38 Planned outings 约会
大家好, 欢迎收看成长汉语. Hi there everyone, welcome back to another episode of Growing up with Chinese.
Our show is designed to help all of you learn some basic Chinese, through the adventures of 小明, a local 北京 high school student, and Mike, an exchange student who is living with 小明. And apart from language study our aim is also to introduce to you various aspects of Chinese culture, history and everyday life.
Now with that being said*1, what’s on the list for today? 小明 seems to be busy with something somewhere so that leaves Mike and 兰兰 alone to make plans. What are they doing? Let’s take a look and find out.
兰兰：喂，您好。
Mike：兰兰，你在哪儿啊？
兰兰：噢，是麦克呀。我刚才去游泳了。正打算回家呢。麦克，你有什么事儿吗？
Mike：兰兰，你今天有时间吗？
兰兰：我下午有点空儿。
Mike：今天天气这么好。陪我一起去“南锣鼓巷”好吗？
兰兰：南锣鼓巷？ 麦克，对不起。我晚上还有钢琴课呢，怕来不及。你让小明陪你去吧。
Mike：小明上补习班了，家里只有我一个人。
兰兰：你怎么想起去逛街了？ 改天去好不好？
Mike：你放心，我们快去快回。再说了，今天天气这么好……
兰兰：那好吧。反正我也想逛逛街，我陪你去吧。
Mike：太好了。兰兰，我们一起坐车去吗？
兰兰：嗯，我现在离南锣鼓巷挺近的，我们分头去，怎么样？
Mike：那好吧，一个小时后，我们在南锣鼓巷见。
兰兰：嗯，好的。对了，麦克，我刚想起来，我妈让我帮她取一下照片。我们一个半小时后见，怎么样？
Mike：好的，没问题。
兰兰：麦克，不见不散。兰兰：怎么还不来啊？
Mike：兰兰，兰兰，对不起，我来晚了。
兰兰：怎么回事啊？
Mike：哎呀，路上堵车，我还坐过站了。真对不起。
兰兰：没事，麦克，我们快走吧。
It’s a good thing Mike didn’t make 兰兰 wait too long. Otherwise she might have decided he wasn’t coming. OK so today’s some specific plans were made. Let’s now go over some of our dialogue and find out just what was said.
我刚才去游泳了. 正打算回家呢. 麦克, 你有什么事儿吗? I just went swimming and I’m about to go home. Mike, what’s going on? 刚才 remember means just now or just then and 游泳 means to swim. 正 implies that something is literally about to happen. 打算 is to plan, intend or think. So 正打算回家. I’m planning to go home.
兰兰：喂，您好。
Mike：兰兰，你在哪儿啊？
兰兰：噢，是麦克呀。我刚才去游泳了。正打算回家呢。麦克，你有什么事儿吗？
Mike：兰兰，你今天有时间吗？
兰兰：我下午有点空儿。
麦克, 对不起, 我晚上还有钢琴课呢, 怕来不及. 你让小明陪你去吧. I’m sorry Mike I’ve got a piano class tonight and I’m afraid there won’t be enough time. Why don’t you have 小明 go with you? 怕 is to feel or be afraid. 来不及 means not enough time.
小明上补习班了, 家里只有我一个人. 小明 is taking after school tutoring lessons, I’m the only one at home. 补习班 refers to class with supplementary lessons someone takes if he or she is having a hard time with a given subject at school.
Mike：今天天气这么好。陪我一起去“南锣鼓巷”好吗？
兰兰：南锣鼓巷？ 麦克，对不起。我晚上还有钢琴课呢，怕来不及。你让小明陪你去吧。
Mike：小明上补习班了，家里只有我一个人。
你怎么想起去逛街了? 改天去好不好? What made you want to go out for a stroll along the street? Can we do it another day? 逛街 is one of those words in Chinese that don’t really have the perfect English equivalent for. It encompasses*2 going for walk may be window shopping, having some fun, but it must be along a street or road, and not in a park or an area where there’s not too much going on. 改天 literally means to change a day or another day, a different day.
那好吧. 反正我也想逛逛街, 我陪你去吧. All right. I want to go out for a stroll too in any case, I’ll keep you company. 反正 means anyway or in any case.
兰兰：你怎么想起去逛街了？ 改天去好不好？
Mike：你放心，我们快去快回。再说了，今天天气这么好……
兰兰：那好吧。反正我也想逛逛街，我陪你去吧。
哎呀, 路上堵车, 我还坐过站了. 真对不起. Oh gosh, there was a lot of traffic and I even missed my stop. I’m really sorry. 堵车 is something you hear all the time in 北京, it means trafficky, traffic jam and general traffic congestion. 坐过站 is to miss one’s stop either on a bus or subway or train anything that requires a stop or a station.
OK, let’s watch our clip one more time.
兰兰：怎么还不来啊？
Mike：兰兰，兰兰，对不起，我来晚了。
兰兰：怎么回事啊？
Mike：哎呀，路上堵车，我还坐过站了。真对不起。
兰兰：没事，麦克，我们快走吧。
OK that concludes our general overview of today’s content and now it’s time to get into some specifics.
OK everyone let’s take a look at today’s vocabulary words and then we’ll move into our radical of the day.
- 游泳 to swim, swimming. yóu yǒng
- 补习班 class of supplementary lessons for specific subjects one might be having difficulty with. bǔ xí bān
- 逛街 to go out for a stroll in particular to stroll along the streets. guàng jiē
- 改天 another day. gǎi tiān
Today we’re going to be looking at the backwards 文 radical. Now the character for 文 looks like this just to put it in some perspective*3... That’s 文.
Now, the backwards 文 radical or 反文 looks like this... See how it looks kind of backwards. Actually the 反文 grew out of*4 an ancient character that depicted right hand and a rod. And in ancient times this character meant to oversee*5. So these days we often see the 反文 used as a radical in characters that have something to do with hand movement.
Now, 改 is where we find the 反文 today. And 改 means to change. Now here is some more examples of characters with the 反文 radical. 放 to put, to place, to play. 收 together, to receive. 敬 respect.
Spotlight
So on today’s topic 南锣鼓巷. This street in 北京 is one of the oldest and best preserved ancient streets in all of China really. It’s seven hundred and eighty-six meters long and roughly eight meters wide so really not talking about a huge street here.
It was built during the 元 dynasty, which began in the thirteenth century. But it wasn’t really until the 明 dynasty that it took on the form that it has today.
南锣鼓巷 runs north to south and has eight east-west 胡同s branching off a bit. So it has another name “centipede street.” Can you all imagine how it might resemble a centipede with its eight legs?
The name of some of the side 胡同s of 南锣鼓巷 are very unique. You have 黑芝麻胡同 which is black sesame 胡同. 雨儿胡同 which is small rain 胡同. 菊儿胡同 which is small chrysanthemum*6 胡同. 东棉花胡同 east cotton 胡同. And 妙豆胡同*7 excellent bean 胡同, that’s my favorite.
From a historical perspective 南锣鼓巷 and its surrounding 胡同s were homes to merchants the wealthy and the powerful. And today, it’s actually quite the same. Family still live in many of the courtyard houses in the area. And 南锣鼓巷 proper, well, it’s a street full of fabulous trinket*8 shops, craft shops, bars, restaurants, coffee houses and they all blend some of the old with the new.
So if you go there with the intent to see these courtyard houses, weaving in and out of the area’s 胡同s is must. Some are not open to the public but even those have beautiful doors and walls and plenty to look at.
Primer
It’s language point time. Let’s first take a look at 反正.
反正 means anyhow, anyway or in any case. And it has two functions. The first is to emphasize that no matter the circumstances the results will not change. So for example, 不管她去不去, 反正我不去. I don’t care if she is going to or not, anyway I’m not going.
The second way you can use 反正 is at the beginning of a clause to indicate a premise*9 or a fact. Now the following clause shows the results of the first clause’s premise or fact. So, 反正现在没下雨, 我们在玩一会儿吧. Anyway it’s not raining right now, let’s play a little bit longer. The fact or premise, it’s not raining right now. And the result, let’s play a little bit longer.
- 图书馆离这儿反正不远，我们走着去好了。／好，听你的。
陪, accompany. You 陪 somebody to do something. So, 我陪你回家. I’ll go home with you, I’ll accompany you home. 他陪小王去买东西了. He accompanied 小王 to buy some things. Let’s look at some more examples.
- 我陪你一起去医院吧？／好的，谢谢你。
- 小明，去打篮球吧。／你去吧，我要陪兰兰做值日。
不见不散. OK, let’s look at this character by character first. 不见 is to not see or not meet up with. 不散 is to not disperse. So this phrase is said to mean I’ll be waiting until you show up. And you’ll be waiting until I show up. It’s kind of like a promise of sorts. We won’t go off anywhere until we meet up. So, this is the conditional phrase and we have a double negative right? 不见不散. If we don’t meet up with each other, we won’t leave. Or in other words, we will meet up.
- 喂，小明。咱们去跑步吧，我在楼下等你。／好的，不见不散。
OK we’ve managed to cover everything we needed to cover today. And anyway, we’re out of time. 反正我们也没有时间了. I hope you all had fun. Next time we’ll actually be traversing 南锣鼓巷 with Mike and 兰兰 so it should be a lot of fun.
Now, please do not forget to send us any questions or comments you might have. 好了, 加油, everyone. Good luck with your Chinese studies. 我们下次不见不散. I’ll be waiting, see you all next time. 再见.
