M: Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai. Welcome to China. Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai.
Huanying HUAN YING. huan, HUAN 1st tone. Yíng YING yíng, 2nd tone. Huanying means Welcome. Huanying ni, huanying ni, welcome you, or simply welcome.
S: Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai. Dao4 DAO dào here means to arrive, or reach. Dào, 4th tone, dào to arrive or reach.
M: And zhong ZHONG zhong, 1st tone means middle. Guó GUO guó, second tone, is country, or kingdom, so zhongguo, Middle Kingdom, or China.
S: And lái LAI lái is to come. 欢迎你到中国来 welcome to China. Say it everybody.
M: Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai, huanying ni dao zhongguo lai.
S: And xiè XIE XIE, xiè, meaning thanks, and always said twice. Xiexie, thanks.
(break)
M: Now for the short dialogue again, at natural speed. Stuart, 你好!
S: ni hao！
M: 欢迎你到中国来
S: 谢谢
M: 很好，very good. Now listen to and try to mimic this:. 欢迎你到 (pause) 北京 来. Huanying ni dao Beijing lai. No prizes for guessing what Beijing means. Běi BEI běi, 3rd tone, is north. Jīng JING jīng, hear the tone? 1st tone. Jīng. Remind our listeners of the tones again, Stuart.
S: 没问题，mei wenti, no problem! Mei wenti. Ready? Flat, rising, down and up, down!
M: So, jing1, right. 1st tone. And here jing means capital. Beijing – northern capital, referring to the capital of China, and where Stuart and I am right now. Now, let’s pretend we’re in another city. 欢迎你到 南京 来, huanying ni dao nanjing lai.
S: Nanjing. Nán NAN nán means south. Jing is capital. So, southern capital. Nanjing, another famous city in China.
M: But we don’t have time for all the cities in China. Time’s up.
S: We’ll finish by welcoming you all to China.
S/M: Huanying dao zhongguo lai! Zai jian.
Archive for November 15th, 2010
Learn mandarin – Welcome to China – Chinese Podcast
Monday, November 15th, 2010Chinese School – 我能信得过你吗？ – Business Chinese
Monday, November 15th, 2010【我能信得过你吗？】
Vince: Just remember. The main thing right now is to make sure Stars.com is happy.
文斯： 切记一件事。目前的要务是确保Stars.com高兴。
Elvin: Right. You’re right. But she’s just 1) evil. Someone should 2) drive a stake through her heart.
艾文： 对，你说得对。不过她真是邪恶到家。真该有人让她木桩穿心的。
Vince: Elvin, please. Can I count on you to 3) keep your cool for a week, or not?
文斯： 艾文，别这样。你给我冷静一个星期，我能信得过你吗？
Elvin: I’m OK. I’ll be fine. I’v cool. I’m cold. I’m like ice. She won’t know what hit her.
艾文： 我可以。我会没事的。我很冷静。我冷若冰霜。她不会知道是被谁暗算的。
Vince: By the way, how’s the nose? Boy, that must have hurt.
文斯： 对了，鼻子还好吗？要命，那一定痛死了。
语言详解
A: What did you see in Paris?
你在巴黎看到什么？
B: All the main tourist spots.
所有主要的观光景点。
【用hit表示“猝不及防”】
有些事情来得突然，让人在毫无准备的状况下，除了傻眼还是傻眼。此时你就可以活用这个
hit 字，来表达事出突然，让人猝不及防的感觉。可能是无预警的天灾。
A: The storm hit before Rick could do anything about it.
暴风雨来时，瑞克根本措手不及。
B: Yeah, he didn’t know what hit him. He was probably killed instantly.
对啊，他不知道被什么袭击。他八成是当场毙命。
也可能是人祸，遭人暗算。
A: When she left with all his money, Dirk just *sat around month after month.
她带着他所有的钱离开，迪克就这样月复一月地呆坐。
B: It’s understandable. It all happened so fast. He didn’t know what hit him.
可以理解。这发生得很突然。他根本不知道是怎么回事。
*sit around 坐着发呆，无所事事
1) evil (a.) 邪恶的
2) drive在此指“钉木桩”的动作，stake 就是“木桩”。drive a stake through one’s heart“木桩穿心”原来是对付“吸血鬼”vampire 的必杀技，在此是因 Elvin 觉得Zina太过邪恶才这样比喻。
3) keep one’s cool 保持镇定、冷静
