Archive for March, 2009

Learn Chinese Podcast – Happy China 464

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

快乐学汉语 轻松过周末

Let’s learn Chinese with fun.

It’s much easier to remember.

欢迎来到《快乐中国》周末版节目

Welcome to this weekend edition

of Happy China.

快乐的韩佳和大牛

The happy Han Jia and Daniel

在美丽的嘉兴向您问好

are saying hello in the beautiful

city Jiaxing.

快乐十分钟 心情放轻松

It is ten minutes of fun for you.

And a spell of relaxation!

一起来和我们度过一个愉快的周末吧

Please join us in spending a very

enjoyable weekend.

再次来到嘉兴

Coming to Jiaxing again,

才发现这儿的景观真是不少

I find there are really many scenic

spots here,

您可以静下心来慢慢地游览

You can come with us and take your

time for a concentrated tour of the city.

嘉兴子城是非常值得一去的

The historical site of Zicheng is

worth visiting.

子城建于公元231年

Zicheng, a town inside a town

built in 231 AD,

坐落在嘉兴市中心府前街

sits on Fuqian Street in the city center.

是嘉兴历代府衙的所在地

It was the seat of Jiaxing town

hall of various dynasties.

除了子城

In addition to Zicheng,

还有范蠡湖 三塔

other interesting places also include

Fanli Lake and Three Pagodas,

都是值得一去的地方

which are also worth visiting.

可不要以为嘉兴只有名胜古迹

But you mustn’t think that there are only

historical sites to see in Jiaxing.

这儿出过的名人也不少

The city also has produced many

talented people,

阁老陈元龙 沈曾植 丰子恺

such as Prime Minster Chen Yuanlong,

Shen Zengzhi and Feng Zikai.

去他们的故居瞻仰

Paying homage at the sites of

their residences

您就会觉得嘉兴丝毫不愧为

will make you realize that Jiaxing is

indeed a renowned city

历史文化名城

of history and culture.

嘉兴人有着灵巧的双手

People of Jiaxing are ingenious.

能做出可口的点心和精致的菜肴

The varieties of dim sum and snacks

are delectable.

五芳斋粽子滋味鲜美

The Wufangzhai sticky rice

dumplings are delicious.

南湖船菜

The so-called boat dishes at

South Lake

兼具旅游与美食双重特色

are tourist attractions as well as

dainty food.

来嘉兴游玩的您一定要亲口尝一尝

If you are visiting Jiaxing,

you must try and taste them,

大牛 一会儿工夫你就没影儿了

Daniel, you disappeared all

of a sudden

原来是跑到西施的梳妆台来打扮了呀

and now ended up at Xi Shi’s Dressing

Table to make up yourself.

谁说的

That’s not true.

我是在做深入的调查研究

I’m here doing an in-depth

research project.

你研究什么呀

What are you researching?

我发现这里不光五彩螺找不着

I find I am seeing neither any

colorful snails

而且鱼也应该一条都看不到

nor any fish here.

为什么啊

Why?

都沉到水底去了呗

They all have sunk to the bottom.

哦 你是想起成语“沉鱼落雁”来了吧

Oh, you must have been thinking of the

set phrase, “chen yu luo yan”, right?

那是

Yes, that’s true.

女子美丽得连鱼都沉到水底去了

The girl, who was so beautiful that she

even made the fish sink to the bottom,

说得就是西施吧

must have referred to Xi Shi.

嗯 人们常用“沉鱼落雁”

Yes. People use the phrases “chen

yu luo yan”

“闭月羞花”来形容容貌美丽的女子

and “bi yue xiu hua” to describe

beautiful women.

“沉鱼”说的就是西施

“chen yu” (making fish sink) refers

to Xi Shi.

“落雁”说的就是王昭君

“luo yan” (making wild geese

fall) refers to Wang Zhaojun.

那“闭月羞花”说的又是

Which two more ancient beauties does “bi

yue xiu hua” (outshining the moon and putting

中国古代的哪两位美女呢

flowers to shame) refer to?

别急呀

Be patient.

我们今天的快乐成语呢

Today’s Happy Set Phrase

就要来讲讲“闭月羞花”

is going to talk exactly about

“bi yue xiu hua”.

太好了

That’s great.

沉鱼落雁 闭月羞花

“chen yu luo yan” and “bi yue

xiu hua”.

我们终于凑齐了

We’ve finally figured them all out.

“闭月”“羞花”是中国古代美人

Biyue and Xiuhua are the aliases

of ancient

貂婵和杨玉环的代称

Chinese beauties Diao Chan and

Yang Yuhuan respectively.

每个代称也都有一段来历

Each of these aliases has a story.

貂婵是三国时的美女

Diao Chan was a beauty in the

Three Kingdom Period.

一次她在后花园散步赏月

Once she is taking a stroll while appreciating

the moon in her backyard garden.

忽然轻风吹来

All of a sudden, there’s a breeze blowing.

浮云将明月遮住了

A floating cloud hides the moon away.

这时正好被她的父亲王允瞧见

Her father Wang Yun happens to

see all this.

后来王允逢人就说

Later Wang Yun tells everyone

he meets that

我的女儿和月亮比美

his daughter had a competition

of beauty with the moon.

月亮比不过

The moon lost the competition

赶紧躲在云彩后面

and hid herself behind a cloud.

因此 貂婵也就被人们称为“闭月”了

For this reason, Diao Chan is also

known as Biyue.

杨玉环是唐代时的一位贵妃

Yang Yuhuan was an imperial

concubine in the Tang Dynasty.

一天 她到花园赏花散心

One day, she comes to her garden to

appreciate the flowers while taking a repose.

看见百花盛开

Seeing the variety of flowers in

full bloom and

想到自己被关在宫内虚度青春

thinking of idling her youth away

in the palace,

就对着盛开的花说

she says to those flowers:

花呀花呀

“Flowers,

你年年岁岁还有盛开之时

every year, you have a time to be

in full bloom.

而我什么时候才有出头之日啊

But when could I hold up my head?”

她刚一摸花

As soon as she touches a flower,

花瓣立即收缩 低下了头

it draws back its petals and lowers

its head.

这时被宫女看见

A maid sees all this.

宫女到处说

She tells everyone that

杨玉环和花儿比美

Yang Yuhuan had a contest of beauty

with flowers.

花儿都含羞得低下了头

All the flowers felt ashamed and

lowered their heads.

“羞花”称号由此得来

Thus Yang Yuhuan is also known

as Xiuhua.

快乐学汉语 轻松过周末

Let’s learn Chinese with fun and

have a weekend of relaxation.

快乐学汉语 新春新惊喜

Let’s learn Chinese with fun

and new surprises for the New Year.

哦 有什么惊喜呀

Oh, what surprises?

这惊喜之一

One of the surprises

就是观众朋友们寄来的贺卡和来信

are the greeting cards and letters

sent by our audience.

而且贺卡中还带着照片呢

And some are attached with photos.

你说的肯定是美国的热心观众

You must be talking about the

greeting card

陈洪寄来的贺卡吧

sent by Chen Hong, a keen viewer

in America.

对啊 就是里面还附赠了信和照片的

Yes, the greeting card is attached

这张贺卡

with a letter and photos.

怎么什么都瞒不过你啊

Why I can’t hide anything from you?

你快给观众朋友们读一读吧

Read it to our audience now.

好啊

OK.

陈女士在信中说啊

Ms. Chen says in her letter:

我女儿15岁了

“My daughter is 15 years old.

在她5岁的时候我们全家来到了美国

When she was 5, my whole family

came to America.

孩子从小在美国长大

As she grew up in the United States,

中文基础不好

she doesn’t have a solid foundation

in Chinese.

不认识 也不会写汉字

She can’t read and write Chinese characters.

值得高兴的是

Fortunately,

自从她看了你们的节目之后呢

ever since she watched your program,

学汉语的兴趣就增大了

her interest in learning Chinese

has increased.

现在还经常说出一些成语来

She can now say a few set phrases.

虽然有的时候会答非所问

Though sometimes she misuses

a word or two,

但是我看到了孩子的进步

I do see her progress.”

照片里的这位可爱的小妹妹

This lovely girl in the picture

就是陈女士的女儿 叫苏展

is Ms. Chen’s daughter, Su Zhan.

陈女士呢

Ms. Chen

也希望我们写一封短信给苏展

also hopes we can write a short letter

to Su Zhan,

最好是用手写的

a letter hopefully hand-written so as to

以便帮助她学习写汉字

help her learn how to write Chinese

characters.

没问题啊 陈女士

No problem, Ms. Chen.

您的要求我们一定会满足的

We’ll definitely satisfy your request.

在这里我们要祝您全家新春愉快

Here we wish your family a Happy

New Year!

要祝小苏展的汉语水平

We also wish Su Zhan even

greater progress

取得更大的进步

in her Chinese proficiency.

没错儿

Exactly.

我这里还有越南观众

Here with me is a greeting card

王嘉英寄来的贺卡

from a Vietnamese viewer,

Wang Jiaying,

还有福建观众刘文萧寄来的明信片

as well as a postcard from Liu

Wenxiao, a viewer in Fujian.

他们祝我们《快乐中国》

They both wish everyone here at

the Happy China

全体工作人员新春快乐

team a Happy New Year.

谢谢我们的热心观众

We thank these enthusiastic viewers.

在这里我们要代表栏目组的全体工作人员

Here on behalf of all staff members

祝大家新春快乐

here at this program team,

we wish you a Happy New Year

狗年大吉

and good luck in the Year of the Dog!

韩佳 刚才这惊喜之一

Han Jia, that is one of the surprises

已经被你猜中了

and guessed it correctly.

这惊喜之二呢 你肯定猜不对

As for the second surprise,

you’d by no means guess it correctly.

那你来说说看

Then tell it to us now.

就是这个

It’s right this.

请看 这上面刻着

Look at this bamboo slip

《快乐中国—学汉语》的竹片

engraved with “Happy China-Learning

Chinese”.

名叫留青竹刻

This is a Liuqing-style bamboo carving.

是常州的朋友

A friend in Changzhou

寄给我们栏目组的新春礼物

sent it to us as a Spring Festival gift.

这种工艺已经获得了两次

This kind of crafts has twice won

the national

工艺美术百花奖呢

Arts and Crafts 100-Flower awards.

怎么样 是不是很特别

Do you think it very special?

嗯 真的是很漂亮

Yeah, it’s very beautiful.

不过我有一个更特别的礼物要给你看

But I’ve got an even more special

gift to show you.

还有更特别的 哪儿呢

A more special one, where is it?

它的个头儿可不小

As it is quite big in size,

我没带在身上

I didn’t bring it with me.

现在就请观众朋友们

Now I’d like our audience friends,

还有大牛一起去看一看吧

together with Daniel, to go and

take a look at it.

太漂亮了

It’s so beautiful!

韩佳 这应该是常州的乱针绣吧

Han Jia, this should be a crewel

embroidery from Changzhou, I guess.

好眼力啊

You have a good eye!

这就是常州的朋友们送给我们的礼物

This is a gift our friends in Changzhou

sent us.

这可是常州传统的工艺品

This is a traditional art craft

of Changzhou,

具有很高的艺术价值

which is of very high artistic value.

感谢观众朋友们对我们的厚爱

We thank these audience friends

for their affection for us.

今后的日子里我们一定会努力

In the days to come, we’ll do

all we can

把节目越做越好

to make our program better and better.

瞧瞧把大牛感动的

Look how deeply moved Daniel is!

的确是这样

Yes, indeed.

我们要感谢那些长期支持

We ought to thank all those who

have constantly

和关注我们节目的观众朋友们

supported and paid attention

to our program.

你们的关怀和鼓励

Their support and encouragement

给了我们巨大的动力

are a great motive force for us.

韩佳

Han Jia,

你继续带着观众看今天的节目吧

please continue watching with

our audience.

我呀要回去多看看观众朋友们的来信

I have to go back to read the

audience letters.

说不定还有更多惊喜呢

Possibly there’d be more surprises.

急什么呀

Why are you in such a hurry?

任务还没完成呢

We haven’t finished our job yet.

对了 请观众朋友们

Oh, yeah, audience friends,

进入我们今天的成语猜猜看

let’s move into today’s Set Phrase

Look & Guess.

韩佳 有吗

Han Jia, did you find any?

有什么呀

Any what?

简讯啊

Any brief reports

我们俩来秀州书局的事儿啊

about our visit to the Xiuzhou Bookstore?

有 有 有 你看

Yes, there are. Look here.

我大牛也上简讯了

My name, Daniel, has also appeared

in a newspaper!

看看 快乐的韩佳 大牛

Look, the happy Han Jia and Daniel

将带您到

are now taking you to …

这不是下周预告吗

What? Isn’t this the Viewer Guide

for next week?

2月13号到2月17号

From February 13 through 17,

快乐的韩佳 大牛将带您在中国瓷都

the happy Han Jia and Daniel will

be taking you

景德镇学汉语

to the Chinese porcelain capital,

Jingdezhen, to learn Chinese.

“够意思”在口语里常用

“gou yi si” is a colloquialism,

就是够朋友 够交情的意思

meaning to be friendly enough.

“闻所未闻”指听到

“wen suo wei wen” means to

hear something

以前从来没有听到过的事情

one has never heard before.

闻所未闻

‘wen suo wei wen”.

中国中央电视台中文国际频道

On CCTV International,

周一到周五 每天十分钟

the 10-minute Happy China

《快乐中国》与您准时相约

meets you on time Mondays

through Fridays.

快乐的十分钟很快就过去了

The happy ten minutes are about

to come to an end.

在这里呢我们要跟您说再见了

We have to say goodbye to you again.

不知道您的周末

Although we are not sure if you’re having

是不是和我们一样也过得愉快

a weekend as enjoyable to you as to us,

有机会的话

we do hope, if you have a chance,

一定要到嘉兴来走一走 看一看

you should come to Jiaxing

for a visit.

对呀 像我们这种学富五车

Oh, for people like us, who are

well educated,

学识渊博 学贯中西

knowledgeable and well versed

in both Chinese and Western culture …

学得特别好的人

And very learned people,

怎么能不到嘉兴来呢

how could you not come to Jiaxing?

大牛 你换两句好不好

Daniel, could you think of something

else to day?

行 我回去再想一句

OK, I have one more thing to say.

不过有一句话不要换

But it’s unchangeable.

不要换

Unchangeable?

哦 节目的口号

Oh, our program’s slogan.

没错儿

Exactly.

学说中国话 朋友遍天下

Learn Chinese and have friends everywhere.

(Source: cctv.com)

Beijing Olympic – Sailing volunteers tell their stories

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

At the Qingdao Olympic sailing venue, a 37-member rescue team is known for its competency.

With experience from the National Sailing event in 2006 and the Qingdao International Regattas in 2006 and 2007, the team pioneered on-sea rescue services in China, the Qingdao Daily reported.

Since 2006, the team has offered more than 500 service hours, received 160 hours of training, and spent over 300 hours in sea operations and rescue tasks.

Team leader Jiang Ming was the first to join the team in 2006, one of more than 20 volunteers who stood out among 400 applicants. The selection process was tough and rigid, he said. Each applicant had to undergo tests of physical agility, different styles of swimming, swimming speed, diving and rescue as well as first aid, in addition to interviews with the Olympic sailing Committee and Red Cross and completing on-sea exercises. “We need to be equipped with not only a strong body but also first aid and rescue skills,” Jiang said.

Jiang, a participant in the Asian Triathlon event, is also a sports fan who is interested in swimming, biking, mountaineering, and expedition.

“Only after tasting the wind and the waves can you understand the hardship at sea,” he said. “We sailed out everyday to be on duty at different competition water areas. The boat is our home and battle camp, and we go through wind, rain, sun, heat and cold. When the sailing event is over, we find ourselves completely tan.”

Swimming coach, Li Yong, is also a team member. August is his busier month, but he chose to join the volunteer team without hesitation. He recalled how he happened to save a foreign sailor in 2006. When two-thirds of the sailor’s board was drawn under a starting boat, Li and his colleagues rushed to the scene and drew the sailor to a safe boat. “Our work doesn’t allow any errors,” he said.

Wu Ziyi, 58, is the eldest team member and a seasoned swimmer. To maintain sufficient agility, he has made winter swimming a routine since 2006.

Asked if they will deliver better services at the Olympic sailing events this year, Wu Ziyi said, “Yes.” “In 2006 we were not familiar with the terrain and competition rules; in 2007 we did better, as we mastered more sailing skills; now we are more confident in our capability to offer voluntary services.”

(Source: en.beijing2008.cn)

Chinese Conversation – lesson 396

Monday, March 30th, 2009

当你的孩子是个婴儿时,你所记得的,是你对自己创造出的堪称完美奇迹的作品,感到不可思议的敬畏。你记得你有大量的时间去传授你所有的智慧和知识。你认为你的孩子将会接受你所有的忠告而少犯错误,将会比孩提时代的你聪明许多。你多希望你的孩子快快长大。

All you remember about your child being an infant is the incredible awe you felt about the precious miracle you created. You remember having plenty of time to bestow all your wisdom and knowledge. You thought your child would take all of your advice and make fewer mistakes, and be much smarter than you were. You wished for your child to hurry and grow up.

(Source: wwenglish.com)