49 Invitation 邀请
Hi there everybody, 大家好. 欢迎收看今天的成长汉语. Welcome back to another episode of Growing up with Chinese.
Now we designed our show 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, we aim to introduce to all of you various aspects of Chinese culture, history and everyday life.
So, what’s on our play for today? Well, 王叔叔 made it back to 上海 safe and sound*1. At least, I assume he did. But just make sure, let’s check in with everyone and find out.
小明爸：喂，您好。
叔叔：哥，是我。
小明爸：是王楠啊。你平安到家了吧？
叔叔：是啊，我怕您和嫂子担心，特地打电话给你们报个平安。
小明爸：顺利就好，顺利就好。
小明爸：王楠已经到上海了。你可不知道，上次你说让我们全家去上海，小明高兴得一连几天都没睡好。可把他乐坏了。
叔叔：哈哈，咱妈天天念叨着小明，盼着他早点儿来呢。
小明爸：是啊。一年多都没回去了。我们本来就打算带小明回上海看看奶奶。
小明：爸，是叔叔的电话吗？ 我来接。
小明爸：是你叔叔，说奶奶想你了。
小明爸：王楠，你稍等，小明要跟你说话。
小明：叔叔，您跟奶奶说，我也特别想她。我真恨不得明天就飞到上海去看她。
叔叔：小明，你别着急。马上就要期末考试了，你得先踏踏实实地复习考试，然后才能来上海玩儿。
小明：我知道。叔叔您放心。
叔叔：哈哈。我当然相信你。等你们来上海，我还可以陪你们去江南水乡逛逛。南方好玩儿的地方可多啦。
小明：哎呀，叔叔，您快别说了。我现在就要飞过去了。
叔叔：小明，别急别急。暑假马上就到了。好，小明，到时上海见吧。我先挂了。拜拜。
I was right! He made it back. And from the looks of things, 小明 is ready to jump on the next plane down to 上海. Well it’s always nice to have relatives are close to, isn’t it. OK let’s take a look at some of what was said during our dialogue, shall we?
我怕您和嫂子担心, 特地打电话给你们报个平安. I was afraid you and my sister-in-law would worry, so I specially called to tell you I arrived safely. 嫂子 is the proper title for a younger brother to call his older bother’s wife. Like sister-in-law in English but it’s a little bit more specific. 特地 means specially or for a special purpose. And 报平安 or 报个平安 means to report a safe arrival or let someone know you arrived at your destination safely.
小明爸：喂，您好。
叔叔：哥，是我。
小明爸：是王楠啊。你平安到家了吧？
叔叔：是啊，我怕您和嫂子担心，特地打电话给你们报个平安。
小明爸：顺利就好，顺利就好。
小明爸：王楠已经到上海了。你可不知道，上次你说让我们全家去上海，小明高兴得一连几天都没睡好。可把他乐坏了。
咱妈天天念叨着小明, 盼着他早点儿来. Our mom talks about 小明 daily. She is hoping he can make it earlier than expected. 念叨 is a great word that means to talk about again and again in recollection*2 or anticipation. Or it simply means to be always talking about. 盼 means hope for, or long for, or look forward to. So 盼着他早点儿来 means she is hoping he can make it early or earlier than expected.
叔叔：哈哈，咱妈天天念叨着小明，盼着他早点儿来呢。
小明爸：是啊。一年多都没回去了。我们本来就打算带小明回上海看看奶奶。
小明：爸，是叔叔的电话吗？ 我来接。
小明爸：是你叔叔，说奶奶想你了。
小明爸：王楠，你稍等，小明要跟你说话。
小明：叔叔，您跟奶奶说，我也特别想她。
马上就要期末考试了, 你得先踏踏实实地复习考试. Your final exams are almost here, you need to focus in on reviewing for your exams first. 期末 refers to the end of a term, and 考试 is how you say exam. So, 期末考试 is finals or final exams. 踏实 or 踏踏实实 means study and sure, stable or steadfast. So if you 踏踏实实地复习 or review, it means you do so, in a very dependable way, you hunker down*3 and focus in on reviewing. 踏踏实实地复习考试.
叔叔：小明，你别着急。马上就要期末考试了，你得先踏踏实实地复习考试，然后才能来上海玩儿。
小明：我知道。叔叔您放心。
叔叔：哈哈。我当然相信你。等你们来上海，我还可以陪你们去江南水乡逛逛。南方好玩儿的地方可多啦。
我先挂了. I’m going to hang up, hmm, OK. This might sound a little funny in English because when we’re ready to get off the phone, we don’t usually say “we are going to hang up,” unless may be bit kind of angry. But in Chinese this is quite a common way to end a phone conversation. Some people will straight out say “挂了,” which means “hanging up,” and then “they’ll hang up,” but it functions like goodbye and it’s very polite.
OK, that covers our dialogue, let’s watch it again.
小明：哎呀，叔叔，您快别说了。我现在就要飞过去了。
叔叔：小明，别急别急。暑假马上就到了。好，小明，到时上海见吧。我先挂了。
OK, so let’s take a look at today’s vocabulary.
- 平安 safe and sound, without mishap, well. píng ān
- 顺利 smoothly, successfully, without a hitch*4. shùn lì
- 盼 hope for, long for, look forward to. pàn
- 踏踏实实 steady and sure, stable, steadfast. tā tā shí shí
- 放心 set one’s mind at rest, be at ease, rest a short. fàng xīn
Our radical of the day is the page radical as in a page of a paper. And we see it in the 顺 of 顺利. So let’s take a look at this character 顺 and the page radical. So we’ve got, write it over here... This is 顺. Now, you can see the page radical is on the right side of the character.
The most of the time the page radical appears on the right side of the character, so let’s take a look at some more page radical examples. 顶 peak, or top, dǐng. 须 must, have to; beard or mustache, xū. 颜 color, yán.
Spotlight
Today we are going to be talking about 唐 poetry in part because it’s arguably the most famous genre of Chinese literature. And also because the next show we’re going to be sitting in on 小明 and Mike’s classical Chinese class.
Now the 唐 dynasty lasted from six eighteen to nine-o-seven BCE*5. And is often referred to as being China’s golden age. Prior to the 唐 dynasty, that China of the time*6 had been in political disunity for almost four hundred years.
So it was with the establishment of the 唐 dynasty, that China became reunified. Trade flourished with Europe, and this is when the well-known Silk Road came into being and saw much traffic. And incidentally, the Silk Road is what the famous Italian explorer Marco Polo traveled around to get to China in a thirteenth century. But, back to the 唐 dynasty.
We are talking about the time period in China’s history where everything flourished especially poetry. Anyone who had a basic education, in other words, anyone who could read and write, wrote poetry.
Now I’ve read that when someone visited a person’s home and the person wasn’t there, rather than leave regular note, during 唐 dynasty a poem would be left. Isn’t that cool? It might say something along the lines of visiting the recluse*7 and not finding him in. I love it.
People were expected to write and would write poetry at parties, or on sightseeing trips or when a friend was leaving, so poetry in the 唐 dynasty was a very common medium for written expression.
Primer
OK everyone it’s time to discuss the language points that came up in today’s dialogue, and to start with let’s take a look at 连.
连 is an adverb and denotes continuation. Now typically a phrase of amount will follow the verb. Now today we saw 连 used like this. 小明高兴得一连几天都没睡好. 小明 was so happy he didn’t sleep for days.
OK so in this example we see 一连 used instead of just 连. Now this is because when 连 is modifying a verb, of more than one syllable like 高兴. It typically becomes 一连 or 接连 or 连着. Are you confused? OK, let’s look at some more examples.
- 哈里波特这套书真好看，我一连看了好几本。／兰兰，你能借我看看吗？
恨不得. 恨不得 is a verb phrase that means be anxious to or be dying or itching to. Now typically what comes in between 恨不得 and the verb complement or common adverbs like 马上 or 立刻 which is immediately, 赶快 quickly, 都 or 就. So we saw it used today like this. 我真恨不得明天就飞到上海去看她. I’m really dying to fly to 上海 tomorrow to see her. OK, let’s look at some more examples of 恨不得 in action.
- 我恨不得天天玩儿游戏。／那你不上学啦？
- 我恨不得马上变成百万富翁。／别做梦了。
In today’s dialogue 本来 is used as an adverb meaning originally or at first. Now in this context 本来 can appear before or after the subject. 我们本来就打算暑假带小明去上海看奶奶. We originally were planning on taking 小明 down to 上海 during summer vacation to visit his grandmother. Now just you all know, 本来 can also function as an adjective. For example, 你还记得他本来的样子吗? Do you still remember his original appearance? OK, let’s look at a couple more examples of how to use 本来.
- 你今天不是要去划船吗？／本来是的，可是，下雨了。
- 兰兰，你就别生我气啦。／我本来也没生你的气啊。
Well, I don’t know about you guys but it should be a lot of fun to go on a trip to 上海 with 小明 and his family when the time comes. 上海 is a really cool city.
And on that note, we’ve got to wrap up for the day as always please do not forget to visit us online and leave us any questions or comments you might have. 大家肯定累了, you must all be pretty tired, 我不说了. 下次我们再聊, we’ll continue next time. 加油, good luck with your Chinese studies, 下次见. Bye for now.
