FSI-Chinese/Module-7/FSI-44/Dialogue and translation for exercice 1.csv

Unit b, Review Dialogue

Early in the morning the day after Lǐ Ping (B) and Tom (A) arrive in Hong Kong, Lǐ Ping’s grandmother (C) is straightening up the living room, when Lǐ Ping walks in.

B:	Nǎinai, nín zhēn zǎo. Wǒ mā ne? *		You’re up so early, Grandma. Where’s Mom?
C:	Tā ya, chūqu mǎi cai le. Erzi huilai le, zǒng yào duō mǎi diǎnr cài ma.’ Nǐde péngyou ne? Tā hái méiyou qǐlai ba?		Oh, she went out to buy some groceries. When a son comes back, you’ve always got to buy some extra food. Where’s your friend? He’s not up yet, is he?
B:	Qilai le, xǐ liǎn ne.		Yes, he’s up. He’s washing his face.
C:	Xiǎo Ping a, nǐde péngyou Jiao shénme míngzi, wǒ you wang le.		Xiǎo Ping, what’s your friend’s name? I’ve forgotten it again.
B:	Jiao ’’Tāngmǔ.’’		Tom. ’’
C:	5, Tāngmǔ, hái hǎo jì. Nǐ hé tā shuō, dàole zánmen jiā, Jiù shi yìjiā rén, shénme shir dōu bié kèqi. Tā yí kèqi, wǒ Jiu hù zhidao zěnme bàn hǎo le.		Hm, Tom, that’s fairly easy to remember. You tell him that in our house he’s Just part of the family and he shouldn’t be polite about anything. Once he starts in with the politeness, I won’t know what to do.
B:	Wǒmen huilai yǐqián zài Tāngmǔ Jiā zhùle liǎngtiān, tā Laba māma duì wǒ hěn hǎo. Tāngmǔ rén yě hěn hǎo, zài Měiguode shihou, tā gěi wo bù shǎo bāngzhu.		Before we came back we stayed at Tom’s house for a couple of days. His parents were very nice to me. Tom is also a very good person; when we were in America, he helped me a lot.
C:	Ò, zhèiyang hǎo, niánqīng rén yǐnggāi hùxiāng bāng máng. Ai.’ Jìde nī yéye zài Rìběn nèi shihou, pīnmìng niàn shū, rénjia Rìběn rén háishi kànbuqǐ ya, nǎr you shénme Rìběn péngyou. Zhǐ hǎo Jīge Zhōngguo xuésheng zhù zai yìqǐ. Ai.’		Mm. That’s good. Young people ought to help each other out. (Sigh) I remember when your grandfather was in Japan, he studied like crazy, but those Japanese still looked down on him. He didn’t have any Japanese friends to speak of. The Chinese students just had to live together. (Sigh)
B:	Nǎinai, guǒqùde shi Jiu bié qù xiǎng ta le.		Grandma, don’t go thinking about things from bygone days anymore.

* Questions ending in ne often ask the whereabouts of someone or something, hence the translation Where’s Mom?

C:	Xiànzài hǎodeduō le, nǐ zài wàibianr niàn shū, wǒ bu nàme dǎnxǐn le.		These days, it’s much better. I don’t worry so much about you out there studying.

(Tom enters. )

A:	Lǐ Nǎinai , nín zǎo!		Good morning, Grandma Lǐ!
C:	Zǎo, Tāngmǔ, zuòle yìtiān fēijǐ bù duō shuì yihuǐr?		Good morning, Tom. After a day on the airplane don’t you want to get some more sleep?
A:	Shuìgòu le. Lǐ Nǎinai, nín zuòzhe ba, women bāng nín shōushi.		No, I’ve gotten enough sleep. Grandma Lǐ, you sit down, we’ll straighten up for you.
C:	Duō you līmàode háizi!		What a well-mannered child!
A:	Lǐ Nǎinai, nín he érzi, érxífur zhù zai yìqǐ, sūnzi, sūnnǔ yě cháng lái, nínde fúqi zhēn hǎo.		Grandma Lǐ, you’re so fortunate to live with your son and daughter-in-law, and to have your grandson and grandaughter come often.
C:	Shéi shuō bú shi ne? Wǒ cháng shuō, women jiāde fúqi dōu shi wǒ nà xiàoshunde érxífur dàilaide.		That’s for sure. I often say that the good fortune of our f ami 1y was all brought to us by that filial daughter-in-law of mine.
B:	Wǒ nǎinai you gāi’ shuō women jiāde lìshǐ le.		Here goes Grandma telling our family history again.
A:	Lǐ Nǎinai, zhèixiē shir nín gěi wǒ jiǎngjiang xíng bu xíng?		Grandma Lǐ, could you tell me about these things?
C:	Hǎo wa. Shuōqilái huà jiu cháng le.’” Wǒ he Xiǎo Ping yéye dōu shi Shěnyáng rén. Rìben rén láile yǐhòu, cáichǎn ya, tǔdì ya, dōu bù néng guan le, líkāi jiā pǎo dàole Nánfāng. Xiǎo Ping bàba zài Shànghǎi niàn shū cái rànshile women zhèige érxífu.		Sure! It’s a long story. Xiao Ping’s grandfather and I are both from Shěnyáng (Mukden). When the Japanese came, we couldn’t bother with our property or land any more; we left our home and fled to the South.. Xiǎo Ping’s father didn’t meet our daughter-in-law’ until he was going to school in Shànghǎi.

*Tom knows that this way of addressing Grandma is proper for a friend of her grandson. He intentionally calls her Lǐ Nǎinai as soon as he sees her in order to establish the relationship.

**gāi:	will probably

***More literally, When it comes to telling it, the talk is long. ’’’’Notice that grandma’s phrasing shows that the woman is first a daughter-in-law, then a wife.

A:	Nei shihou nuhaizi shang da- xuéde duō hu duō?		Were there many women who went to college in those days?
C:	Méiyou xiànzài zhème duō. Women érxífu jiā xiāngdāng yǒu qián, érqiě yídàjiā rén yǒu qī-hāshígè, zài Sūzhōu shéi dōu zhīdao tāmen jiā.		Not as many as there are now. My daughter-in-law’s family was quite rich, and there were seventy or eighty people in that one big family. Everyone in Sūzhōu knew them.
A:	Zhèiyangrde jiātíng’ guīju yídìng bù shǎo.		A family like that must have had a strict code of behavior.
C:	Shéi shuō hu shi ne.’ Tāmen jiāde xiáojie bù néng zài wài-hianr niàn shū, zhǐ néng qīng lāoshǐ dào jiāli jiāo diǎnr Si Shū shenmede. Xiǎo Ping mǔqin juéde yíge fùnǔ yào zài shèhuìshang dull, yídìng děi chūqu niàn shū. Jiù zhèiyang, tā cái pǎo dào Shànghǎi niàn shū qu le.		You bet they did! Their young ladies couldn’t go to school outside the home:	they could only hire a teacher to come to the house and teach them a little of the Four Books and so forth. Xiǎo Ping’s mother felt that if a woman wanted to be independent in society, she had to leave home to study. That’s why she ran away to Shànghǎi to go to school.
A:	Zài nèi shihou, zhēn hu róngyi.		That must have been really hard back then.
C:	Zài dàxuéde shíhou, Xiǎo Píngde fùmǔ shi hěn hǎode péngyou, kěshi zěnme hàn ne? Women shénme dōu méiyou le, yě méiyou qián, zìjǐde érzi zěnme néng hé zhèiyangr yíwèi xiáojie jiēhūn ne? Xiǎo Ping mā hu name xiǎng...		When they were in college, Xiǎo Ping’s parents were very good friends, but what were we to do? We didn’t have a thing left, and we didn’t have any money. How could our (own) son marry a young lady like that? But Xiǎo Ping’s mother didn’t think so...
A:	Tā zěnme xiǎng?		What did she think?
C:	Tā shuō tā yào zhǎo yíge zìjǐ xǐhuande rén jiēhūn, dìwei he qián dōu hu zhǒngyào. Ai, tā chile duōshao kǔ cái líkāile nèige dà jiātíng.		She said she wanted to find a person she herself liked to get married to, and that status and money weren’t important. (Sigh) What she went through to leave that big family.
A:	Nà, nǐmen zěnme dào Xiānggǎng lái le ne?		Well then, how did you come to Hong Kong?
C:	Tāmen zài Yīngguó niànwán shū jiù lái Xiānggǎng zuǒ shi, yìnián yǐhòu you hǎ women jiē-lai le, zhèiyangr yìjiā rén cái zài Xiānggǎng zhùxialai le. Xiànzài wǒ niánji dà le, jiāli dà shir xiǎo shir dōu shi Xiǎo Ping mùqin guan. Nǐ shuō wǒ fúqi hǎo, zhēn shi yidiǎnr yě bū cuò.		When they finished school in England they came to Hong Kong to work; a year later they brought us out, and then our whole family settled here. Now that I’m getting on in years, Xiǎo Ping’s mother takes care of all the big and small matters here at home. So when you say I’m blessed with good fortune, you’re absolutely right.
B:	Nǎinai, wǒ mǎ kuài huilai le ba?		Grandma, Mom will be home soon, won’t she?
C:	Kuài huilai le, women qù bǎ zǎofàn nònghǎo ba.		Yes. Let’s go get breakfast ready.
A, B:	Hǎo, zǒu ba.		Okay, let’s go.