Dialogue and Translation for Exercise 3

In the Bàijlng Agricultural Exhibition Center, an American (A) is
examining several varieties of rice. He talks vith a worker from the
Center (2).

A: Nlmende dàozi plnzhàng h?n duo ma!

-   B: Plnzhàng shi bù shào, chànliàng bijiào gàode shi zhèi shíjízhSng.

-   A: Tàmende chànliàng zài zhèr ySu méiyou xiàzheT

-   B: Xiàzhe ne! Nín xiànzài kàndaode shi Jīngxldào, múchàn yìqiǎn
    yìbài jin zuSydu.

-   A: Ò, zhè jiù shi Q<ǎn.1 Indàode yìzhSng le.

-   B: dg. Jlngxldàode tèdiàn jiù shi hào chi. "Qiinjīndào" zhèige
    míng-cí zuì zào shi zài Jiingnén yd ng, xīknzài Jiàngnín dàozi
    chànliàng hái shi bijiào gio yixLe.

-   A: Duì, Jiàngnén duSbànr shi píng-yuán, méiyou shénme shàndì, shui
    ydu fàngbian, nóngyè shengchàn fāzhànqilai bijiào ydu tiéojiàn.

-   B: Jiù shi ma.' Sudyl Jiāngr.án yìzhí shi w8 guó zhdngyàode
    nóngyèqū.

You have so many varieties of rice!

Yes, there are a lot of varieties. The ones with the highest yields are
these ten or so here.

Are their yields written down here?

Yes. What you're looking at now is Capital-West Rice. It has a per-mu
yield of approximately 1,100 catties.

Oh, this is one kind of Thousand-Catty Rice.

Mm. Capital-West Rice is distinguished for being good to eat. The term
Thousand-Catty Rice was first used in Jiàngnln Cthe area south of the
lover reaches of the Yangtze River!. Today the yield of rice in that
area is still comparatively high.

Of course. Jiāngnén is mostly flatlands . There are hardly any hills.
Water is convenient, too. The conditions are better for the development
of agriculture.

Exactly! That's why Jiāngnén has always been an important agricultural
region of our country.

A: Búguò, wō xiāng xiànzài Huǎng He lilac ànda nōngyè shēngchln
qíngkuàng ye "bú cud le. Tlngshuó, xiànzài liíngshi méimù píngjūn
chXnliàng dōu zài sì-vùbXijīn zuōydu le.

B:   Chàbuduō shi zhèiyang. Wō xiXng

zài gud J Iniin qíngkuàng huì gèng hXo yixiě.

-   A: Shíduōniǎn qiǎn vS tlngshuōguo

Shanxi yíge shēngchXn dàduì net chàbuduō quǎn shi shāndì, méiyou jīmú dì
shi píngde, kāshi tāmen mèiniǎn y? mai g?i guójiā bù shXo de liíngshi
ne!

-   B: Xiànzài, zhèiyangde dàduì, gōng

shè bù shXo le. Ching. Jiang. Jiāngnǎn, Huǎng Hé shang xia nXr dōu yōu
a!

A: Ng, bú cuò bú cud, Zhǒngguóde nōngyè dà yōu xīwàng!

But I think that now agricultural production is quite good on both sides
of the Yellow River. I hear that the average per-mu yield of grain is
now around four or five hundred catties.

That’s about the way it is. And I think -that in another few years the
situation will be even better.

Ten or so years ago I heard about a production brigade in Shǎnxī that
was almost all on hilly land. There were only a few mu of flat land, but
they still sold a lot of grain to the state every year!

These days, there are a lot of brigades and communes like that. They’re
everywhere—the Yangtze River, Jiāngnǎn, and the Yellow River area.

Mm, great, great. China's agriculture has a great future!