choice is given first and the negative choice second, just as in simple questions like qù bu qù (which means qù háishi bú qù). In some varieties of Standard Chinese, the question form of verbs like kàndewán follows the pattern Action bu Action-de-Result: Kàn bu kàndeván? This pattern is increasingly common. Gùgōng yìtiānkàndewán kànbuwán?: Note the placement of the time expression yìtiān, “one day,” BEFORE the verb Remember: Time expressions referring to POINTS in time, including ones like “in (by the end of) two days,” go BEFORE; those describing the CONTINUATION of time go AFTER. (Review the note on placement of time phrases in the Meeting module, Unit 1, Notes on No. 6.) . Expressions telling that something is done WITHIN a certain period of time (usually translated as “in” a certain period) come BEFORE the verb. Other examples: Nǐ yìtiān néng huílai ma? Can you get back in one day? Méi wèntí, bàntiān jiù huílai le. No problem. I’ll be back in half a day. Wǒ yìhuǐr yào chūqu. I’ll be going out in a while. Tā yíge zhōngtóu jiù xuéhuì le. He learned it in just an hour. Wǒ liǎngge yuè qù yícì. I go once in two months. nǎr: The word for “where” is used here to make a rhetorical question (one to which no answer is expected) implying the negative of what it says. Other examples: Nǎr yòu nàme róngyì! Since when is it that easy. (It isn’t at all so easy.) Wǒ nǎr zhīdào tā yǐjīng jiéhūn lei How was I to know that she was already married! (i.e., I had no way of knowing)

shéi... shéi jiù...: “whoever...” You can use an interrogative pronoun— shéi, shénme, něige, zěnme, náli, shénme shíhou, duōshào, etc. in a dependent clause and then repeat it in the main clause to get meanings like “whoever,” “whatever,” “however,” “wherever,” “whenever,” “however much,” etc. The adverb s, “then,” is often used in the main clause. Nǐ xūyào shénme, wǒ jiù gěi nǐ shénme. I’ll give you whatever you need. Náli duì nlǐzuì fàngbian wǒmen jiù zài náli Jiàn miàn. We’ll meet wherever is most convenient for you. Shéi xiǎng qù, shéi jiù qù. Whoever wants to go, goes. Here are some examples in which jiù is not used: Nǐ ài zěnmeyàng zěnmeyàng. Do whatever you like. Nǐ shénme shíhou fāngbian, shénme shíhou lái. Come whenever it’s convenient for you Zài Táiwān, xiāngjiāo zǒngshi yǒu; yào duōshǎo, yǒu duōshào. They always have bananas in Taiwan; there are as many as one could want (i.e., there are plenty). xiǎngzhe: “be thinking of, have on one’s mind” -Zhe on the end of an action verb like xiǎng shows the prolonging of the action over a period of time. Compare these examples: Bié zhànzhe, zuòxia ba! Don’t stay standing; sit down’. Nǐ tīngzhe! Listen! Nǐ mànmàn chī, wǒ děngzhe nǐ. Take your time eating; I’ll wait for you. Wǒ zài zhèr kānzhe ta, nǐ qù jiào liàng jiùhùchē. I’ll stay here and watch him; you go call an ambulance.

cháodài: The bound form -cháo must be preceded by a name (as in Qíncháo, ’“the Qin Dynasty”). Cháodài can be used alone, as in Zhèige gōngdiàn shi zài neige cháodài jiànzhude?, ’“In which dynasty was this palace constructed?”

méitàn: ’“coal’’ In daily life (for coal is still used as a fuel in many homes in China), this is usually called simply méi. Tàn by itself means ’“charcoal” (charcoal is also called mùtàn, literally, “wood-charcoal”). Another word tàn, written with a different character but pronounced exactly the same, means the element “carbon.” Zhèige dìfangde méitàn shēngchǎn qíngkuàng bú cuò. Coal production is doing very well in this place. zīyuán: “resources” This is used in such phrases as zìrán zīyuán. “natural resources,” and dìxià zīyuán, “underground resources.** Rìběn yōu zīyuánde wèntí. Japan has a problem of resources, (refers to lack of resources) bù shǎo: “not few,” i.e., “many,” “large” Remember that Chinese often uses bù to express the opposite of adjectives: Shíjiān bù zǎo le. It’s getting late. Nǐ zhēn bù cōngmíng. You’re really dumb. Nèige guōjiāde jīngJi fāzhǎnde búmàn. That country’s economy is developing quite fast. dìsānwèi: “third place” -Wèi is the same word you learned in Něiwèi shi Gāo Tongzhì?, but here it means “place” or “position” in a statistical ranking, -Wèi also means “place” in mathematics: gèwèi, “the units place”; shíwèi, “the tens place”; bǎiwèi, “the hundreds place”; etc. Use the pattern zhàn dì-...-wèi for “to rank in ... position”: Zhōngguó rénkǒu zhàn shìjiè dìyǐwèi. China’s population ranks first in the world. Yìndù dàozi chǎnliàng zài shìjièshang zhàn dìjǐwèi? How does India’s rice production rank in the world?

biānjìng: ’“(national) border” Zài biānjìng dìqū shēnghuó, gōngzuòde rén, yídìng yào tebié xiǎoxīn. People who live and work in the border areas must be especially careful. Zhèige chéngshì lí biānjìng hěn jìn. This city is very near the border. zài lí biānjìng bù yuǎnde dìfang: “was in places near the border” The main verb of the sentence is zài, “was in.” The phrase lí biānjìng bù yuǎn goes with -de and describes dìfang. Heóre is a diagram of the structure: Zhōnggude shíyóu zài lí biānjìng bù yuǎn -de dìfang. China’s oil was in not far from the border places. yánhǎi: “along the coast,” “coastal” (Yán, which you will learn in Unit 7, means “along.”) Zhèizhǒng dōngxi shi yánhǎi dìqū cái yǒude. This kind of thing is found only in the coastal regions. Nèijǐge yánhǎi chéngshì jiànshède hěn kuài. Those few coastal cities have been built up very quickly. Yánhǎi yídài is a very common way of saying “coastal region.” You should also memorize the expressions yánhǎi gèshěng 0n the word gè “various,” see the Notes on No. 6. , “the (various) coastal provinces,” and yánhǎi zīyuán, “coastal resources.”

kuàngqū: “mining area/region” Kuàng is the word for “mine,” as in méikuàng, “coal mine.” -Qū means “area,” “region,” as in dìqū, “region,” jiāoqū, “suburbs,” and shìqū, “urban area.” Zhèige jìhua shi guǎnyú kuàngqū jiànshède. This plan has to do with the development of mining regions. jìnshú: “metal,” literally, “metal-category” Zhèi shi jīnshúde ma? Is this (made of) metal? Xiànzài wǒmen zuò zhèizhǒng dōngxi bú yòng jinshú, dōu yòng zhǐ le. Now we no longer make this kind of thing out of metal, we make it out of paper. niándài: This has two meanings: (as used in 3B) “a decade of a century,” e.g., èrshi niándài, “the twenties”; “period,” “era” Zhèige gùshi xiěde shi shénme niándàide shi? What period is this story about? Zhèipíng jiu3 shi shénme niándàide? What vintage is this wine/liquor? jīxiè: “machine,” œmachinery,” “mechanical” Wǒmen zhèlide shēngchǎn zhǔyào kào jīxiè. Most of our production here is by machine. jīxiè is also pronounced jījiè. jīqì, “machine,” which you learned in Unit 3, is different from jīqì. Jīqì refers to individual machines; jīxiè is machines in general—machinery. Jīqì virtually- always translates as“”machine(s).” Jīxiè is basically “machinery,” but may translate as “machine” in certain phrases, like jīxiè gōngrén, “machine worker,” jīxiè gōngyè, “machine industry,” etc.

zài guò shínián: “in another ten years,” “after another ten years have passed” Here are some more examples of the use of (zài) guò (Amount of Time): Zài guò jǐnián wǒ jiù xíguàn zhèrde shēnghuó le. I’ll get used to life here in another few years. Guò jǐtiān tā jiù yào qù Yìdàlì zuò lǐngshì le. In a few days, he will be going to Italy to be consul. -chū: “at the beginning of” a time period Míngniánchū wǒ qù Shànghǎi. At the beginning of next year I’m going to Shanghai. Yuèchū zài shuō ba! We’ll see about it at the beginning of (next) month! Zhèige yuè chū tiānqi kāishǐ nuǎnhuo le. The weather started to get warmer at the beginning of this month. Wénhuà Dà Gémìng chū wǒmen shéi dōu hái bù zhīdào shi zěnme huí shì. At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, none of us knew what it was all about yet. qiángguó: “strong-country,” i.e., “a (world) power” qǐmǎ: “at least” Tā xué Zhōngwén qǐmǎ yǒu wǔnián le, dànshi hái shuōde bù hāo. He has been studying Chinese for at least five years, but he still doesn't speak well. Měitiān wǎnshang wǒ qǐmǎ yào kàn liǎngge zhōngtóu shū cái néng shuì jiào. Every evening I have to read at least two hours before I can go to sleep. Zhèige rén zhēn néng pǎo, měitiān qǐmǎ pǎo shíèr yīnglǐ. This guy can really run. Every day he runs at least twelve miles. acceptable), most basic, rudimentary” “minimum, lowest (required to be acceptable,) most basic, rudimentary” Zhèige rén! Lián qǐmǎde lǐmào dōu bù dǒng! This guy! He doesn’t even understand the most basic manners! Nǐ lián zhè qǐmǎde dàolǐ dōu bù dǒng?! You don’t even understand this basic principle (of conduct, life, etc.)?! Similar expressions include qǐmǎde tiáojiàn, “the most basic conditions”; qǐmǎde huánjìng, “the most basic environment(al conditions)”; qǐmǎde zhīshi, “the most rudimentary knowledge”; qǐmǎde shuǐpíng, “the minimum level.”

zěnmeyàng la?: “what happened (to him)” La is just a contraction of le and a. Here are more examples of the extremely useful word zěnmeyàng, “how is...,” “what happened (to)...,” or “do what”: Ránhòu ne? Ránhòu zěnmeyàng? And then? Then what happened? Éi, hǎo jǐnián méi kànjian Xiǎo Wú le, tā zěnmeyàng le? Say, I haven’t seen Xiǎo Wú for many years. What ever became of her? Yíge rén bù néng xiǎng zěnmeyàng jiu zěnmeyàng. A person cannot just do anything they feel like doing. Nǐ yàoshi bú gàosu ta, tā huì duì nǐ zěnmeyàng ma? If you don’t tell him, will he try to do anything to you? Tā bú huì zěnmeyàng. He won’t do anything. A: Nǐ dǎsuan zěnmeyàng? What are you going to do? B: Nǐ xiǎng wǒ yīnggāi zěnmeyàng? What do you think I should do? A: Wǒ bù zhīdào, nǐ yào zěnmeyàng jiu zěnmeyàng. I don’t know. Do whatever you want to do. zhòng: “to be heavy,” in several senses: Zhèige jīqì yǒu duó zhòng? How heavy is this machine? Gōngkè tài zhòng, zhēn lèi. I have too much homework; I’m really tired. Bú yào bǎ huà shuōde tài zhòng le. Don’t put it too strongly. Tā shòule zhòng shāng, xiànzài zài yīyuànli. He was badly injured and is now in the hospital. Zhòngliàng means “weight” (compare chǎnliàng, zhìliàng, shùliàng). The opposite of zhòng is qīng, “to be light,” which is introduced in No. 7, below.

gèguó: “various countries” Gè-, “each and every, various,” is a specifier like zhèi-, “this,” or nèi-, “that.” You can prefix it to counters and to some nouns. Here are some examples: Wǒmen zài quánguǒ gèdì cānguān youlǎnle yíge yuè. We visited and toured all over the country for one month. (Gèdì is “each place,” “various places.”) Xiànzài gèrén zuò gèrénde, sìdiǎn zài kāi huí. For now, everyone can do what they want. We will have the meeting at four. (Gèrén is “everybody.”) Gèwèi rúguǒ yǒu shénme wèntí, qǐng xiànzài tíchulai. If you all have any questions, please bring them up now. (Gèwèi is a polite form of address for a group of people, e.g., an audience. -Wèi is the polite counter' for people.) Tāmen yòng gèzhǒng xiàndàihuàde jīqì. They use all kinds of modem machines. (Gèzhǒng is “various kinds.”) When a gè- phrase is followed in the sentence by dōu, “all,” it takes on the meaning “every,” “all.” Thus gèguó in sentence 6A is translated as “all countries.” guānxīn; “to be concerned about,” “to care about,” “to be interested in” the welfare of something. Zhèrde lǎoshī hěn guānxīn xuésheng. The teachers here are very concerned about (care about) the students. Tā hěn guānxīn kuàngqūde jiànshè, sānge yuèli lái kànguo hǎo jǐcì. He cares a great deal about the building up of the mining region; he came to see it many times in three months. xǔduō: “many,” “a great deal (of),” “lots (of)” This is a synonym of hěn duō, and used in the same ways. chénglì: “to establish,” œto found,” “to set up” Měiguó Diànhuà Diànbào Gōngsī shi nǎinián chénglìde? In what year was AT&T established?

-qū: ’“area,” œregion,” œdistrict” This word, which you have already seen in dìqū, œarea,” “region,” and in kuàngqū, “mining region,” can combine with many other words, for example gōngyèqū, “industrial region,” nóngyèqū, “agricultural region” or “fanning region,” shāngyèqū, “usiness district (of a city),” fēngjǐngqū, “scenic spot,” shānqū, “mountainous district.” lìliàng: “power,” “force,” “strength” In 7A, this is translated idiomatically as “capability.” Another example would be jingji lìliàng. “economic capability.” Here are more examples (for the third one, you need to know tuánjié, “unity”): Wo3mende lìliàng bú gòu, méiyou bànfǎ bāngzhu ni. Our power is insufficient;, there is no way we can help you. Dà zìde shíhou, bù néng yòng tài dà lìliàng. When typing, one should not hit too hard. Tuánjié jiù shi lìliàng. Unity is strength. Shénme lìliàng yě bù néng bǎ wǒmen fēnkāi. No force can separate us. jìn...lái: “during the last...” Jìn sāntiān lái, Xiǎo Huá hǎoxiàng xīnli hěn bù gāoxìng. For the last three days, Xiǎo Huá has seemed very unhappy. Jìn jǐnián lái, tā biànhuà hěn dà. In recent years, she has changed a great deal. Jin bǎinián láide Zhōngguō lìshǐ hěn yǒu yìsi. Chinese history of the past hundred years is very interesting. qīng: “to be light” in weight Xiāngzi bú zhòng, hěn qīng. The suitcase isn’t heavy; it’s light Qīng gōngyè gōngren méiyou zhòng gōngyè gōngrende shōurù duō. Light industrial workers do not have as high wages as heavy industrial workers.

èrshinián qián: Qián is a short form of yǐqián. You can often substitute qiàn for yǐqián when it comes at the end of a time phrase. Both words are commonly used in conversation and writing. More examples: Wǒ lái Měiguó qián, shénme yě méi zhǔnbèi. Before I came to America, I didn’t prepare anything. Yíge yuè qián, zhèige dàlóu hái méi gàiwán, xiànzài yǐjìng zhù rén le. A month ago, this building wasn't even finished yet, and now there are already people living in it. qióng: “to be poor” Qióng bú shi wèntí, lǎn cái shi wèntí. Being poor isn't a problem; it’s being lazy that’s a problem. fàngxìn: “to be unworried,” “to be at ease,” “to put one’s mind at ease” (literally, “put down the heart”) Nǐ bàn shì, wǒ fàngxìn. With you in charge (literally, “[if] you handle affairs”), I am at ease, (reportedly said by Máo Zédōng to Huà Guófēng before Máo died in 1976) Nǐ fàngxìn hǎo le, wǒ huì xiǎng bànfade. Don’t you worry. I’ll think of a way. Nǐ yíge rén qù, wǒ bú fàngxìn. I’ll worry if you go alone. suàn: “to be counted as,” “to be considered as,” “can be regarded as” This verb is used much more often than these English translations would seem to indicate. To really get the feel of what suàn means, you have to look at it in context. Here are some examples (the translations attempt to be idiomatic): A: Hángzhōu suàn bu suan gōngyè chéngshì? Would you say that Hangzhou is an industrial city? B: Bú suàn, suàn yóulàn chéngshì. No, it's a tourist city. Zěnme duō cài, sānshikuài qián bú suàn guì. Thirty dollars isn't expensive for so much food. Nǐ děi zìjī huì shuō nǐ xiǎngde dōngxi cái suàn huì shuō Zhōngwén. You have to be able to say what you want to say before you can be considered to speak Chinese. A: Ti xiàèxie le! Thank you so much! B: Nà suàn shénme! Péngyōu ma! It’s nothing (literally, “What can that be considered’’)! We’re friends, after all! Fāzhǎn bǐjiǎo kuàide yào suàn méitàn gōngyè hé jīxiè gōngyè. One would have to say the coal industry and the machine industry are the most rapidly developing industries. Tiānjīn suīrán bú suàn zuì yǒu míngde chéngshì, dànshi měinián yě yǒu bù shǎo rén qù cānguān. Although one would not call Tiānjīn a very famous city, quite a few people go there to visit every year. Shuō zhèizhōng huà hái suàn shi wàijiāoguān! What kind of diplomat talks like that! (literally, (In view of the fact that he) says such things, can he still be considered a diplomat?!) Zhèi yě suàn Běijīng kǎoyā ma? bú duì ma! They call this Peking duck? The flavor is all wrong! Zài zhèi jīge xuéshenglǐ, tā hái suàn shi hǎode ne, kěshi dōu bú tài hǎo. Of these students, I suppose he’s the best, but none of them is very good.

zǒngde lái shuō: “generally speaking,’’ “on the whole’’ Zǒngde lái shuō, wǒmen xuéxiào xuéshēngde shuǐpíng dōu shi hěn gāode. Generally speaking, our school’s students are of a very high caliber. Zǒngde lái shuō, nǐmende gōngzuò gǎode bú cuò. On the whole, you did a good job. A similar phrase using the pattern ...lái shuō is yìbān lái shuō, which means “generally speaking,” “ordinarily”: Yìbān lái shuō, wǒ měige yuè qù kàn ta yícì. Generally speaking I go see him once a month. Yìbān lái shuō, Huáshèngdùnde chūntiān hěn shūfu. Generally speaking, spring in Washington is very comfortable. Yìbān lái shuō, Zhōngguō rén zǒngshi hěn kèqi. Generally speaking, Chinese people are always polite. ba: This is a new use of ba for you. It is used in colloquial speech to mark a pause in the sentence, setting off the topic which precedes it (in this case, zǒngde lái shuō). Zhèige rén ba, bú shi zuò wàijiāoguānde cáiliào. This guy— he isn’t foreign service officer material. biànhuà: “change(s)” This is only used as a noun. Shínián bú jiàn, tā biànhuà hǎo dà. He hadn’t seen her in ten years, and she had changed a great deal. shì: “city,” “municipality” Used mostly in reference to the official city level of government, e.g., Dàqìng shì, “the city of Dàqìng,” Běijīng shì, “Běijīng municipality,” shì bànde, “city-run,” yánhǎi gèshěng, shì, “the coastal provinces and cities.” Shì is also used in a few set phrases like shi zhōngxīn, “center of the city,” ”downtown.” zhōngxīn: “center,” “heart,” “core,” “hub” Běijīng shi Zhōngguōde zhèngzhi, wénhuà zhōngxīn. Běijīng is the political and cultural center of China. Guǎngzhōu shi yíge shāngyè zhōngxīn. Guǎngzhōu is a commercial center Wǒmen hái méiyou tándao wèntíde zhōngxīn. We haven’t yet touched on the core of the question. Zhōngxīn can also be used before a noun to modify it. It then translates as ”central”: Zhèixiē niánde zhōngxīn gōngzuò shi gǎo jīngji jiànshè. The central task now and in the coming years is to engage in economic construction.

ruò: “to be weak” (people or countries) gǎnxiè: “to be grateful (for)” Zhōngguó zhèngfǔ hěn gǎnxiè wàiguó zhuānjiā duì Zhōngguóde bāngzhu. The Chinese government is very grateful for the help foreign experts give to China. Tā feicháng gǎnxiè péngyoumen duì tāde guānxīn. He is very grateful for his friends’ concern. Fēicháng gǎnxiè. Thank you so much, (formal) bāng: “to help, to assist” This is a less formal synonym of bāngzhu. Bié jí, wǒ lái bāng ni. Take it easy, I'll help you. “for (someone),” “as a help to (someone)” Nǐ qù bāng wǒ ná xìn, hǎo ma? Would you go get the mail for me, please? Bāng wǒ ná yíxià hǎo ma? Would you please hold this for me a second? In most cases, the context will clarify whether bāng is meant as “to help someone do something” or as “to do something for someone,” but ambiguity may arise: Tā bāng wǒ zuò fàn. She helps me cook. OR She cooks for me. Using yìqǐ, “together,” can remove the ambiguity: Tā bāng wǒ yìqī zuò fàn can only mean “She helps me cook,” meaning that the two people make dinner together; it could not possibly mean “She cooks for me.” qítā: “other,” “else,” “the rest” Zhèixiē shū wǒ jiù kànle liǎngběn, qítā hái méi kàn. I’ve only read two of these books, I haven’t read the others yet. Nǐ qù Shànghǎi, qítā rén ne? You’re going to Shànghǎi; what about the others? Nǐ hái xiǎng qù shénme qítāde dìfang, wǒmen zài zuò ānpái. If you want to go to any other places, we'll make more arrangements. Chúle zhèige shi zhǔyào wèntí, qítā dōu méi guānxi. Besides this, which is the main issue, the rest doesn’t matter. Wǒ zhǐ juéde bù hao yìsi, qítà méiyou shénme. I just feel embarrassed, nothing else,.

Hànyǔ: ’“Chinese language” This is more formal than Zhōngwén. Shuō Zhōngguó huà bú tài nán, kěshi yào xuéhǎo Hànyú jiu bǐjiào nán le. It isn't too hard to speak Chinese, but if you want to master the Chinese language, it is more difficult. Wǒ liǎngdiǎn zhōng yǒu Hànyǔ kè. I have Chinese class at two. fǔzá: “to be complicated, to be complex” Also pronounced fùzá. Nà shi yíge fǔzáde wèntí. That's a complicated question. xiāngxìn: “to believe in, to have faith in” Tā xiāngxìn yíge hǎn qíguàide zōngjiào. He believes in a very strange religion. Wǒ bù xiāngxìn. I don’t believe it! Yǐqián rénmen bù xiāngxìn zhèizhǒng shuōfǎ, xiànzài xiāngxìn le. People didn't used to believe in this explanation, but now they do. (as used in 1B) “to be convinced, to be certain, to trust that...” Wǒ xiāngxìn tā yídìng zuòde hǎo. I’m certain that he will do a good Job.

Zhōngdōng: “the Middle East” Zhōngdōng dìqū yǒu hěn duō guōjiā dōu dúlì le. The Middle East region has many countries which have become independent. Yīsīlánjiào: “Islam” -Jiao, “religion,” goes on the end of words for different religions. The following examples are for comparison, not for memorisation: Tiānzhǔjiào (“heaven-lord-religion”) Catholicism Xīnjiào (“New-religion”) Protestantism Yóutàijiào Judaism Fójiào Buddhism Dàojiào Taoism (the popular religion, not the philosophy) Xīnjiāng: The Xīnjiāng Uygur Autonomous Region, formerly known as Sinkiang or Chinese Turkestan, is China's westernmost area. The largest of the country's autonomous regions and provinces, Xīnjiāng makes up one sixth of China's total area. In this vast land of great natural beauty and sharp geographical contrasts, plentiful resources make conditions ideal for the development of industry, agriculture, and livestock farming. Xīnjiāng has held an important place in China's politics and economy since ancient times. In the days before the large-scale navigation of the seas, Xīnjiāng was crossed by the famous “Silk Road,” by which economic and cultural ties were maintained between China and other Asian and European countries. During the Western Hàn period over two thousand years ago, incursions by the Xiōngnú (Hsiungnu) led the Chinese central government to a policy of occupying the oasis cities of southern Xīnjiāng as garrison posts. Xīnjiāng has been intimately connected with China ever since that time, although their relations have often been turbulent. The Qīng dynasty made a province of Xīnjiāng (the name means “the New Dominion”) in 1884. From the Chinese revolution in 1911 until 1949, Xīnjiāng remained under authoritarian Chinese control at the same time that local nationalist forces were also at work. Communist Chinese forces “liberated” Xīnjiāng from late 1949 until the spring of 1950. Xīnjiāng became an autonomous region on October 1, 1955. Xīnjiāng is surrounded by mountains: the Altay in the north; the Kunlun in the south and vest; and the Tianshan Range, over 200 kilometers wide, which cuts across the center from east to west. Between these mountain ranges cure basins of varying sizes. Southern Xīnjiāng has the Tarim Basin and northern Xīnjiāng the Dzungarian Basin. In addition there are smaller basins such as the Hami and Turfan Basins. All cure well-suited to agriculture and livestock farming. Xīnjiāng fine-wool sheep and Yīlí horses are famous throughout China. Despite a harsh seven-month winter, the north has its herdsmen who put their horses and sheep to graze on the wide grasslands for the brief summer. In the arid south, too, livestock herding is a major occupation. In agricultural areas, the dry climate makes irrigation indispensable; a full ninety percent of Xīnjiāng's farmland is irrigated. The areas around Turpan and Hami are famous for their “karez” (kǎnrjǐng) irrigation, a system for conveying water from sources under mountain slopes to farmland by means of man-made underground channels. Crops include winter and spring wheat, cotton, com, rice and silkworms. But Xīnjiāng is most celebrated for its fruits— cantaloupe, melons (hāmìguǎ) from Shànshàn and seedless grapes from Turpan are available in season in Běijīng's markets. The Tiānshān and Altay Mountains, covered with evergreen forests, are rich in wildlife and in precious herbs which go into the making of Chinese medicines. Xīnjiāng has important deposits of petroleum (especially at Karamay [Kèlāmǎyī], coal, iron, gold, jade, and uranium (in the Altay Mountains). The main industries are petroleum, metallurgy, coal, electric power, chemicals, construction materials, textiles, and sugar refining. About half the population of Xīnjiāng is of the Uygur (Uighur) nationality (see the note on Wéiwúěr. “Uygur,” under number 7), and over forty percent are Hàn Chinese. The rest of the population belongs to one of these ethnic groups: Kazak (Kazakh), Hui (Chinese Moslem), Mongol, Kergez (Kirghiz), Xibo (Sibo), Tajik (Tadzhik), Uzbek, Manchu, Daur (Tahur), and Tartar (Tatar). There are also several hundred Russians. In the north of Xīnjiāng there is a Hàn majority, and in the south, a Uygur majority. The capital Ürümqi (Wúlǔmùqí), with a population of 800,000 (1980, est.), is the region's center for industry, commerce, and transportation. Xīnjiāng University in (Ürümqi has departments of Chinese, government, history, foreign languages, math, physics, chemistry, biology, and geography. Kashgar (Chinese Kāshi). ancient gateway of the silk trade, is still a commercial and craft center. Kuldja (Chinese Yīníng) is a commercial center which produces leather and tobacco, and also has metallurgical and textile industry. Other cities of note are Kuytun (Chinese Kuítún). Hotan (Hétìán), Shíhézi, and Yarkand (Shāchē). tǎolùn: A verb, “to discuss,” or a noun, ’“discussion.” Rénmen chángcháng tǎolùn shìjièshang yìxiē yǒu yìside wèntí, kěshi shéi yě bù zhīdào zhèizhǒng tǎolùn yǒu shénme yòng. People often discuss some very interesting questions about the world, but no one knows of what use this kind of discussion is. Nèige rén bú ài shuō huà, cónglái bù cānjiā tǎolùn. That person doesn't like to talk. He never takes part in discussion. Tǎolùnhuì (“discussion-meeting”) is a “symposium.”

nèidì: “the interior” of a country; modifying a noun, nèidì can be translated as “inland.” e.g., nèidì chéngshì, “inland city.” From the point of view of Xīnjiāng, a border region, nèidì refers to China proper; but from the point of view of Běijīng, Shànghǎi, or Guǎngzhōu, nèidì refers to inland regions such as Sìchuān. Zhōngguó dàbùfen nèidì chéngshìde gōngyè méiyou yánhǎi chéngshìde nàme fādá. In most inland cities of China, industry is not as developed as in the coastal cities. tǒngyī: As a process verb, ’“to become united’’: Yuènán xiànzài tǒngyī le. Vietnam has now been united. As an action verb, “to unite, to unify, to integrate”: Qín Shǐhuáng tǒngyīle Zhōngguó. Qín Shīhuáng united China. in 221 B.C. gōngyuán and gōngyuán qián: “A.D.” and “B.C.” Literally, gōngyuán is ’’common era” and gōngyuán qián “before the common era.’’ gōngyuán qián èrbǎièrshiènián 222 B.C. gōngyuán sìbǎisānshiliùnián A.D. U36 gōngyuán chū the beginning of the Christian era

Jiěfàngjūn: “the Liberation Army,” short for Zhōngguó Rénmín Jiěfàngjūn, the Chinese People's Liberation Army, which in English is usually called the FLA. hépíng: “peace” (For the first example, you need to know yǔ, a formal word for “and.”) Zhànzhēng yǔ Hépíng shi yìběn hěn hǎode xiǎoshuō. War and Peace is a very good novel. Shìjiè hépíngde wèntí shi gèguó rénmín guānxīnde wèntí. World peace is a question of concern to the people of all nations. In some idioms, hépíng can be used to modify a noun or a verb. Hépíng jiéfàng “peacefully liberate,” is an example.

zìzhìqū: “autonomous region” Zhōngguó dàlù yǒu wǔge zìzhìqū. The Chinese mainland has five autonomous regions.² Zìzhìqūde rénmín dàbùfen shi shǎoshù mínzú. The people of the autonomous regions are mostly minority nationalities. chà: (as used in 5A) “to differ,” as in Běijīng shíjiān gēn Niǔ Yuē shíjiān chà shísānge zhōngtóu. Běijīng time and New York time differ by thirteen hours. (as used in 5B) “to be inferior, to be poor, to be not up to standard”: Wǒde Hànyǔ fāyīn bǐ tāde fāyīn chà yidiǎn. My Chinese pronunciation is a little worse than his. Zhìliàng chà yidiǎn, bú shi wǒmende zérèn. It’s not our responsibility that the quality is inferior. Nèige dìfangde qíngkuàng bǐ zhèr chàde duō. Conditions in that place are much worse than here. Wǒmende gōngzuò hái chàde yuǎn ne. Our work is a long way from what it should be. “to lack” Bú gòu, hái chà sānge. There aren’t enough. There are still three too few. The five autonomous regions are: Nèiměnggǔ Zìshìqū the Inner Mongolia (or Nei Monggol) AR Níngxià Huízú Zìzhìqū the Níngxià Hui AR Xīnjiāng Wéiwǘěr Zìzhìqū the Xīnjiāng Uygur AR Guǎngxī Zhuàng Zìzhìqū the Guǎngxī Zhuàng AR Xīzàng Zìzhìqū the Tibet AR jiāotōng: “traffic,” “transportation” Zhèlide jiāotōng bù ānquán, qìchē tài duō, kāide tài kuài. The traffic here isn’t safe. There are too many cars, and they go too fast. Qǐng nǐ zhǎo yíge jiāotōng jǐngchá lái. Please go get a traffic officer. zhǔyào shi...: “it’s mainly that...,” or “it’s mainly because...” Zhǔyào shi Zhōngguóde lǐngdǎo rén bù dǒng jīngji, gōngyè fāzhǎn cái nàme màn. It’s mainly because China's leaders do not understand economics that industrial development has been so slow. me (also pronounced ma): “as for,” ”...well, … .” This colloquial word marks a pause and sets off the topic of a sentence. It is often used when the speaker is hesitating about exactly what to comment on the topic. Tā zài wénxué fǎngmiàn me... kéyi shuō hén bú cuò, kěshi shùxué fāngmiàn kě zhēn chà. In the area of literature... he can be said to be quite good, but he's really poor in mathematics. Zhōngguóde zhòng gōngyè jiànshè me... zhèi jǐnián hái suàn kéyi le. As for China's heavy industrial construction... it has not been too bad the past few years. Rúguǒ tā bú yuànyì me, nà jiù suàn le. If he’s unwilling, well, then let the matter drop.

chū chāi: “to go/be away on official business” (For this example, you need to know Sū-Háng. an abbreviation for Sūzhōu and Hángzhōu.) Dàjiā dōu xīhuan chū chāi qù Sū-Háng yídài, kéyi duō yixie jīhui yǒulǎn. Everyone likes to go on business to the Sūzhōu-Hángzhōu region, (because) one can have more opportunities to do sightseeing. fàng jià: “to let out for vacation” or “to have vacation, to be on vacation” Here are examples of the first meaning: Nǐmen xuéxiào něitiān fàng jià? What day does your school let out for vacation? Fàng jià le, nǐ zěnme hái qù shàng bān? Vacation has started; why are you still going to work? Here are examples referring to the state of being on vacation: Zhèige ǐlbài wǒmen zài fàng jià ne. This week we are on vacation Fàng jiàde shíhou wǒmen cái néng zài yìqǐ. We can only he together when we are on vacation. The length of time the vacation lasts is expressed by a time phrase modifying the object jià: Qùnián wǒmen fàngle sānge lǐbàide jià, jīnnián zhǐ fàng liǎngge lǐbài. Last year we had three weeks of vacation, but this year we only have two weeks. Shíyuè yīhào, xuéxiào fàng yìtiǎn jià. Schools have one day of vacation on October 1. bú shi... ma?: This has both a literal and a rhetorical use. In 6B you see the rhetorical use. Literal use: “isn’t...?, don’t...?,” etc. Rhetorical use: “you know, you will recall, remember” Use this to remind the listener of a fact you know he is aware of (although he may have forgotten it). Contrast the literal and rhetorical use of this pattern: LITERAL Nǐ bú shi yǒu yíge mèimei zài Shànghǎi ma? Don’t you have a younger sister in Shànghǎi? (CHECKING INFORMATION) RHETORICAL Wǒ bú shi yǒu yíge mèimei zài Shànghǎi ma? You’ll recall that I have a younger sister in Shànghǎi. (REMINDING) Further examples: LITERAL Nǐ bú shi shuō yào qù ma? Zěnme yǒu bú qù le ne? Didn’t you say you were going to go? How come you aren’t going now? RHETORICAL Wǒ bú shi yǐjīng xiěwánle ma? Wèishénme hái ràng wo xiě? I’ve finished writing it, you know. Why do you still want me to write? Wǒ bú shi gēn nǐ shuōguo ma? Wǒ xiàwú yào kāi huì, méi shíjiān. Haven’t I told you? I have a meeting this afternoon and don’t have time. Xiàle diàntī, wàng yòu zǒu, bú shi yǒu ge cāntīng ma? Wǒmen jiù zài nàr jiàn miàn, hǎo bu hǎo? When you get off the elevator and go to the right, there’s a restaurant, you know? We’ll meet there, okay? Bú shi ma? may also be put onto the end of a sentence: Wǒmen fàng jià le, bú shi ma? We’re on vacation, remember?

Tz!: This sound is just like the clicking of the tongue sometimes written in English as “Tsk.” As in English, it can be used to express disappointment or chiding, but in Chinese it can also be used to express admiration, as when describing a beautiful house, a dish of food, or a smartly dressed person. měi: ”to be beautiful” Xià dà xué le, nǐ kàn wàibian duō měi. It has snowed a lot. Look at how beautiful it is outside. Zhàopiànshang tā zhēn měi. She looks beautiful in the photograph. Wěiwúěr: The Uygur, or Uighur, a Turkic people who, with a population of six million, constitute one of China's largest national minorities. Their early history, like that of other peoples of central Asia, is unrecorded. Some scholars have hypothesized that their origins were Indo-European rather than Turkic. At any rate, they emerge into the light of history in the Táng dynasty. At that time, they were a nomadic people well known to the Chinese; in fact, they helped the Táng overthrow a hostile Turkic empire in Mongolia in 7UU. The Uygur, in turn, established an empire in the area, but this lasted only until 840, when the wild Kirghiz sacked their capital and killed their khan. A portion of their population then migrated westward to the oases of the Tarim Basin. There, they mixed with the local Turkic population, and although the Uygur racial strain dominated, they adopted the Turkic language and no longer called themselves Uygur. Gradually, their occupation shifted from nomadic herding to farming. The resulting stability allowed a great development in their literature and arts, especially song and dance. In the tenth century, closer contact with merchants, travelers, and settlers from the Middle East stimulated their conversion to Islam, a process which took several centuries to complete. Modern times have witnessed the emergence of Uygur nationalism, reflected in their official re-adoption of the historical name “Uygur” earlier in this century. Uygur leaders have often resisted control by outside powers, and even attempted to establish an independent republic in the region. Under Chinese authority today, the Uygur, who remain for the most part a farming people living and marrying within the village unit, have a limited degree of regional autonomy and are guaranteed cultural freedom and linguistic rights by the PRC Constitution.

liàng: “to be bright, to be light” or “to be shiny” Zhèige dēng bú liàng le. This light won't go on. Nǐde xīn chēzi zhēn liàng a! Your new car is really shiny! Tiān liàng means “to get light out” or “daybreak, dawn”: Tiān liàng yihòu, jiēshang jiu rè'naoqilai le. After it got light out, the streets started to liven up. Tiān liàng yǐqián néng dào ma? Can we get there before dawn? gāng... jiù...: “just (hardly)... and already...” Tā gāng dàxué bìyè jiù dào Xīběi qù le. He went to the Northwest when he had just graduated from college. Zhèige háizi gāng lái Méiguō sānge yuè, jiù huì shuō bù shǎo Yíngwén le. It has been barely three months since this child name to the U.S., and already she can speak a lot of English. Zhèige xuéqī gāng kāishī, wǒmen jiù juéde hǎoxiàng guòle hén cháng shíjiān le. The semester had barely started when we felt as if a long time had already passed. nóngmín: “peasant,” as contrasted with non-ideological terms like nóngfū, “farmer,” or nóngyè gōngren, “agricultural worker.” Zhōngguóde nóngmín zhàn quánguó rénkǒude bǎifēnzhī bāshí. China's peasants make up 80 percent of the population of the whole country. -zú: “nationality,” as in Wěiwúěrzú, “the Uygur nationality,” Hànzú, “the Han nationality,” Měnggǔzú, “the Monggol (Mongolian) nationality.” -zhǔyì: “doctrine” or “-ism,” as in Gòngchànzhǔyì, “Communism”; hépíngzhǔyì. “pacifism”; mínzúzhǔyì, “nationalism”; Dáěrwénzhǔyì, “Darwinism.” dà gǎo shèhuizhǔyì: “go all out with socialism; engage in socialism in a big way” The adjectival verb dà, “to be large,” is used here as an adverb. [Adverbs modify verbs or other adverbs.] When so used, it means “in a big way” or “go all out with (doing something)”: Jiēhūnde shíhou yě bú yào dà chī dà hē. Even when one gets married, one shouldn’t put on a great feast ”Dà Bàn Nóngyè.” ”Make Great Efforts to Develop Agriculture.” (slogan)

gōngren: This is the general term for “worker” in the sense of a wage-earning laborer. (Gōngzuòzhě, which you learned in Unit 4, does not imply manual labor; it simply means someone who works in a particular field, such as education or archeology.) Examples: shíyóu gōngren, “oil worker”; nóngyè gōngren, “agricultural worker,” for example, a wage-earning worker on a state farm; tiělǔ gōngren, “railroad worker.” jiāo: “to hand over, to give” Jiāo qián is “to pay” (a fee or bill, especially one which is due regularly). Wǒ hái méi jiào zhèige yuède fángzū. I haven’t paid this month’s rent yet. Jiào gài wǒmen ba! Nǐ fàngxīn hǎo le! Leave it to us! Don’t worry about it! (Here jiào refers to turning over a task to someone.) zhǒngzú: “race” or “racial” Examples’ are Huángzhǒngrén, “people of the yellow (Oriental) race,” Hēizhǒngrén, “people of the black race,” and Báizhǒng-rén, “people of the white race?’

Suóyi... : Notice that when stressed at the beginning of a sentence, suóyi is translated as ’“That’s why... .” chǎng and gōngchǎng: Gǒngchǎng (introduced in No. 7 above) is the generic term for a factory or plant. If you were talking about the installations in an area and wanted to say that there were schools, factories, and hospitals, you would use gǒngchǎng. Chǎng. on the other hand, is only used in specific contexts. If you are talking about a specific factory, you can say chǎnglǐ for “in the factory.” A worker can say wǒmen chǎng for “our factory.” You can also use chǎng in certain compound nouns which specify what the factory makes, as in dìtǎnchǎng.

wénzì: “writing,” “written language,” “script,” “system of writing” For example, a member of China’s Committee for Reform of the Written Language would be a wénzì gōngzuòzhě. “written language worker.” Jiāoliú: “to exchange” or “an exchange,” “interchange” This is only used to refer to a back-and-forth flow of culture, technology, experience, thought, and so forth. “To exchange” one thing for another is huàn [or jiāohuàn in formal contexts such as the exchange of views or of prisoners]. shéi shuōde: “Says who!” This is strictly informal and could be taken as impolite if used in an inappropriate context. zài gǎi: “in the process of changing” bú shi... ma?: This is another example of the rhetorical use of this pattern (see the Notes on No. 6): “We’re changing our writing, aren’t we?!”

biānjiing border area; borderland; frontier; frontier region biānjiāng: “frontier region, border region” This refers to the area inside the border. Biānjiè refers more specifically to the border or boundary itself.

hái zhēn yuǎn: Hái, ’“still,” in this sentence may go untranslated; it expresses surprise at how far it is into town. In this meaning, hái is often used before zhēn, “really.” Nǐ hái zhēn bú pà lěng, zhème lěngde tiān chuān zhème shǎo! You really don’t mind (“aren’t afraid of’’) the cold; you wear so little in such cold weather! Shèyuán, “commune member,” includes working members and their non-working family members. The ending -yuán is used in various compound words to mean ’“member”: Dǎngyuán Party member Tuányuán (Communist Youth) League member huìyuán OR chéngyuán member yǒu diǎnr bú tài fāngbian: “a little inconvenient, kind of inconvenient” You are familiar with the phrasing yǒu diǎnr bù fāngbian. Here you see that use bú tài instead of just bù. Yánzhe, “along, alongside,” is used for longer distances than pángbiān, “side?’ Qìchē yánzhe zhèitiáo lù kāile hěn jiǔ cái kànjian yíge rén. The car drove along this road a long time before they saw a person. Yánzhe fángzi sìbiānr zhòngle hǎoduō huā. A lot of flowers were planted along the four sides of the house (i.e., all around the house). BUT: Fángzi pángbiān zhòngle hǎoduō huà. A lot of flowers were planted alongside the house (on the side or sides). gōnglù: “public-road,” i.e., “highway” “Expressway” is gāosù gōnglù, “high-speed public-road.” (As of this writing, mainland China has no expressways; Taiwan has one, which goes from the north to the south of the island.) . hái suàn: “can still be considered to be...” This is an idiom for “fairly.” Compare the use of hái for “fairly” which you learned in the Society module, for example, Hái hǎo, “Fairly good.” Tā hái suàn wèntí shǎode xuéshēng, biéde rén wèntí gèng duō. He can be considered a student with relatively few problems; the others have even more problems. Nà hái suàn xiǎo shì. That's not a big thing (“a small matter”)

tiělù: “railroad,” literally, “iron-road” Xīběide tiělù bù duō, érqiě yǒu bù shǎo shi gāng xiūde. There aren’t many railroads in the Northwest, and many of them were just built. Wǒ yǒu yíge gēge zài tiělùshang gōngzuò. I have an older brother who works on the railroad. fāshēng: “to happen,” “to occur” The event which happens often follows fāshēng in the sentence (just as in sentences with yǒu, “there is,” the thing that exists often follows yǒu): Bù zhīdào fāshēngle shénme shìqing, láile zhème duō rén. I wonder what has happened that so many people have come here. Zhèi jǐtiān fāshēngle hǎojǐjiàn qíguàide shì. The last few days, a lot of strange things have been happening. Nèi shíhou fāshāngde shì, wǒ dōu bù zěnme qīngchǔ le. The things that happened then aren’t very clear in my mind anymore. Shéi dōu bú jìde zhèijiàn shì shi shénme shíhou fāshēngde le. No one remembers when that event took place anymore. bǐ mànchē hái màn: “even slower tan a slow train” Here, hái is used as even. Zuótiān lěng, jīntiān, bǐ zuótiǎn hái lěng. It was cold yesterday, (but) today is even colder than yesterday. jǐnzhāng: “to be nervous,” “to be tense” Zài zhèli kāi chē zhēn jǐnzhāng, bù zhídào shénme shíhou huì zhuàngdao rén. It’s really nerve-racking to drive here. You don’t know when you might run into someone. wènwenqīngchǔ: “to inquire until clear,” i.e., “to try to find out the true situation.” Notice that you can reduplicate a verb (here, wèn) even when the verb is followed by a resultative ending (here, qīngchǔ). Other examples: Qǐng nǐ bǎ shìqing shuōshuoqīngchǔ, “Please explain this more clearly”; Bǎ zhuōzi cācagānjing, “Wipe the table clean.”

zài máng... yě... : “no matter how busy...” The zài in this pattern (meaning literally, “more, additionally”) must be given extra-heavy stress: ZÀI máng wǒ ye děi huíqu. Yě here means “still, even so.” Zhōngwén ZÀI nán wǒ yě yào xué. No matter how hard Chinese is, I’m still going to study it. -tàng: This counter for trips need not be translated here. Used with verbs like lái, qù, huílai, huíqu, etc., -tàng simply counts the number of times someone goes someplace. Other examples: Tā shàngge xīngqī dào Shànghǎi qùle yítàng. Last week he made a trip to Shànghǎi. Wǒ jīntiān yǐjìng wǎng tā nàr pǎole liǎngtàng le. I’ve already made two trips to his place today. -yàng: “kind, sort” You have learned the word -zhǒng, “kind, sort, type.” These words are slightly different in usage; sometimes -yàng should not be translated literally as “kind,” but Just left out of the translation (see the third, fourth, and fifth examples). Zhèi jǐyàng dōngxi wǒ dōu méi kànjianguo, hěn qíguài. I’ve never seen these kinds of things. They’re very strange. Nǐ kàndechūlái zhèi liǎnryàng dōngxi yǒu shénme bù yíyàng ma? Can you tell what’s different about these two kinds of things? Wǒmen jīntiān wǎnshàng yǒu jǐyàng cài? Hew many dishes are we having tonight [for dinner]? Tā dào shāngdiàn qùle jǐcì yě méi mǎihui yíyàng dōngxi lai. He went to the store several times, but didn’t come back with a single thing. Wǒ zhèr hái yǒu liǎngyàng shuǐguǒ... yíge píngguǒ yíge júzi. I still have two fruits here... one apple and one tangerine/orange. háishi; “it would be better to... .“ This is another meaning for the word which you first learned as meaning “still.” Wǒ bù shūfu, háishi shǎo chī diǎnr ba. I'm not feeling well. I'd better not eat too much. Háishi Ōuyáng Lǎoshī yíge rén qù, nǐmen dōu liú zài zhèr ba. It would be better if Teacher Ouyang went alone; the rest of you just stay here. Also used in the pattern háishi... hǎo: Háishi nǐ qù háo. It would be better if you went.

jǐn: “to be tight,” in both literal and figurative senses. Zhèishuāng xié tài jǐn. These shoes are too tight. Bǎ mén guānjǐn. Shut the door tight. Wǒde shíjiān ānpaide hěn jǐn. I have a very tight schedule. bǐfang shuō... ba: Ba can be used at the end of a bǐfang shuō phrase. Compare the use of bā shown in unit 5. yòuéryuán: “kindergarten,” literally, “young-child-garden” In Taiwan, the word yòuzhìyuán is used instead. xuǎn: “to choose,” “to select”; “to elect” Tāmen xuǎn wǒ zuò dàibiǎode shíhou, wǒ hěn bù hào yìsī. dàibiào. ”representative, delegate” (TVL, Unit 8) When they elected me as representative, I was very embarrassed. Tā zài shāngdiànli zǒule bàntián yě méi xuǎndào tā xǐhuande dōngxi. She walked around the store for a long time but didn’t find anything she liked.. (Xuǎn is often used for “selecting”—buying—items at a store.)

cóng chǎnliàngshang kàn: “from the point of view of yield” Other examples of this pattern: cóng shùliangshang kàn, “from the point of view of numbers/quantity”; cóng fàzhàn jīngjishang kàn, “from the point of view of developing the economy?” Chángjiāng: “Long-River,” the Yangtze, now called the Changjiang in PRC publications. China’s longest river (6,300 kilometers), the Changjiang is an important artery of water transportation, passing through the cities of Chōngqìng, Wǔhàn, Nánjīng, and Shànghǎi. ...yǐnán: to the south of... yǐběi is to the north of. Júzi zhòng zai Chángjiāng yǐnán shi tiāánde, dàole Chángjing yǐběi jiù chéngle kǚde le. Tangerines grown south of the Changjiang are sweet, but north of the Changjiang, they become bitter. jiù shi...yě... : “even...” Jiù shi wǒ yě zhīdao. Even I know that. Jiù shi xuézhě yě bù dǒng zhèige wèntí. Even scholars do not understand this problem. Zhèige dà píngguǒ shi wǒ tèbié xuǎnchulai gěi nǐde. I picked this big apple out especially for you. “even if ... ” Tā shuō jiùshi nǐ qù zuò yě zuòbuhǎo. He said that even if you did it, you wouldn’t do it right. Nǐ jiùshi mǎile wǒ yě bù chī. Even if you bought it I wouldn’t eat it. bú yòng shuō X, jiù shi Y yě...: This three-part pattern means “For X, that goes without saying, but even Y is....” Sometimes in English we mention the parts X and Y in the reverse order: “Even Y is . . . , not to mention X.” Nèige dìfang zhēn hǎowánr, bú yòng shuō xiǎoháir, jiù shi dàren yě zài nàr wánrde hěn gāoxìng. That place is really fun. Even grown-ups have a great time there, not to mention children, For bú yòng shuō, you can often substitute bú yào shuō. For jiù shi, you can substitute 1ián. For yě, you can substitute dōu. When the clause after yě has bù or méi, you can translate bú yòng shuō as “much less”: Bú yòng shuō zhōngxuéshēng, jiù shi yánjiùshēng yě kànbudǒng zhèiplān wénzhāng. Even graduate students cannot understand this article, much less high school students. Wǒ bú yòng shuō xiě, lián tīng yě láibují. I couldn’t even keep up listening to it, much less write it down. Bú yào shuō qù kàn diànyǐng, wǒ lián chī fànde shíjiān dōu méiyou. I don’t even have time to eat, much less go to the movies. gǎnshanglai: “to catch up” by hurrying (gǎn means “to hurry”) Tā suīrán bìngle hǎojǐtiān, kěshi xuéxí háishi gǎnshanglai le. Although he has been sick for quite a few days, he has caught up with his schoolwork. Wǒ yǒu diǎnr shì, nǐmen xiān zǒu ba! Děng yihuǐr wǒ jiu gǎnshanglai. I have something I have to do. You go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you in a minute.

gāngtiě: Literally, “steel-iron,” but usually translated as “iron and steel” (The usual order of paired words in Chinese and English is often the same, but sometimes differs. Other examples are bàba māma, “mom and dad”; yéye nǎinai. “grandma and grandpa.”) shítáng: “dining hall,” “cafeteria,” “mess hall” zhígōng: “staff and workers”; “staff member or worker” Zhèige chǎngde zhígōng dàbùfen shi nǚde. The staff and workers of this factory are mostly women. Zhèige zhígōng xuéxiào yǒu bù shǎo hèn hǎode lǎoshī, tāmen dōu duì zhígōng jiàoyu hěn rèxín. This staff and worker school has a lot of good teachers who are very interested and enthusiastic toward staff and worker education. Zhígōng shítáng chángcháng mài lěng fàn. Staff and worker dining halls often sell cold food. jiāshǔ: “family members,” “(family) dependents” Gànbude jiàshǔ chángcháng shòudao tèbiéde zhàogu. The families of cadres often receive special care. Dàqìngde gōngren jiāshǔ hěn duō dōu shi nóngmín. Many families of workers at Dàqìng are peasants. NOTE: Although in context, jiāshǔ may be translated as “family” as in the sentence above, it is different from jiātíng. Jiātíng refers to the family unit, the household. Jiāshǔ refers collectively to the family members other than the head of household. yǒu bù shàode dàshítáng ne!: On this use of ne, see Unit 3 Reference Notes, Notes on No. 5.

zhìzào: “to manufacture,” as in Zhōngguó zhìzào, “Made in China.” zhìzàochǎng, “plant,” “factory” zài nǎr jiànguo ta: “have seen him somewhere” Nǎr, like other question words used in statements, becomes an indefinite pronoun here: “somewhere.” Wǒ jìde wǒ zài nǎr chīguo zhèige cài. I remember having this dish 'somewhere before. gǎocuò: “to get (something) wrong” or “to do (something) wrong” Bié gǎocuò le, zhèige zì hěn fǚzá ne! Don't get it wrong; this character is very complicated! Ò, wǒ gǎocuò le, tā bú shi wǒ yào zhǎode nèige nǚháizi. Oh, I'm mistaken. She isn't the young woman I'm looking for. Tā bāǎzhèige wèntí gǎocuò le, méiyou nàme fǚzá. He has misunderstood this problem. It's not that complicated. Compare other verbs that have the resultative ending -cuò: Nǐ niàncuò le ba, zhèige zì hǎoxiàng bú niàn lǜè, niàn liè. You've read it wrong, haven't you? I don't think this character is read lǜè; it's read liè. Xǎāoxīn, bú yào zǒucuò. Careful, don't go the wrong way. rényuán: “personnel,” “staff.” Often used in gōngzuò rényuán. “working personnel,” “staff member.” Zhèli suǒyǒude gōngzuò rényuán dōu shàngguo dàxué. All the personnel here have attended college. Wǒmen xiànzài xūyào hěn duō dǒng Yīngyǚde kējì rényuán. We now need a lot of scientific and technical personnel who understand English.

yíbàn yǐshàng: “over half” Yǐshàng and yǐxià are used after quantities to mean, respectively, “over” and “under” an amount. Zhèrde yánjiúshēng, sānshisuì yǐxiàde bú tài duō. Not many of the graduate students here are under thirty. Zài Běijīng, wǔcéng lōu yīǐhàngde dàlóu cái yǒu diàntī. In Běijīng, only buildings over five stories high have elevators. Bǎifēn zhī bāshíwǔ yǐshàngde Zhōngguó rénkǒu shi nóngmín. Over eighty-five percent of the population of China is made up of peasants. sùshè: ’“living quarters’’; ’“dormitory” This can either refer to the kind of quarters we think of as dormitories, with many people living and sleeping in each large room, or it can mean housing provided by an institution for its workers, with each family living in separate quarters. Zhèi dìfangr shi gāngtiěchàngde gōngren sùshè. This place is the workers’ quarters of the iron and steel plant. Wàijiāobùde sùshè bǐ biéde bùde sùshè dōu piàoliang. The Foreign Ministry living quarters are better-looking than those of any other ministry. nèi jǐnián: ’“those few years” This is currently a way of referring to the period of the Cultural Revolution. bèi: This is a prepositional verb which indicates the DOER of the action, similar to the English “by” in passive sentences (like ’“John was hit by Bill”). In sentences with bèi, the subject of the sentence is the receiver of the action and the object of bèi is the doer of the action: Wǒde zìdiǎn bèi rén jièzǒu le. My dictionary was borrowed by someone. Nèi jǐnián, zhěnggè shèhui bèi jǐge rén gǎode luànqībāzāo, zhēn méi bànfǎ shuō. Those few years, the whole society was messed up by a few people; it is really sad. Unlike most prepositional verbs, bèi can be used without an object, as in sentence 8B. Here is another example: Wǒde xīn qìchē bèi zhuàng le. My new car was hit.

Lái!: Notice that lái does not necessarily mean “come here,” but can also mean “come on” and do some action. Lái, zánmen gān yibēi! Come on, let’s empty a glass together! Lái ba, wǒmen shàng kè ba, bù shuō biéde le. Come on, let’s get on with class and stop talking about other things. Lái lái lái, wǒ lái gěi nǐmen jièshào wǒ gēn nǐmen shuōguode Liáng Jiàoshòu. Now everyone, let me introduce Professor Liáng, whom I’ve told you about before. xiāomiè: “to exterminate/eliminate/wipe out/stamp out” bad things such as landlords, the enemy, illness, poverty, illiteracy, rats, flies, etc. In sentence 9, it is used humorously. bǎ... xiāomiè le!: You long ago learned le, the marker of completion. Here, le indicates that the action of the verb gets rid of something in one fell swoop. Here are other examples for comparison: Bǎ zhèige zhuōzi màile ba, méi yòng le. Sell this table. It’s of no use anymore. Bǎ diànshì guānle, wǒ bú kàn le. Turn off the T.V. I don’t want to watch any more. Bǎ yīfu tuōle ba, zhèr tài rè. Take off your coat; it’s too hot here. This use of le is especially frequent with the adverb dōu, “all”: Dōu mǎile ba! Why not buy all of them! Dǒu hēle ba! Drink the whole thing! dào: “yet, nevertheless, on the contrary” This is a very common adverb with one basic idea to it—the idea of contrasting one element with another. Depending on the context, the translation into English will differ. Here are examples of the main contexts in which you will encounter dào: One particular element in the sentence is contrasted with something previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or understood. (The contrasted elements are underlined in the following examples.) A: Nǐ xiǎng hē diǎn shénme? What would you like to drink? B: Wǒ bù xiǎng hē shénme, wǒ dào xiǎng chī diǎn shénme. I don’t feel like having anything to drink. I would like something to eat, though. Xià yǚde shihou nǐ bú dài sǎn, jīntiān bú xià yǔ nǐ dào dài sàn! On rainy days you don’t take an umbrella with you, but today, when it isn’t raining, you do take one with you! The whole situation expressed by the sentence contrasts with another particular set of circumstances previously mentioned, about to be mentioned, or understood. Bānshang zuì hǎode xuéshēng zhèicì dào kǎode zuì bù hǎo. The best student in the class did the worst on the exam this time. A: Jīnnián dōngtiān zhēn lěng! It’s really cold this winter! B: Shēng bìngde rén dào shǎo le. Fewer people have been getting sick, though. A: Zhè fángzi nàme xiǎo, yòu nàme guì. This house/apartment is so small, and so expensive. B: Kěshi nǐ shàng bān duǒ fángbian! But it’s so convenient for you to go to work. A: Nà dào shì. Well, that’s true. Wǒ dàoshi xiǎng bāng máng, jiù shi méi shíjiān. I did want to help, it’s Just that I didn’t have the time. Shìqing dàoshi guòqu le, hěn cháng shíjiān yě wàngbuliǎo. It was over with, but we couldn’t forget about it for a long time. Nà dào méi guānxi, zhǐ yào tā bú jièyi jiù suàn le. That doesn’t matter. As long as he doesn’t mind, then let it go at that. The whole sentence contrasts with expectations. In these cases, dào sometimes implies satisfaction with the state of affairs, sometimes dissatisfaction, and sometimes is neutral. In addition, it sometimes has an ironic meaning, as in the last three examples below. Yǒu zhèiyangde shì! Wǒ dào bù zhīdào! Is that so! Why, I didn’t know! Āiyà! Wǒ dào bǎ zhèijiàn shì wàng le! Oh no! I forgot about that! Sānshíkuài? Nà dào bú guì. Thirty dollars? That’s not so expensive. (Dào implies “I would have expected it to be more.”) Rúguǒ zhēn shi zhèiyang, dào hái yǒu xīwàng. If that’s really true, then there's still hope after all. Hng, nǐ dào zhēn jiǎng chī a! Well! Quite the gourmet aren’t you! (Jiǎng = to be meticulous about) Hng! Nǐ dào shuōde hǎotīng! Nǐ zuòzuo kan. Hmph! You make it sound easy! Let's see you do it! Tā shuō wǒ bù gāi zhème zuò, wǒ dào xiǎng zhīdao tā shi wǒ zěnme zuò! He says I shouldn’t have done this, but I’d like to know what he would have done if he were me!

fāxiàn: “to discover,” “to find out”; “discovery” Wǒ dàole yóujú cái fāxiàn wàng dài xìn le. I didn't discover I had forgotten to bring the letters with me until I was at the post office. Hěn duō yīxué dà fāxiàn dōu fāshēng zài gongyè gémìng yihòu. Many great medical discoveries were made after the industrial revolution The phrase Wō fāxiàn... is often used to preface an observation made about a person, or a fact that has just come to one's attention: Wǒ fāxiàn nǐ hén néng chī! I see you have quite a big appetite! jìnxíng: “to carry on,” “to conduct,” “to proceed” Zhèlide tǎolùn jìnxíngde bú cuò, wèntí kuài shānglianghǎo le. The discussion here is proceeding well; the problem has almost been resolved. yèyú: “spare-time,” “after hours,” “amateur” NOTE: “Spare time” as a noun must be translated as yèyú shíjiān. Yèyú shíjiān wǒ xǐhuān kàn xiǎoshuō. I like to read fiction in my spare time. Tā shi yèyú yǔyánxuéjiā. He is an amateur linguist.

Hàozhāo or hàozhào means to issue an official appeal to engage in some activity: Zhèngfǔ hàozhāo niánqīng rén nǚlí xuéxí kēxué zhīshi. The government calls on young people to work hard to acquire scientific knowledge. Yīnggāi hàozhāo dàjiā xiàng tā xuéxí. We should call on everyone to learn from her. Chūntiān lai le, yòu hàozhāo zhòng shù le. Spring is here; they're issuing calls to plant trees again. Lǐngdǎode hàozhāo zǒng shi yì kāishǐ hěn duō rén tīng, hòulái jiù méi rén zhùyì le. Appeals from the leaders are always followed by many people in the beginning, then later people stop paying attention to them. -bù: This is an extremely common and useful counter. It is used for cars, buses, machines, movies, and long books. Zhèi shi yíbù jiǎng huàxué zhànzhēngde diànyǐng. This is a movie about chemical warfare. déngyú: “to be equal to” Èr jiā èr děngyú sì. Two plus two equals four. Děngyú is more often used in a non-mathematical sense: Tā zhèiyang zuò, děngyú bǎ nǐ zuòde quán dōu gǎi le. By doing this, he is in effect changing everything you have done. (Literally, “For him to do this is equal to changing all you have done.”) -bèi: “times,” “-fold,” as in sānbèi three times/threefold shíbèi ten times/tenfold yìbǎibèi one hundred times/hundredfold Amounts with -bèi can be used in two different patterns, and the type of pattern used influences the meaning, as follows: EQUIVALENCE PATTERN (A = x times y) expresses equivalence between two amounts uses the verb shì, yǒu, or děngyú Examples: Liù shi èrde sānbèi. Six is three times two. Tāde shū yǒu wǒde sìbèi. He has four times as many books as I. Jīnniánde shōurù děngyú qùniánde liǎngbèi. This year's income is twice last year's. COMPARISON PATTERN (A is x times more than y) expresses comparison between two amounts uses bǐ, “compared to,” “than'’ the number before -bèi must be translated into English as one more than the Chinese number EXAMPLES: Liù bǐ èr duō liǎngbèi. Six is three times as much as two. Tāde shū bǐ wǒde duō sānbèi. He has four times as many books as I. Jīnniánde shōurù bǐ qùnián duō yíbèi. This year’s income is twice last year's. As you see, if you use liǎngbèi, “two times,” in a comparison sentence, the meaning comes out to “the base amount plus two times the base amount,” i.e., three times the base amount. Likewise, if you use yíbèi, “one time,” the meaning is “the base amount plus one time the base amount,” or in other words, twice the base amount.

Jiāoyìhuì: “trade fair” Jiāoyì means “business, trade, transaction,” and huì is the same word you know from kāi huì, “to have a meeting.” The full name of the Guǎngzhōu Trade Fair is i, the Chinese Export Commodities Fair (CECF).Since the first CECF in 957, every spring and autumn Guǎngzhōu is inundated with businessmen and people of all walks of life connected with trade—more than 25,000 at each Fair. Chinese agricultural and industrial products are displayed in the Fairground buildings and open areas, located on Hǎizhū Guǎngchǎng (Haizhu Square) between the railroad station and the Dōngfāng Bīnguán (Dongfang Hotel). The Fair is held from April 15 to May 15 and from October 15 to November 15. As the name implies, the CECF’s main purpose is to assist China's state trading corporations in exporting goods, but some large import contracts are signed there each year as well. Chùkǒu, “to export” and jìnkǒu, “to import”: Rìběn měinián chùkǒu hěn duōqìchē. Japan exports a lot of cars every year. Wǒ zhēn bù dǒng wèishénme Zhōngguó chūkǒude dōngxi zǒng shi bǐ guónèi màide hǎo. I really don’t understand why the China exports are always better than those it sells domestically. màoyi: “trade,” as in guónèi màoyi, “domestic trade”; màoyi zhōngxīn, “trade center”; màoyi fēng, “trade wind.” Zhèiliǎngge guójiā zuìjìn jǐnián cái kāishǐ jìnxíng màoyi. It is only in the past few years that these two countries have started have trade (with each other). Tán is used in the sense of “negotiate” in such phrases as tán màoyi, “do trade (negotiating),” tán shēngyì, “do business,” etc.

jīngji tèqǔ: Literally, “economic special-district,” translated as “special economic zones,” and abbreviated as SEZ. SEZs are designated areas similar to the export processing zones (EPZs) which have been extremely successful in places such as Taiwan. China established SEZs to bring in the foreign capital needed to create jobs and modernize the national economy. In these zones, foreign investors’ assets, profits, and other rights and interests are legally protected, and their operations enjoy tax and duty exemptions. Proposed investment projects are examined and approved by the Provincial administration of the SEZ, which also draws up its own development plans and organizes their implementation. The SEZs compete with each other for foreign Investment As of 1981» Guǎngdōng province had three SEZs—Shēnzhèn, Zhūhǎi (near Macao), and Shàntóu—and other SEZs had been established in Fújiàn province and Hǎinán Island. A wide variety of enterprises have already been set up. fánróng; “to be flourishing/prosperous/booming” Rìběnde shàngyè hěn fánrōng. Japan’s commerce is flourishing. Shínián yǐhòu, zhèige dìfang huì biànde gèng fánróng le. Ten years from now, this place will become even more prosperous. Cóng zhèige zhǎnlǎnhuìshangde dōngxi, nǐ kéyi kàndao fánróngde Měiguó wénhuà. From the things in this exhibition, you can see the flourishing American culture. Fánróng can also mean “to make something prosper”: Bàn jiàoyìhuìde mùdi jiù shi yào fánrōng jīngji. The purpose of holding trade fairs is to promote economic prosperity. jiāgōng: “to finish” a product, i.e., to work on a half-finished or finished article to make it more perfect or finer; “to process” a raw material into a finished product.

Guǎngjiāohuì: This is an abbreviation of Guǎngzhōu Jiāoyìhuì. jiàqian: “price” Zhèige píngguǒ shénme jiàqian? How much are these apples? Tāmende dōngxi hén hǎo, jiàqian yě bú cuò. Their things are very good, and the prices are pretty good, too. Jiǎng jiàqian means “to bargain, to haggle”: Zài Zhōngguóde shāngdiànli, bù kéyi jiǎng jiàqian, dànshi zài zìyóu shìchàngshang kéyi. You cannot bargain in stores in China, but you can in the free markets. kōngshōu: “empty-handed” Kōng means “to be empty,” as in Zhèige xiāngziō shi kōngde. This case is empty. Kōngshǒu is used, adverbially: Wǒ bù hǎo yìsi kōngshǒu dào tā jià qu. I would be embarrassed to go to his house empty-handed.

chūxiàn: “to appear” As with fāshēng, “to happen,” which you learned in the previous unit, chūxiàn is often followed in the sentence by the thing that appears, whereas in English the thing usually precedes “appear” (“Will a new class appear?”). Zhèige wèntí zài gāng chúxiànde shíhou, méiyou rén fāxiàn, xiànzài zhīdao yǐjīng tài wǎn le. When this problem first appeared, no one discovered it. Now that we’ve found out about it, it’s too late. Tàiyang chūxiàn zài dōngfàngde shíhou, jiù shi xīnde yìtiān kāishlǐ le. When the sun appears in the east, it means that a new day is beginning. [tàiyang, “sun”] Zhèige shíhou, qiánmian chūxiàn yìtiáo dà hé, shi wǒ méi xiǎngdàode. At this moment, a large river appeared up ahead, something I had not expected. jiēji; “(social) class” In the PRC, this word enters into many special phrases such as jiēji jiàoyu, “class education” (which consists of recounting the difficult past to schoolchildren and younger workers). Shìjièshang méiyou yíge méiyou jiējide shèhuì. There is no society in the world which is without classes. yánzhòng; “to be serious, to be grave” Zhèige qíngkuàng xiāngdāng yánzhòng. This situation is quite serious. Zhōngguó yǒu yánzhòngde rénkǒu wèntí. China has a serious population problem. Zhèige wèntí bú shi yánzhòng dào yídìng yào qǐng lìngdǎo lái juédìng. This problem is not so serious that we have to ask our leader to decide it. Nǐ hái méi kànchū zhèige wèntíde yánzhòngxìng. You still haven’t discerned the seriousness of this problem. -jí: “level, rank, stage, grade, degree” Zhèi yijí lǐngdào hái bù néng juédìng zěnme bàn, nǐ děi zhǎo shàngjí lǐngdǎo. This level leader cannot decide what to do. You must go to an upper-level leader. Gànbu yígòng yǒu èrshiliù jí, shíjí yǐshàngde kéyi kàn yìzhǒng pǔtōng rén kànbudàode bàozhǐ. Altogether, there are twenty-six grades of cadres. Those above grade ten may read a newspaper that ordinary people cannot read. (The Cānkǎo Zīliào, “Reference Materials”) Nǐ zhè xié zhēn gāojí! These shoes of yours are really classy!

xiànzhi: “to restrict, to limit” or “restriction, limitation” Wǒ àiren xiànzhi wǒ měige yuè chōu qíkuài qiánde yān. My spouse limits me to smoking seven dollars' worth of cigarettes a month. Wèile xiànzhi rénmínde zìyóu, zhèngfǚ dìngle bù shǎo guīju. The government has set up a lot of rules to restrict the people's freedom. Zài gāosù gōnglùshang, bǎ qìchēde sùdu xiànzhi zài wǔshiwǔyīnglǐ yíxià shi bǐjiào héshìde. It is rather appropriate to limit the speed of cars on the expressway to fifty-five miles an hour. Yǒu bù shǎo xiànzhi zhēn ràng rén gǎobudǒng wèishénme yào zhème zuò. There are many restrictions that leave one at a loss as to why one has to do it that way. Yīnwèi shíjiánde xiànzhi, wǒ méi néng zuòdao wǒ kéyi zuòde nàme hǎo. Because of time restrictions, I was not able to do as well as I could have. Xiànzhi is often used in the phrase shòu xiànzhi, “to be restricted” (literally, “to receive restriction”): Zài nèige guójiā, wàiguo rén lǚxíng shòudao hěn dà xiànzhi. in that country, foreigners are very restricted when they travel. xiāofèi: “to consume” Zhèige gōngchǎng yìtiān xiāofèi duíshǎo méitàn? How much coal does this factory consume a day? Yǐqián Běijīng jiù shi yíge xiāofèi chéngshì, shénme yě bù shēngchǎn. Bèijīng used to be just a consumer city; it didn't produce a thing. Xiāofèizhě is a “consumer.” dāihuǐr: A Běijīng expression equivalent to děng yihuīr in the sense of “in (after) a while”: Dāihuír wǒ sòng ni huiqu. In a little while, I'll take you back. Wǒ xiànzài xiān qù yǒu diǎnr shì, dāihuǐr jiù lái. Let me first go and take care of something I have to do; I’ll be back in a minute. yī... jiù...: “as soon as...” You already know that jiù means ’“then” in the sense of immediately thereafter, e.g., Tā shuōwán jiù zǒu le. He left right after he finished speaking. When using the adverb yī, “as soon as,” jiù is often used in the following clause. Tā yí dào, wǒmen jiù kéyi zǒu le. We can leave as soon as he gets here. Tiān yí liàng, tā jiù qǐlai kāishǐ gōngzuò. As soon as it gets light out, he gets up and starts to work. Wǒ yí kàn jiù míngbai le. I understood as soon as I looked at it (OR read it). Tā yì tīng zhèijù huà jiù jí le. He got anxious (upset) as soon as he heard this sentence. Wǒ yì fāxiàn hùzhào diū le, mǎshàng jiù dào lǐngshìguǎn qù le. As soon as I discovered that I had lost my passport, I immediately went to the consulate. Tā zěnme yí qù jiù shi bàntiān? What’s taking him so long? Sometimes yī... jiù... is used in the sense of “every time,” or “whenever” (i.e., once certain conditions come about, something is sure to happen): Wǒ duì zhèrde lù hái bù shú, yì bú zhùyì jiù huì zǒucuò. I’m still not very familiar with the roads here. I go the wrong way whenever I’m not paying attention. Píngcháng tā hěn máng, kěshi yí dào Xīngqītiān, tā jiù yào kāi chē chūqu wánr. Usually he is very busy, but when Sunday comes he always goes out in his car to have fun. Wǒ yì hē jiǔ jiù tóu yūn. I get dizzy whenever I drink. Tā měicì yì yǒu wèntí jiù xiǎngdào wǒ, méi wèntíde shíhou cóngláij bú ìzhe wǒ. He thinks of me whenever he has a problem, but never remembers me when he doesn’t have any problems. Yī is sometimes used without jiù in a following clause, as in Wǒ gāng yì tīng hǎoxiàng bú duì, hòulái yì xiǎng, duì le. When I first heard it, it didn’t sound right but then after I thought about it, CI realized! it was right.

xiàolǜ: “efficiency” Tāde xuéxí xiàolū hěn gāo, yìtiān néng kàn bù shǎo shū, hái néng jìzhu bù shǎo. He is very efficient in his studies. He can read a lot in one day and can remember a great deal too. Wèile tígāo shíjián xiàolǜ, wǒmen bìxū jízhong lìliàng. We must pool our forces in order to increase our efficiency. (Shíjiān xiàolǜ just means efficiency within a certain period of time.) cái; You have seen cái meaning “only when, not until” (Tā míngtiān cái dào, “He isn’t coming until tomorrow”) and meaning “only in that case, not unless” (Zhèióyang Zhōnggu wénhuà cái néng bǎochíxiàqù, “Only in this way can Chinese culture be preserved”). In sentence 6A, the necessary condition is gōngzuò xiàolū gāo. Since cái is an adverb, it must always precede the verb (here, néng), whereas in English, “only” precedes whatever it refers to (here, the noun phrase “workers with high efficiency”).

huānsòng: Literally, “joyously send off,” this is a formal word for “to give someone a send-off.” The ordinary word is just sòng. dàibiǎo: “to represent, to stand for or a ”representative, delegate” Wǒmen bù néng dōu qù. Nǐ dàibiǎo, hǎo bu hǎo? We can’t all go. Why don’t you stand in, okay? Nǐ dàibiǎo shéi? Whom do you represent? Tā dàibiǎo tā gōngsī qù cānjiā nèige jiāooyìhuì. He vent to the trade fair representing his company. As a prepositional verb dàibiǎo can be translated as “on behalf of” or “in the name of”: Wǒ dàibiǎo Lǚxíngshède tóngzhì xièxie ni. I thank you on behalf of the comrades at the China Travel Service.

hǎiyùn tiáoyuē: “sea transportation treaty” The word tiáoyuē. “treaty,” “pact,” is used loosely here, for it was technically an ”agreement” (xiédìng) which was signed between the U.S. and China on September 17, 1980. The maritime transport agreement stipulates that the U.S. open all its ports to China and China open specified ports to the U.S. (some Chinese ports do not have sufficient facilities). One third of the commercial shipping is to be handled by Chinese or American vessels. guīmó: “scope, scale” Zhèige gōngchǎngde guīmó bù xiǎo, jiù shi jìshu lìliang tài ruò le. The scope of this factory is quite large, it's Just that its technical capability is too weak. Zhōngguó dà guīmóde gài gōngyù dàlóu, zhèijǐnián háishi dìyícì. It is only in the past few years that China has started to build high-rise apartment buildings on a large scale.

xiāoxi: “news” This has a few meanings: “news” between people— “tidings”; “news” reported in a newspaper, news periodical, or newscast (this meaning is shared in common with xīnwén); “information” in the sense of “intelligence,” “news” about someone or something (e.g., “Is this information reliable?”). Yǒu shénme xiāoxi? What information is there? Wǒ gàosu nǐ ge hǎo xiāoxi! Let me give you some good news! Hěn cháng shíjiān méiyou tāde xiāoxi le. We haven’t heard from him (OR about him) for a long time. qjānwàn; “under any circumstances; by no means; be sure” Qiānwàn yào xiǎoxīn, tiān hēi le, lù bu hǎo zǒu. Be sure to be careful. It’s dark out, so it’s difficult to travel. Nǐ dàole yǐhòu qiānwàn lái ge diànhuà. When you arrive, be sure to call. Qiānwàn bú yào wàngji bǎ nèiběn shū dàilai, wǒ míngtiān yào yòng. Make sure you don’t forget to bring that book; I need it for tomorrow. Zhèijàn shì, qiānwàn bù néng ràng tā zhīdao. He must absolutely not find out about this.

shèbèi: “equipment; facilities; installation” Yǒude chǎng suīrán shèbèi hěn hǎo, dànshi shēngchǎn háishi gǎobuhǎo. In some factories, although the equipment is very good, production is still poor. Cóng Déguō jìnkǒude zhèixiē shèbèi dàbùfen shi yīxué fāngmiànde. Most of this equipment imported from Germany is for use in medicine. Zhèige gōngyùde shèbèi bǐ zhè fǔjìnde biéde gōngyù dōu hǎo. The facilities in this apartment building are better than those of any other in the area. jízhōng: “to concentrate; to centralize; to put together” Bǎ lìliàng jízhōng zài xué Zhōngwénshang shi bù xíngde, yīnwei hái yǒu xǔduō biéde shì yào zuò. It won’t do to concentrate all your effort on studying Chinese, because you have many other things to do. Zhèipiān wénzhāng jízhōngle jǐge rénde kànfā, suóyi kànqilai hěn yǒu yìsi. This article assembles the opinions of several people, so it is very interesting to read. Zài rénkòu jízhōngde dà chéngshì zhù hěn yǒu yìsi. It is very interesting to live in a big city with a concentrated population. Wǎnhuìshang xūyàode dòngxi dòu yào jízhōng fànghǎode. The things that will be needed at‘ the evening party should all be put together in one place. Zhèixiē dōngxi fàng zài zhèli jízhōng xie bù hǎo ma? Wouldn’t it be better to put those things here, all together in one place?

Zhōng-Měi liǎngguó: “China and America, the two countries” This is a formal way of saying Zhōngguò hé Měiguò. hézuò: “together-do,” i.e., “to cooperate” Wǒmen děi hézuò zhèijiàn shì cái néng bànde hǎo. We must work together on this if we are to do it well. Tā bú yào gēn wǒ hézuò. He doesn’t want to cooperate with me. Xiànzài Zhōngguò hé wàiguo shǎngrende hézuò yuè lái yuè duō le. China is having more and more cooperation with foreign merchants. Hé- can also be used before other one-syllable verbs for example, Zhèiběn shiū shi wǒmen héxiěde. We wrote this book together. dìng: “to agree on; to draw up (a plan); to conclude (a treaty)” Zánmen dìng ge xuéxí jìhuà ba! Zhèiyang xiàqu, shénme yě xuébudào. Let’s put together a study plan! We won’t learn a thing if we keep on like this. Yǐbǎiduōnián qián, Qīngcháo zhèngfǔ hé wàiguò dìngle bù shǎo duì Zhōngguò hěn bù hǎode tiáoyuē. More than a century ago, the Qīng Dynasty government concluded many treaties with foreign countries that were very bad for China. yùn: “to carry, to transport” Tā qù Zhōngguóde shíhou bǎ tāde qìchē yě yùnqu le. When he went to China, he shipped his car over too. Zhèixiē dōngxi fēicháng zhòng, yùnqilai bù fānghian. These things are extremely heavy, and are difficult to transport. Zhème duō dōngxi, hǎiyùn bǐ kōngyùn piányide duō. With -so many things, it would be much cheaper to ship them by sea than by air.