56 Choosing a gift 选礼物

大家好, 欢迎收看今天的成长汉语. Thanks for joining us for today’s episode of Growing up with Chinese. Now I’ve got good news. 我有好消息要告诉大家. 小明的腿终于好了. 小明’s leg is finally better.

And I have to say, he is recovered just in time. And in time for what? Well, let’s just say that he’s got a celebration to go to, and before he does that, something needs to be purchased. Now, I’m being cryptic*1. So let’s check in with 小明 and see what he is up to today.

麦克：怎么样，小明？ 脚全好了吧？
小明：嗯，一点儿都不疼了，就是有点儿不敢用力。
麦克：还是要小心加小心啊。
小明：哎，在家闷了这么久。我真想出去转转。
麦克：你想去哪儿啊？
小明：我想想啊。我们去商店转转好吗？
麦克：啊？ 我可不喜欢逛商店。小明，你什么时候也跟女孩子似的，爱逛商店啦？
小明：哪儿呀。你忘啦？ 兰兰过几天要办生日PARTY，我们得给她买……
麦克：哦对啦。我差点儿忘了。好好，我也正想给她买一件生日礼物呢。我们快走吧。来，小明，我扶着你。
小明：不用，不用，我自己能行。

麦克：小明，你说兰兰喜欢什么样的生日礼物呢？
小明：我也正在想呢。她平时喜欢唱歌。我们送她几张唱片怎么样？ 走，去书店看看。
麦克：现在谁还买唱片啊？ 好多歌都能直接在网上下载。
小明：也是啊，那买什么呢？ 买条花裙子吧？
麦克：你买吧。
小明：哈哈，我看我们边逛边挑吧。

麦克：小明，我们送她这个八音盒怎么样？
小明：好主意。麦克，还是你有眼光。
麦克：这个礼物又漂亮又实惠。兰兰一定会喜欢的。
小明：是啊。不过兰兰最喜欢紫色的。服务员，这样的八音盒有紫色的吗？
售货员：紫色的？ 我找一找。对不起，好像没有。你看这种可以吗？ 这个八音盒卖得可好啦。小姑娘都喜欢这个颜色。
麦克：可是她最喜欢的是紫色……
小明：哎呀，麦克，这个八音盒挺好看的。我们干脆就买这个吧。兰兰肯定喜欢。
麦克：那好吧。您能帮我们包装一下吗？
售货员：好，没问题。
小明：麦克，我们再买一张好看的生日贺卡，给兰兰写些祝福的话吧。
麦克：好啊好啊，这是一件多么完美的礼物呀！

It’s 兰兰’s birthday soon and Mike and 小明 seem to have found the perfect present for her. Let’s hope she likes it. OK let’s take a few minutes to go through some of our dialogue’s key sentences.

就是有点儿不敢用力. I’m just a little afraid to exert too much force on it. 不敢 means to not dare or to be afraid to do something. 用力 means to exert oneself or put forth one’s for strength. So 小明’s ankles better he is just taking things slowly. Precaution is always good in these circumstances.

在家闷了这么久, 我真想出去转转. I’ve been stuck at home for so long I really want to go out and walk around. 闷 in this context means tightly closed, sealed or stuck and 久 means long or for a long time.

麦克：怎么样，小明？ 脚全好了吧？
小明：嗯，一点儿都不疼了，就是有点儿不敢用力。
麦克：还是要小心加小心啊。
小明：哎，在家闷了这么久。我真想出去转转。
麦克：你想去哪儿啊？
小明：我想想啊。我们去商店转转好吗？
麦克：啊？ 我可不喜欢逛商店。小明，你什么时候也跟女孩子似的，爱逛商店啦？

好多歌都能直接在网上下载. A lot of songs can be directly downloaded off the internet. Now 直接 means direct or directly. 网上 refers to on the internet and 下载 is the proper term for download. 直接在网上下载 directly download off the internet.

买条花裙子? Buy her a colorful skirt? 花 means flower but it can also be used as an adjective to mean colorful just like a flower. 裙子 is how you say skirt. So 花裙子 colorful skirt.

麦克：小明，你说兰兰喜欢什么样的生日礼物呢？
小明：我也正在想呢。她平时喜欢唱歌。我们送她几张唱片怎么样？ 走，去书店看看。
麦克：现在谁还买唱片啊？ 好多歌都能直接在网上下载。
小明：也是啊，那买什么呢？ 买条花裙子吧？
麦克：你买吧。
小明：哈哈，我看我们边逛边挑吧。

麦克, 还是你有眼光. Mike you really do have a good eye. 眼光 means sight, foresight, insight or vision.

您能帮我们包装一下吗? Can you help us wrap it? 包装 is the generic term for packaging. But it can also function as a verb like in this sentence it means to wrap or to package.

我们再买一张好看的生日贺卡, 给兰兰写些祝福的话. Now we need to buy a nice birthday card and write 兰兰 some good wishes. 贺卡 is how you say card in Chinese as in birthday card or thank you card. 生日贺卡 is birthday card.

麦克：小明，我们送她这个八音盒怎么样？
小明：好主意。麦克，还是你有眼光。
麦克：这个礼物又漂亮又实惠。兰兰一定会喜欢的。
小明：是啊。不过兰兰最喜欢紫色的。服务员，这样的八音盒有紫色的吗？
售货员：紫色的？ 我找一找。对不起，好像没有。你看这种可以吗？ 这个八音盒卖得可好啦。小姑娘都喜欢这个颜色。
麦克：可是她最喜欢的是紫色……
小明：哎呀，麦克，这个八音盒挺好看的。我们干脆就买这个吧。兰兰肯定喜欢。
麦克：那好吧。您能帮我们包装一下吗？
售货员：好，没问题。
小明：麦克，我们再买一张好看的生日贺卡，给兰兰写些祝福的话吧。

All right so let’s take a look at our vocabulary.

• 实惠 affordable, worth it. shí huì
• 包装 gift wapping, packaging. bāo zhuāng
• 久 for a long time, long. jiǔ
• 紫色 purple. zǐ sè
• 祝福 to wish. zhù fú
• 完美 perfect. wán měi

Our radical of the day actually has two forms. And each can function as a radical although only one is an actual character. So, let’s look at this character. It is 示... Here’s our character to show.

Now, this actually is a radical as well. But the radical we are going to be talking about today is a variation of 示, this character. And it looks like... there we are!

Now this is the radical that is used in many characters and we see it in 礼物的礼. So our radical is there, and this is 礼物的礼. So 礼物的礼 on its own 礼 means courtesy.

So let’s look at some more example of characters that use the 示, this specific variation of 示 radical. 社 organized body, agency, society. 社. 福 good fortune, blessing, happiness.

Spotlight

Now in China, the snake is symbolic of wisdom. And is also a delicacy and certain regional cuisines.

So, what’s said about people who are born in the year of the snake? Well first of all, they’re very deep. And with this deepness comes a certain quiet unassuming manner where you see many people born in the year of the snake, happy to work on their own and keep their own council. Now some people say snakes have magnetic personalities and a good sense of humor. But at the same time, they can be secretive, jealous, overly possessive, and tend to be tight with money.

Now, onto the horse. Now much like the animal, people born in the year of the horse, are known for their love of traveling and always being and move. They have a great sense of humor, and super high energy levels, although they can get impatient quite easily. Hard-working, and independent, people born to this year of the Chinese zodiac are also full of contradictions just like the tiger. They are impatient, but they’re very tolerant. They might be stubborn, but are also very humble.

Primer

It’s time for some language point discussion everybody, and for starters let’s take a look at 差点儿.

差点儿 functions as an adverb and means almost or practically as in “I almost fell down” or “I practically forgot.” Now if what comes after 差点儿 is a thing or situation you hope doesn’t happen. Then what entire sentences expressing is that this thing or situation didn’t happen. It almost happened, but it didn’t. So the sentence we saw this term used in today was 我差点儿忘了. I almost forgot.

• 我借给你的书呢？／哎呀！ 我差点忘了。
• 兰兰！／讨厌，你差点儿吓死我。

干脆. 干脆 functions as an adverb and has a similar meaning to “just” in English as in let’s just go, or let’s just forget it. 我们干脆就买这个吧. Let’s just buy this one. You could say 今天天气很好. 我们干脆别走车去, 走路去好了. The weather is so nice today, let’s forget about driving and just walk instead. So this is 干脆 in the context of a suggestion.

• 唉，晚饭吃什么好呢？／今天挺冷的，我们干脆吃火锅吧。
• 公交车人太多了，我们干脆打车吧。／好吧。

多么 comes before a single adjective or verb, or equivalent phrases for stress or emphasis. 多么好吃, this is really good. 多么漂亮, really pretty. Today Mike said 这是一件多么完美的礼物. This really is a perfect present.

• 妈妈，这是一条多么漂亮的裙子啊。／这裙子太贵了！
• 这孩子，怎么又在打游戏。／妈，您可不知道打到这关有多么不容易！

好了 we’ve run out of time for today. Shopping for birthday presents can always be a bit tricky, but Mike and 小明 seem to do OK. I think 兰兰 will really like her music box and her birthday card.

Thanks for watching this episode of Growing up with Chinese. Remember our website is there for all of you to review or clear up any confusion you might have regarding what we talk about. So don’t forget to pay us a visit. 谢谢大家收看我们今天的节目. 大家, 加油, good luck with your Chinese studies everybody. See you all next time.

*1:cryptic もったいぶった