54 Visiting Xiao Ming 探望小明
自宅で療養中の小明のところにクラスメイトがお見舞いに訪れます。
Hello everyone, 欢迎收看今天的成长汉语. Welcome back to another episode of Growing up with Chinese, thanks for joining us today.
Now last show we learned that 小明 had a badly sprained ankle. And while it wasn’t a fracture like he feared, a sprain is still a nuisance, poor guy. So he is home resting or should be anyway, so let’s check in with him right now and see how his convalescence*1 is going.
麦克：来了。
同学小刚：小明，你的伤好些了吗？
小明：别提了。我这几天没劲透了。天天躺在床上，胡思乱想。
同学小刚：小明，都想些什么呀？
小明：我呀，我想你们啊，想死我了。你们猜猜我最想干什么？
同学甲：我猜啊，你最想和我们去打篮球。
小明：你别哪壶不开提哪壶。
班长：小明，这是我们上课的笔记，你可以在家看看。
小明：哎呀，还是班长细心。谢谢你啊，我的好班长。
兰兰：小明，我们还给你买了光盘。是你最喜欢的侦探片。
小明：太好了。等你们都上学了，我爸我妈也上班了，我真不知道怎么打发时间呢。
同学乙：小明，要不然，我们上网聊天吧。
小明：好啊，好啊。这是我的MSN地址。你们加我吧。
班长：聊天可以，但也别忘了看我的笔记呀。
小明：班长，放心吧。我现在有足够的时间干所有的事情。
兰兰：这样吧，小明，我过两天来给你补课吧。
小明：啊，还补课啊，我好不容易才能休息几天。
兰兰：小明，你不是说你能有足够的时间干所有的事情吗？
小明：这个……
麦克：啊……对啊，小明，你现在最重要的事情还是好好养伤。
小明：是啊是啊，麦克。还有一个星期我就能下床了。
同学乙：小明，祝你早日康复。
班长：对啊，希望你能早点儿回来上课。
麦克：我，我也祝你早日投进三分球。
小明：麦克，你……
同学们：哪壶不开提哪壶。
It’s always nice to have visitors when you’re sick or injured and have to stay at home. And 小明 certainly has nice friends, don’t you agree? OK, let’s take a few minutes to go to today’s dialogue before we get into further details.
别提了, 我这几天没劲透了. Don’t ask, I’ve been thoroughly bored past few days. 没劲 means boring or uninteresting. And 透 means to the extreme or fully, completely. So 没劲透了 is like saying bored to death or just extremely boring.
天天躺在床上, 胡思乱想. I lie in bed everyday letting my imagination run away with me. 躺 is to lie, so 躺在床上 means to lie in bed. 胡思乱想 is a set saying that means to think about all kinds of things good or bad to let your imagination run away with you. 小明 certainly does have a lot of time on his hands to do so.
同学小刚：小明，你的伤好些了吗？
小明：别提了。我这几天没劲透了。天天躺在床上，胡思乱想。
同学小刚：小明，都想些什么呀？
小明：我呀，我想你们啊，想死我了。你们猜猜我最想干什么？
同学甲：我猜啊，你最想和我们去打篮球。
小明：你别哪壶不开提哪壶。
这是我的MSN地址, 你们加我吧. This is my MSN address you guys add me, OK? Now people of all ages in China like to use MSN to chat with each other. And it seems that are cast of characters likes to use it, too. 地址 means address. And if you add a friend to your list of contacts, you 加 add them. 你们加我吧. You guys add me, OK?
我现在有足够的时间干所有的事情. I’ve got all kinds of time now to do everything. 足够 means ample*2, enough or adequate. So 足够的时间 is ample time or plenty of time. 干 means to do, right? And 所有 means all or whole. So 干所有的事情 to do everything.
兰兰：小明，我们还给你买了光盘。是你最喜欢的侦探片。
小明：太好了。等你们都上学了，我爸我妈也上班了，我真不知道怎么打发时间呢。
同学乙：小明，要不然，我们上网聊天吧。
小明：好啊，好啊。这是我的MSN地址。你们加我吧。
班长：聊天可以，但也别忘了看我的笔记呀。
小明：班长，放心吧。我现在有足够的时间干所有的事情。
还有一个星期我就能下床了. One more week and I will be able to get out of bed. 星期 means week, right? And 床 we know means bed. To 下床 is to get down from bed or get out of bed.
祝你早日康复. I hope you get better soon, or I wish you a speedy recovery. 早日康复 is a set expression meaning get better soon or speedy recovery to you. 早 means early, 日 is day and 康复 means recovery. 早日康复 get well soon.
麦克：小明，你现在最重要的事情还是好好养伤。
小明：是啊是啊，麦克。还有一个星期我就能下床了。
同学乙：小明，祝你早日康复。
班长：对啊，希望你能早点儿回来上课。
麦克：我，我也祝你早日投进三分球。
小明：麦克，你……
同学们：哪壶不开提哪壶。
So first let’s take a look at today’s vocabulary.
- 胡思乱想 imagine things, let your imagination run away with you. hú sī luàn xiǎng
- 细心 meticulous, careful, attentive. xì xīn
- 光盘 disk. guāng pán
- 聊天 chat. liáo tiān
- 康复 be restored to health, recover or recuperate. kāng fù
We’ve got a fun radical to go over today, and it’s the radical for tongue 舌. So, let’s just get this character up because it’s a lot of fun. OK, now 舌 is a character looks like this... This is the character for tongue. And we see it as a radical in the character 乱 of 胡思乱想.
So let’s take a look at 乱... So here’s our tongue radical 舌, and at that*3, and we get 乱. Now, 乱 on its own means in a mess, or chaos, in disorder.
There are too many characters that use the tongue radical but here are some of them. 甜 sweet. 辞 take leave, dismiss.
Spotlight
Today we are going to be covering the tiger and the rabbit.
Now recent years of the tiger include nineteen fifty, sixty-two, seventy-four, eighty-six and ninety-eight. The tiger is considered one of the most dynamic signs of the zodiac because it’s fluctuations*4 between being commending, fascinating and exasperating*5. It’s said that people who have the tiger as their Chinese zodiac sign are born to be leaders and not followers.
But watch out. Because tiger sometimes have a hard time making up their minds. There is a flip side to every emotion for them. They are calm but rebellious. They’re fearsome but affectionate. They feel deep love, but they can also be crazy jealous. All in all though the tiger is warmhearted, loyal, charismatic, fearless fighter. A fabulous Chinese zodiac sign.
So onto the year of the rabbit. Now just like actual rabbits, people born in the year of the rabbit are said to be sweet natured, gentle, compassionate and cautious. They supposedly really despise*6 arguments and confrontations. And as a result of this, and their gentle natures, rabbits have a lot of friends. So rabbits are considered to be the peacemakers of the zodiac and are born diplomats although they have an ambitious streak and know how to get ahead in the world.
Rabbits are oftentimes physically beautiful hmm both the animals and the people born during this year. So there’s a tendency to see rabbits surround themselves with beautiful things. Albert Einstein, Leon Trotsky and Frank Sinatra were all born in the year of the rabbit, pretty cool.
Primer
OK everyone it’s time to go over some of today’s language points.
Now first off let’s take a look at 别提了. 别提了 is like a verbal sigh in Chinese. It’s like saying in a response to a question “oh don’t ask” or “huh, don’t talk about it.” Now today, 小明 said in a reply to being asked how his injury was doing, 别提了, 我这几天没劲透了. Don’t ask, I’ve been thoroughly bored the past few days. How was your vacation? 别提了, 天天下雨. Don’t ask, it rained everyday.
- 比赛好看吗？／别提了，咱们又输了。
- 你今天去你朋友家了吗？／别提了，他不在家，我白跑了一趟。
要不 or 要不然. In today’s context, 要不然 functions as a conjunction and means or else or “or”, or otherwise. So in today’s dialogue 兰兰 had just finished giving 小明 a DVD they bought for him, and 小明 was feeling sorry for himself. So another suggestion for something to do was brought up and that’s why 要不然 was used. One of 小明’s friends said 要不然, 我们上网聊天吧. Or we could chat online.
- 兰兰，太晚了，要不然明天再去吧？／那好吧。
- 早点睡觉，要不然明天又起不来。／哎呀，我知道啦！
好不容易. 容易 on its own means easy or simple. So 好不容易 means difficult as does 好容易. In today’s dialogue 小明 says 还补课啊, 我好不容易才能休息几天. So here he’s saying that resting a few days is not an easy task, it’s not everyday that you get to take a break and rest. And now you want me to work on the classes I missed? Come on.
- 兰兰，你能把这本书小说借我看看吗？／过两天吧，我好不容易才借到的。
- 兰兰，这个风筝送你，我可是好不容易才买到的。／哇，真漂亮，谢谢你！
好了, we’ve arrived at today’s finish line but before we say goodbye, I want to read a letter that was sent in by David in Iceland. Now, he wrote us and said:
“I really like watching your show and learning Chinese. I have a funny question though, do many people speak English in China?”
Well, that a great question David, and thanks for being a fan of our show. There are many people here who speak English. In fact, almost everyone learns some English while they’re in school. And so you do me a lot of people who want to practice their English understandably.
But then again*7, as I’m sure you’re thinking, there are lots of people who come to China and want to practice their Chinese. Now as a result you see a lot of language exchange activities going on, like language corners or I’ll teach you English, you teach me Chinese that kind of situation. It’s pretty cool actually, so there you are, English is one of the most widely spoken foreign languages in all of China.
OK, thanks for your question David, and to everyone else please do not forget to visit our website and send us your questions or comments. Good luck with your Chinese studies everyone, 大家, 加油, 下次见, bye for now.
小明の渡す連絡先がMSNというのが時代を感じさせます（Growing up with Chineseの本放送は2010年後半）。今ならWeChatとかになるのでしょうね。
