Introduction:
Chinese service industries are becoming more and more customer-oriented. Signs of this kind are frequently found in various public places, such as “Caution: Wet Floor” and “Be Careful of the Glass”, etc
Text:
Pinyin:
小心台阶【xiǎoxīn táijiē】
Grammar:
小心【xiǎoxīn】 (be careful), used alone, such as,
Xiǎoxīn
小心！Be careful!
Lùshang xiǎoxīn
路上小心。Be careful when you cross the road.
Adding another constituent to it means that the speaker hopes the listener will be more careful when doing something. For example:
小心开车【xiǎoxīn kāichē】 (drive carefully)
小心倒水【xiǎoxīndǎoshuǐ】 (pour water carefully)
However, the most common supplementary constitute is something dangerous. Under this context, the sentence means that the speaker hopes the listener stays vigilant, such as,
小心汽车【xiǎoxīnqìchē】 (be careful of the car)
小心刀子【xiǎoxīndāozi】(be careful of the knife)
Tā hěn huài nǐ yào xiǎoxīn tā
他 很 坏，你 要 小心 他。 (he is mean, be careful of him),
小心地滑[xiǎoxīndìhuá] (caution wet floor)
小心上当[xiǎoxīnshàngdàng] (don’t get cheated)
In addition, the negative form of the word is bu xiaoxin (careless), which is frequently used. For example:
Wǒ bùxiǎoxīn bǎ bōlibēi shuāi le
我 不小心 把 玻璃杯 摔 了。
I accidentally broke a glass.
台阶【táijiē】(steps), the common quantifier used with this phrase is “级【jí】”, such as “一级台阶【yījí táijiē】” (one step). Common collocations include:
上台阶【shàng táijiē】 to go up the stairs
下台阶【xià táijiē】 to go down the stairs
Xiàyǔ le ，táijiē hěnhuá ，xiǎoxīn diǎnr 。
下雨了，台阶很滑，小心点儿。
Be careful of slippery steps on rainy days.
An abstract meaning has been derived from the phrase, referring to embarrassment-avoiding opportunities, for example:
Nǐ jiù dào gè qiàn ，gěi tā gè táijiē xià ba 。
你就道个歉，给他个台阶下吧。
You apologize to him and give him a step to avoid embarrassment.
Characters: 小 心 台
(Source: chineseculture.about.com)
