FSI-Chinese/Module-7/FSI-45/Dialogue and translation for exercice 1.csv

Lǐ Ping (B), Tom (A), and Lī Ping’s classmate from Taiwan, Wáng Chéng (D), have Just gone to the movie The Dream of the Red Chamber*. On their way home , they chat.

B:	Tāngmǔ, nī zěnme bù shuō huà?		How come you aren’t talking, Tom?
A:	Duìbuqī, kàn zhèige diànyīng, shizài ràng rén bu shūfu, tèbié shi kàn dao nèige dìfangr...		I’m sorry. Watching this movie was really distressing. Especially when it got to that part...
D:	Nǎge dìfang?		Which part?
A:	Jiù shi Dàiyù side shihou...		The part when Dàiyù dies...
B:	Ng, duì le, Dàiyù sīde shihou zhèng shi Bǎoyù Jiēhūnde shihou. Kan dao zhèli, zhēn shi ràng rén hěn bu shūfu.		Mm, right, Dàiyù dies Just when Bǎoyù is getting married. At that point, I really felt uncomfortable.
D:	Nīmen you méiyou zhùyidào, hěn duō nude kàn dao zhège dìfang dōu kū le.		Did you notice, a lot of women started crying when it got to that part.
A:	Wǒ kàndao le. Ai, yǒude shihou, wǒ zhēnde bù míngbai, wèishenme hěn duō shūli háishi shuō Zhōng-guō chuántǒngde dà Jiātíng you bù shǎo hǎochu, hǎochu zài náli? Wèile bǎochí dà Jiātíngde chuán-tǒng, ràng niánqīngde yídài huò-zhě Jīdài chī name duō kǔ, zhè Jiù shi dà Jiātíngde hǎochù ma?		Yes. (Sigh) Sometimes I really don’t understand why a lot of books say that there were many advantages to the traditional Chinese large family. What advantages? Just in order to preserve the tradition of the large family, the younger generation or generations were made to suffer so much. That’s the advantage of the large family?
D:	Dà Jiātíngde hǎochù xiànzài bu duō le. Nīmen zhīdào Zhōngguode dà Jiātíng gēn lìshī you guānxī. Zhōngguo shi nongyè shèhuì, shēngchǎn dōu yào kào rénlì, shéi Jiāde láolì duō, shéi Jiāde shēnghuo Jiù huì hǎo yìdiǎn. Lī Ping, nǐ xiǎng shi bu shi zhèyàng ne?		The large family doesn’t have many advantages any more. You know, the large family has to do with Chinese history. China was an agricultural society, and production depended on manpower. If a family had a larger labor force they had a better life. Lī Ping, do you think that’s right?
B:	Shi, shi zhèiyangde.		Yes, that’s right.
A:	Nàme, xiànzài qíngxing bù tong le, xiànzài gōngshāngyè fādá le, wèishenme hái yǒu ren shuō dà Jiātíng hao ne?		But now the situation is different. Now that industry and commerce are highly developed, why do some people still say that the large family is good?

*This novel by Cáo Xuěqín (172U?-1?6U) tells of the twilight years of the Jiǎ family, grown wealthy in the service of Qīng Dynasty emperors. The story revolves around the spoiled and effeminate young man of the house, Jiǎ Bǎoyù (Precious Jade), and his love for his cousin, Lin Dàiyù (Black Jade).

D:	Dà Jiātíngde guānniàn yǐjíng yǒu Jǐqiānniánde lìshǐ le, yào gaibiàn tā, xūyào bǐjiào chángde shíjiān. Dàlùde qíngxing wǒ bù qíngchu, Taiwānde qíngxing shi dà Jiātíng yuè lái yuè shǎo le. Suīrán Zhōngguo rén xǐhuan dà Jiātíng, Juédé dàjiā zhù zai yìqǐ, hùxiāng yǒu zhàogu, dànshi gōngshāngyè fādá le, gōngzuòde Jíhuì duō le, xiǎo Jiātíng yě Jiu yuè lái yuè duō le.		The concept of the large family has already existed for several thousand years. It’ll take a rather long time to change it. I don’t know about the situation on the mainland. But on Taiwan, the situation is that there are fewer and fewer large families. Although the Chinese like big families and think that if everyone lives together they can take care of each other, industry and commerce are flourishing and there are more Job opportunities, so there are more and more small families.
B:	Xiànzài dà Jiātíng yuè lái yuè shǎo, zǎohūnde fēngsú yě Jiu méiyou le.		Now as large families grow fewer and fewer, the custom of child marriage will disappear.
A:	Zāohūn hé dà Jiātíng yǒu shénme guānxi ma?		Is child mariage related to large family?
D:	You guānxi. Zhè zhǔyào° shi láo- lìde wèntí.		Yes. It’s mainly a question of labor force.
B:	Nǐ xiǎng, zāohūn, zǎo you háizi, Jiāli láodònglì duō, lǎorén yě Jiu kéyi zǎo yidiǎn dédào zhàogu.		After all, with child marriage, children are born sooner, the family has more work hands, and the old people can get taken care of sooner.
A:	Kěshi zài gōngshāngyè shèhuìli, duōshù lǎorén dōu yǒu shōurù. Xiànzài Táiwān yǐjíng shi gōngshāngyè shèhuì, zhèiyangde wèntí yě Jiu méiyou le.		But in an industrial-commercial society, most of the old people have an income. Today Taiwan is already an industrial-commercial society, so that kind of problem doesn’t exist there anymore.
B:	Dànshi, nǐ bié wàngle, dàlù hái shi nongyè shèhuì, zhàogu lǎorén-de wèntí hái shi dà wèntí, zǎohūnde fēngsú yě háishi yǒu.		But don’t forget that the mainland is still an agricultural society. Caring for old people is still a big problem, and the custom of child marriage still exists there.
A:	Nǐ dàgài nòngcuòle ba, dàlùde zhèngfù zěnme huì tongyì rénmen zāohūn ne?		You must be mistaken. How could the government on the mainland agree to let people marry as children?

*zhǔyào, mainly

B:	Wǒ shuōde shi nóngcūn,! shénme zǎohūn na, zhòng nán qīng nú a, zhèizhǒng shi zǒng shi he Jīngji bù fādá you guānxide.		I’m talking about rural areas, Things like child marriage or regarding males as superior to females always have to do with an undeveloped economy.
D:	Wǒ shizài bù xǐhuan zaohūn. Wo xiang duōshù zǎohūnde rén hòulái-de shēnghuó dōu you diǎn wèntí.		I really don’t like child marriage. I think that most people who are married as children have problems later on in life.
B:	Tèbié shi fùnū.		Especially women.
A:	Duì le, wǒ tīngshuōguo zhèiyang yìzhong shuōfā:	Zhōngguo fùnu méiyou Jiēhūn yǐqián yào ting fùmǔde, Jiele hūn děi tīng zhàngfude, zhàngfu sǐle děi tīng érzide.^ Qīngwèn, Zhōngguo fùnu shénme shihou cái néng you tāmen zìjǐde xiǎngfǎ, shénme shihou cái néng you yidiǎnr zìyóu ne?		Right. I’ve heard a saying to the effect that before a Chinese woman gets married she has to obey her parents, after she gets married she has to obey her husband, and after her husband dies she has to obey her son. I ask you, when will Chinese women be able to think for themselves? When will they be able to have a little freedom?
B:	Ou, xiànzài méiyou rén Jiǎng zhèixiē le.		Nobody is strict about those customs anymore.
A:	Suīrán méiyou rén Jiǎng, kěshi zhèizhǒng chuántong sīxiǎng^ hái-shi you a!		Nobody is strict about them, but the traditional thinking is still there!
D:	Nī shuōde yě you dàolǐ, háishi nàjù huà, Jīqiānniánde lǎo guānniàn bǔ shi hěn kuài kéyi gǎibiànde.		That’s right. It’s still the same old story. Ideas which are several thousand years old can’t be changed very quickly.
B:	Ììg, búguò wǒ xiǎng, dàlù yě hǎo, Táiwān yě hǎo, Jīshínián lái dōu yǒule hěn dàde gǎibiàn, fùnude dìwei yě dōu yǒule tígāo, chuántǒngde guānniàn yě zài biàn.		Yeah, but I think that both the mainland and Taiwan have undergone big changes in the past few decades. The status of women has improved, and traditional ideas are changing.
A:	Ng, zheyidian wo tongyi.		Mm, that I agree with.

*nóngcūn, rural area (See Unit 6)

**Zhōngguo funu meiyou jiēhūn yiqian yao tīng fùmǔde:	(1) méiyou jiēhūn yǐqián is completely equivalent to Jiēhūn yǐqián before getting married. The méiyou does not change the meaning. (2) Tīng fùmǔde is equivalent to tīng fùmǔde huà, to obey one’s parents.

***sīxiǎng, thought, thinking (See Life in China module, Unit h)

****tígāo, raise, improve(ment) (See Traveling in China module, Unit 2)

B:	Hǎo, women dào jiǎ le. Wang Chéng jìnqu zuòzuo ba!		Okay, we are at my house. Come in for a while, Wang Chéng, okay?
D:	Hǎo, jìnqù yíxià.		Okay, I’ll come in for a while.