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有首老歌中唱道：‘爱使世界转动’。如果你看到美国人是如何庆祝情人节的，你便会相信这句话。这一天在美国不论你走到哪里都能看到一颗颗小红心。坠入爱河中的人向自己的心上人赠送卡片、鲜花和糖果。你可以将情人节称之为一年一度的爱的节庆。
An old song says that “love makes the world go around”. If you watch Americans on Valentine’s Day, you can believe it. The whole country breaks out with little red hearts. Love-struck people give cards, flowers and candy to their sweethearts. You might call it an annual celebration of love.
(Source: wwenglish.com)
M: Péngyǒumen. Nǐmen hǎo! Huānyíng shōutīng Xiànzài Xué Hànyǔ. Wǒ shì ML.
S: Wǒ shì Stuart. And, ML, I think it’s time to go to the huǒchēzhàn and buy some huǒchēpiào – train tickets.
M: Hǎo zhúyì. Where are we going 咱们去哪儿 zánmen qù nǎr?
S: 咱们去上海，好不好 zánmen qù Shànghǎi, hǎo bù hǎo?
M: OK! What kind of ticket shall we buy? 咱们买哪种票? Zánmen mǎi něi zhǒng piào?
S: The cheapest! 咱们买最便宜的 zánmen mǎi zuì piányi de.
M: The cheapest train ticket is hard seat 最便宜的火车票是硬座 zuì piányi de huǒchē piào shì yìngzuò.
S: But I want to sleep 但是我要睡觉 dàn shì, wǒ yào shuìjiào.
M: Ok, so buy hard sleeper. 好，那就买硬卧车票。Nàjiù mǎi yìngwò chēpiào.
S: Is hard sleeper comfortable? 硬卧舒服吗? Yìngwò shūfu ma?
M: So so 马马虎虎 mǎmahuhu.
S: Only so so! ‘Horse horse tiger tiger’, mǎmahǔhu.
S: Now let’s look at the new stuff. ML asked me…
M: 咱们买哪种票?
S: něi zhǒng piào? Něi, we know is ‘which’. 种 ZHONG zhǒng, means ‘kind’ or ‘type’ zhǒng. něi zhǒng piào what kind of ticket? What kind of ticket shall we buy 咱们买哪种票 zánmen mǎi něi zhǒng piào?
M: Of course, Stuart replied –
S: The cheapest! 最便宜的 zuì piányi de.
M: 最便宜的火车票是硬座 huǒchē piào, train ticket, huǒchēpiào. 硬座 YING ZUO, both fourth tone, yìngzuò. Ying4 means ‘hard’, not in the sense of ‘difficult’. ‘Hard’ as in Stuart’s head is very hard, Stuart de tóu hěn yìng.
S: I’ll ignore that! And ying4zuo4 is ‘hard seat’. Now everybody say with ML, the cheapest train ticket is hard seat.
M: 最便宜的火车票是硬座. Zuì piányi de huǒchē piào shì yìngzuò. Huǒchēpiào, train ticket.
S: But I want to sleep! 但是我要睡觉 shuìjiào, remember, is ‘sleep’ shuìjiào.
M: 好，那就买硬卧车票。 卧，WO wò, fourth tone, literally means ‘to lie down’, and yìngwò means ‘hard sleeper’ yìngwò. Ok, then buy hard sleeper. Hǎo, nàjìu mǎi yìngwò chēpiào.
S: I’m very delicate, so I asked, 硬卧舒服吗? 舒服, SHU FU shūfú, comfortable. So everybody ask, Is hard sleeper comfortable? Hěn hǎo. 硬卧舒服吗Yìngwò shūfú ma?
M: So so. 马马虎虎, literally ‘horse horse tiger tiger’. And it means ‘so so’, mǎma huhu.
S: And to end, here’s our chat again.
(M: 咱们去哪儿 zánmen qù nǎr?
S: 咱们去上海，好不好 zánmen qù Shànghǎi, hǎo bù hǎo?)
M: 咱们买哪种票zánmen mǎi něi zhǒng piào?
S: 买最便宜的 mǎi zuì piányi de.
M: 最便宜的火车票是硬座 zuì piányi de huǒchē piào shì yìngzuò.
S: 但是, 我要睡觉 dàn shì, wǒ yào shuìjiào.
M: 好，那就买硬卧车票 hǎo, nàjiù mǎi yìngwò chēpiào.
S: 硬卧舒服吗 yìngwò shūfú ma?
M: 马马虎虎 mǎma huhu.
S: I’ll have to think about it. See you tomorrow!
M: Zài jiàn.
(Source:english.cri.cn)
Molding human figures and animals from clay or glutinous rice flour is a popular folk art in both urban and rural areas in China.
Written records on Chinese dough sculptures date back to the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220). After several thousand years of inheritance and development, dough sculptures became a part of Chinese culture and folk arts, and also objects for study in history, archeology, folk arts, sculpture and aesthetics. In terms of style, dough sculptures in the Yellow River Valley are simple, crude, unconstrained and profound, while those in the Yangtze River Valley are delicate, exquisite and polished.
Materials and tools used in making dough sculptures mainly include white flour, scissors, a kitchen knife, comb, Chinese dates and Bunge prickly ash. With well-leavened dough, kneaded according to the set pattern, one can produce a vivid dough sculpture.
During the process, there are three tips for making the perfect dough sculpture. First, the honey, lard, powdered sugar and refined powder are made soluble by adding boiling water, then all is mixed in together with the flour. Edible pigments to form pastes of different colors are added during this stage. Second, the pastes are steamed for two to three minutes. Care is taken not to cook them for too long as they can become lusterless. Third, some oil is smeared on the dough sculptures with a brush to make them gleam and more vivid.
Dough sculptures are popular wedding and birthday gifts. They are also considered appropriate for prayer and memorial ceremonies and sacrificial offerings. Farmers place steamed dough sculptures before spirit tablets. Today, dough sculptures often appear among dishes on high-grade banquets to beautify and decorate the dishes, and add foils to the banquet atmosphere.
（Source: chinaculture.org）
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