Dialogue and Translation for Exercise 2

An American visiting the Běijīng Wristwatch Factory talks with the
responsible person of the workers’ family living quarters.

-   A: Nīmen chāngde jiāshù sùshè dōu

hěn gānjing, yě dōu hěn xīn ma!

-   B: Wōmen chāngde sùshè hái suàn bú cuō, chāng līngdǎo shuō hái yào
    zài gài jīdòng xīn sùshè ne!

-   A: Sùshè hái bú gòu ma?

-   B: Bú gòu, wōmen chang lí chéngli

zhēn yuān, zhù zai chénglide zhígōng shàng xià ban hái zhēn shi yōu
diānr bù fàngbian.

A:   Xiànzài hái yōu hěn duō gōngren

zhù zai chéngli ma?

B: Yōu, hái yōu bù shāo jìshu rén-yuán yě zhù zai chéngli. Tèbié shi
nèixiē bú zài yíge chang gōngzuòde shuāngzhígōng, shàng xià ban jī
gōnggòng qìchě, bī shàng ban hái lèi, shíjiān chángle zenme xíng ne?
Suōyī wōmen zài máng yě děi kuài yidiānr duō gài jīdòng zhígōng sùshè.

-   A: Ràng tǎmen dōu ban dào chéngwài

lái zhù?

-   B: Bù, tamen kéyi zhù zai sùshèli, měige Xīngqīliù hui jiā jiu xíng
    le. Zhèiyangr, Xīngqīyī dào Xīng-qīwùde yèyú shíjiān tǎmen jiu kéyi
    zài wōmen chāngde yèdàxué xuān kè, nà duō hāo!

-   A: Xiànzài zài yèdàxué niàn shūde

gōngren duō ma?

-   B: Bù shāo, chàbuduō yōu yíbàn yī-

shàngde qīngnián gōngren dōu xuān yìmén, liíngmén kè. Tīng lāoshī-men
shuō, xiànzài xuéshēngde shuīpíng dōu kuài yào gānshang Wénhuà Dà Gémìng
yīqiánde xuéshēng lai

Your factory’s family housing is all very clean and very new!

Our factory’s housing is pretty good. The factory’s leadership says that
a few more buildings are going to be built, too.

Isn’t there enough housing yet?

No. Our factory is very far from the city. It’s really pretty
inconvenient for the staff and workers who live in the city to get to
and from work.

Are there still a lot of workers living in town?

Yes, and there are also a lot of technical personnel living in town.
Especially for those working couples who don’t work in the same factory,
wrestling with the buses before and after work is even more tiring than
work itself. How can you expect them to keep that up very long? So no
matter how busy we are, we have to put up a few new buildings for staff
and workers.

And have them all move from the town out here?

No, they can stay in the dormitories here, but go home every Saturday.
That way, from Monday to Friday, they can take courses after work at our
factory’s evening university, which would be great.

Are there a lot of workers taking classes at the evening university now?

Quite a few. Roughly over half of our young workers take one or two
courses. According to the teachers, the students’ level has practically
caught up with the pre-Cultural Revolution level.

A: Kěxl wōde shíjiān ānpaide tài JIn, yàoburán wō hái zhēn xiāng zài
yedàxue tīngting kè ne.

B: Nín méi shíjiān ting kè, qù hé yè dàxuéde lāoshl tántan yě hāo

TpM _(f)

A:   Ng, kéyi ting tāmen Jièshào Jiě—

shào qíngkuàng.

B:   Zōu, women dào bàngōngshl qu,

qing dāoyōu tóngzhì xiànzài Jiù péi nimen qù yítàng.

A:   Hāo, zSu.

It's too bad that I have such a tight schedule, otherwise I’d really
like to sit in on some evening university classes.

If you don’t have time to sit in on any classes, why not go talk with
some of the evening university’s teachers?

Mm, I could get some information about the university from them.

Let’s go to the office and ask the guide to accompany us right now.

Okay, let’s go.