Archive for March 19th, 2008

Learn Chinese Podcast – Happy China 87

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

                         Click to Watch Video Podcast

  (12月27日播出)

  旁白: 到了南通,游濠河,登狼山,

  The Haohe River and Langshan

  Mountain are always

  当然是行程中必不可少的内容了。

  indispensable destinations for

  a visitor to Nantong.

  不过,除了自然风光,

  But in addition to its

  natural scenery,

  南通的人文历史也同样值得关注。

  the city’s history and culture

  are also noteworthy.

  这不,一下车,我们就直奔…

  That’s why soon after we got off

  the car, we’re heading to …

  王渊源:博物馆?

  A museum?

  要去那儿干吗呀?

  Why should we go there?

  韩佳: 要了解南通的历史文化,

  If you want to know about Nantong’s

  history and culture,

  博物馆当然是最好的去处了。

  museums are the best place

  for that.

  而且我们现在要去的这座博物馆

  The museum we’re going to visit

  在中国有着非常重要的地位。

  occupies an important place

  in China.

  渊源,这里就是南通博物苑,

  Here it’s Nantong Museum,

  中国的第一座博物馆。

  the first of its kind in China.

  王渊源:第一座博物馆?

  China’s first museum?

  韩佳: 嗯。

  Yes.

  王渊源:哇,难怪你说它地位重要呢。

  No wonder you said it claims

  an important place.

  韩佳: 对啊。它是由实业家张謇

  Yeah. It was founded by

  industrialist Zhang Jian

  在1905年创办的。

  in 1905.

  而且是由他私人投资建立的。

  And it was built with his

  private fund.

  王渊源:私人建博物馆?

  A museum built privately?

  韩佳: 嗯。

  Yes.

  王渊源:哇,这在现在也不是件容易的事啊。

  Wow, it wouldn’t be easy even

  for now.

  韩佳: 更何况当时,

  Still less at that time,

  中国还没有出现过博物馆。

  when China had never had

  a museum before.

  所以建设的难度可想而知了。

  So you can imagine how difficult

  it would be to built it.

  嘉宾: 你们好。

  Hi.

  你们是来参观南通博物苑的吗?

  Are you here to visit Nantong Museum?

  王渊源:是。你好。

  Yes. Hi.

  对了,这座博物馆为什么叫博物苑呢?

  Oh, yeah, why is this museum

  called “bow wu yuan”?

  嘉宾: “苑”是指这里是园林式的博物馆,

  ”Yuan” refers to a garden-like museum

  而且是文化荟萃之地。

  and also a treasure-trove

  of culture.

  王渊源:“苑”是指花园或公园,对吧?

  ”Yuan” means garden or park, right?

  韩佳: “苑”通常泛指园林、花园。

  ”Yuan” normally refers to

  a park or a garden.

  嘉宾: 二位,我带你们在园子里转一转吧?

  May I show the two of you around?

  合: 好啊!

  Great!

  嘉宾: 南通博物苑收藏的

  Nantong Museum keeps

  是南通地方艺术文物和自然标本,

  cultural relics and natural specimens

  in Nantong

  还有全国各地的珍稀的矿石

  and specimens of rare ores,

  和动植物标本。

  animals and plants from

  all over the country.

  王渊源:哇,展品很丰富呢!

  Wow, what a plenty of exhibits!

  那当初张謇肯定是费了一番心血

  Zhang Jian must have taken

  great care and effort

  才把它们都收集起来的。

  to have them collected here.

  嘉宾: 对。

  Yes.

  韩佳: 渊源刚才说的“心血”

  The “xinxue” Yuanyuan

  just said

  就是指心思和精力。

  refers to painstaking care

  and effort.

  王渊源:“心血”就是指心思和精力。

  ”Xinxue” here refers to painstaking

  care and effort.

  Tā fèi le hěnduō xīnxuě cái jiànlì le zhè zuò bówùguǎn

  他 费 了 很多 心血 才 建立 了 这 座 博物馆。

  He has spent great care and effort

  to establish this museum.

  那他为什么要费这么多心血

  Why did he spend so much

  care and effort

  来建这座博物苑呢?

  to establish this museum?

  嘉宾: 张謇认为

  Zhang Jia believed

  博物馆可以辅助学校教育、

  museums could help

  school education

  推进社会进步,

  and promote social progress,

  进而推动整个中国的发展。

  thus pushing forward China’s

  development.

  1905年,他曾上书清政府,

  In 1905, he submitted a petition to

  the government of Qing dynasty,

  要求在全国推广博物馆。

  requesting that museums should be

  established throughout the country.

  那么这个南通博物苑

  He founded Nantong Museum

  就是他实际行动的表现。

  as a concrete action for the call.

  韩佳: 真了不起啊!

  That’s great!

  别说建起了这座博物苑了,

  Not to mention the founding

  of this museum,

  就算是他的这种想法和眼光

  at that time there were

  few people

  当时来说也已经很少有了。

  who shared his ideas

  and vision.

  嘉宾: 你们看,

  Look,

  这就是南通博物苑

  these are the earliest showrooms

  最早的展厅、展馆。

  of Nantong Museum.

  它有两层。

  It’s a two-storey building.

  底层是用来介绍

  The ground floor is devoted

  南通博物苑的历史。

  to the history of Nantong Museum.

  而楼上则是陈列南通博物苑的

  And the second floor displays

  早期藏品。

  early exhibits of Nantong Museum.

  你可以看一下,

  You may take a look

  这里有一张南通博物苑

  at one of the earliest

  planning diagrams

  最早的一张规划图。

  of Nantong Museum.

  这些都是由张謇先生亲自规划的。

  All the planning was made by

  Mr. Zhang Jian himself.

  王渊源:设计巧妙,规划周到!

  Clever designing and sound

  planning indeed!

  嘉宾: 对。

  Yeah.

  那么张謇

  Not only did Zhang Jia

  不仅是对博物苑建设有规划,

  have a plan for the construction

  of the museum,

  而且对展品的挑选

  but he also had a systematic method

  以及展出形式,

  for selecting exhibits

  都有他一整套的理念。

  and displaying them.

  这套理念在当时的世界上也是很先进的。

  The method was quite advanced

  in the world then.

  旁白: 将博物馆和中国园林结合在一起,

  It was absolutely an innovation

  for Zhang Jian

  张謇的这个设计绝对是一个创举。

  to combine his museum with a

  Chinese garden setting.

  虽然他在之前

  Although there had been

  no museums

  从来没有建立过博物馆,

  ever built in China then,

  但是他凭着

  based on the experience

  参考国外博物馆得来的经验,

  he obtained from foreign museums,

  成功地建立起这座博物苑。

  he succeeded in building

  this museum.

  不得不让人由衷地佩服!

  We cannot but admire him!

  王渊源:你怎么这么快就拉我出来啊?

  Why did you drag me out

  so quickly?

  我还没看够呢!

  I haven’t seen enough yet!

  韩佳: 没办法呀。

  I can’t help it.

  我们得抓紧时间。

  We have to hurry.

  还得去看别的博物馆呢。

  We have other museums

  to visit.

  王渊源:还有博物馆啊?

  Other museums?

  韩佳: 嗯。

  Yes.

  王渊源:我以为我们就看这一座。

  I thought we’d visit only

  this one.

  那还要看什么博物馆啊?

  What other museums are

  we going to visit?

  韩佳: 我想想啊。

  Let me think.

  有珠算博物馆、城市博物馆、

  There are the abacus museum,

  the city museum,

  风筝博物馆、蓝印花布博物馆、

  the kite museum, the indigo

  print museum

  建筑博物馆。

  and the architecture museum.

  王渊源:等等,等等。

  Wait, wait.

  南通到底有多少座博物馆啊?

  How many museums are there

  exactly in Nantong?

  韩佳: 有二十一座吧。

  There are 21 museums.

  王渊源:二十一座?那怎么看得完?

  How could we see all

  of the 21 museums?

  韩佳: 南通市特意沿着濠河

  All these museums were built

  建立起了这些博物馆。

  along the Haohe River.

  现在这些博物馆,

  These museums

  已经成为濠河两岸

  have now formed a unique

  一道著名的风景线了。

  scenic sight on both sides

  of the Haohe River.

  要是不看的话

  What a pity it would be

  未免太可惜了吧。

  if we didn’t see them.

  王渊源:那这时间?

  Do we have time for that?

  韩佳: 这样吧,咱俩分头行动?

  How about acting separately?

  看到有意思的再联系吧。

  Let’s contact each other if we

  see something interesting.

  王渊源:哎,也好。

  It sounds okay.

  旁白: 韩佳说得没错儿,

  Han Jia was right when

  she said

  想一口气把南通的博物馆都看完,

  it was no easy thing to see all

  the museums

  可不是件容易的事儿。

  of Nantong in one fell swoop.

  时间很快就过去了。

  Time passes quickly.

  我还只看完了其中的几座。

  And I’ve just seen a few

  of them.

  不知道韩佳的收获怎么样啊。

  I’m wondering how Han Jia

  has been doing.

  韩佳: 哇,找了半天。

  Wow, I’ve been looking

  for it for a long time.

  原来南通城市博物馆在这儿啊!

  The Nantong City Museum

  is actually here!

  嗨!

  Oh!

  王渊源:哎,这座博物馆看起来很特别啊!

  Eh, this museum looks so special!

  韩佳: 这不是渊源嘛?

  Isn’t this Yuanyuan?

  哎,渊源,

  Hi, Yuanyuan,

  你怎么也到这儿来了?

  why did also wind up here?

  王渊源:我看这座博物馆很有特色呀。

  Because I found this museum

  very special.

  韩佳: 要不然我们一起去看看?

  How about going in for a

  look together?

  王渊源:好啊。

  Okay.

  这模型的面积可不小啊!

  This model is quite huge!

  韩佳: 是啊。听说有四百多平米呢。

  Yeah. They say it covers

  over 400 square meters.

  主要展现的是南通未来的

  It mainly shows the prospective

  城市建设规划。

  urban development plan

  of Nantong.

  王渊源:那看来南通未来的样子

  It looks like Nantong in

  the future

  比现在更好看啊!

  will be more beautiful!

  韩佳: 那是当然的了。

  That’s for sure.

  南通的发展

  Nantong’s development

  我们可以用“日新月异”来形容。

  can be described with the

  phrase “ri xin yue yi”.

  王渊源:日新月异?

  ”Ri xin yue yi”?

  韩佳: 嗯。“日新月异”就是指

  Yes. “Ri xin yue xi” means

  每天都在更新,每月都有变化,

  there are something new

  each day and each month,

  比喻发展或进步迅速。

  used to describe rapid development

  or progress.

  王渊源:“日新月异”就是指

  ”Ri xin yue yi” means

  每天都在更新。

  there are something new

  each day.

  Zhè zuò chéngshì de fāzhǎn kěyǐ yòng rìxīnyuèyì lái xíngróng

  这 座 城市 的 发展 可以 用 日新月异 来 形容。

  This city’s development can be described

  by saying there are changes every day.

  那我们也请观众朋友们

  Now we’d like our audience

  和我们一起看看

  to take a look

  这座变化迅速的城市吧。

  at this fast-changing city.

  赏心悦目:

  南通博物苑是中国的第一座博物馆

  The Nantong Museum is the earliest museum

  in China.

  博物苑占地广阔 藏品丰富

  The museum is large and has abundant exhibits.

  凝聚了创办者张謇的心血

  It embodies the painstaking effort of

  its founder, Zhang Jian,

  以及澎湃的爱国热情

  and his ardent patriotism.

  参观者在这里不仅增长了知识

  Here visitors can not only increase

  their knowledge,

  也重温了历史

  but also review history.

  众多博物馆已成为南通的一道景观

  These museums in Nantong form unique

  tourist attractions in their own right.

  它们不仅保护了历史遗产

  They protect historical heritage

  也提高了城市的文化品位

  while enhancing people’s cultural taste.

  王渊源:韩佳,咱们是不是

  Han Jia, is it that

  还有一些博物馆没去看啊?

  there are still some museums

  we haven’t seen?

  韩佳: 是啊。这么多博物馆,

  Yes. There are so many

  museums here,

  肯定不可能一下子就看遍啊。

  we can’t see them all in go.

  王渊源:刚看出一些门道来,

  We’ve just begun to get to know

  about the museums here

  时间就到了。

  and now time is up.

  没办法。

  Can’t help it.

  只有下次来南通的时候

  We can only see the

  other museums

  再去看这些博物馆。

  when we come next time.

  韩佳: 嗯,那等下次吧。

  Yeah, let’s wait until next time.

  哎,渊源,老规矩,

  Eh, Yuanyuan, as usual,

  快点把今天的有奖问答题

  come on and set today’s

  award-winning question

  告诉大家吧。

  for our audience.

  王渊源:好的。今天的有奖问答题是。

  Okay. Here’s today’s award-winning

  question.

  (问题部分略)

  韩佳: 好了,节目的最后,

  Well, at the end of this program,

  还是要提醒您口号不能忘。

  we’d still like to remind you

  not to forget our slogan.

  合: 学说中国话,朋友遍天下!

  Learn Chinese and make friends everywhere!

(Source: cctv.com)

Children Chinese – What Is In The School Bag? (2)

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Download for Reading and Writing Practice lesson 6-2

(Source: usa.betterchinese.com)

Chinese Pinyin – Basic rules for writing Hanyu Pinyin (4)

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

Adjectives:

  1. Monosyllabic adjectives link with their reduplicated prefixes or suffixes. For example:
    • mēngmēngliàng (dimly bright),
    • liàngtāngtāng (brightly lit)
  2. Adjectives are separated from xiē, yīxiē, diǎnr, yīdiǎn that follow them. For example:
    • kuài (yī)xiē ([be] faster),
    • kuài (yī)diǎn ([be] faster)

(Source: pinyin.info)